monsters and the kids who become them and the people who fight them

[theguideless]

Date & Time: 9/2 – 9/12, various times
Location: All throughout the city
Characters: See tags
Summary: A lot of people have to put up with an increasingly unstable kid
Warnings: Fightytimes violence, body horror, dead things



IN THE FAR-REACHING FUTURE OF AN ALT-EARTH, MONSTER-BASED ATTACKS ARE CONSIDERED ESPECIALLY RIDICULOUS. IN EXSILIUM, THE DEDICATED TRANSPORTS WHO ENDURE AND INVESTIGATE THESE VICIOUS HAPPENINGS ARE MEMBERS OF AN ELITE SQUAD KNOWN AS EXTRA-UNLUCKY BASTARDS.

THESE ARE THEIR STORIES.


The following threads coincide with the established timeline posted here and are arranged chronologically for participants' use if need/want be.

Comments

wooo!

[ex_bandai157]

No, I'm on my way. Why?

[ He doesn't stop midstep or anything, but he does pause briefly before slowing his pace as he moves down the street, silently reminding himself the quickest route to their meeting place. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

I came across something. It's a little out of place.

[ Even for this shithole. ]

Maybe you can come here instead. [ And he's sending the coordinates; they're pretty precise. ]

[ex_bandai157]

[ "A little out of place." ]

Understood. I'll be there as soon as I can.

[ He turns on his heel as he changes direction, glad that he'd taken the time out in his first weeks here to learn the lay of the city, get a good enough understanding of where things are that he doesn't have to hesitate now - and of course, that's why he did.

He'll be along in a few minutes. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Okay, awesome. In the meantime, Adam will be taking a closer look at the car wreck... and the corpse.

There's actually a corpse in the drivers seat. Well that's just. Nice. ]

[ex_bandai157]

[ He doesn't run in on the scene; if he ran even part of the way at all, he's slowed by now to a brisk walk that takes him to the car, stopping a few feet short of it. He's not visibly surprised or appalled or anything like that, just gives the scene a measured look before speaking.]

Tell me. [ Calmly. ] How long after finding this did you call me?

[ A first step, at least, to begin to get a rough estimate of how long it's been there. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Oh, hey. He gets up from his crouch--he was looking at something--and gives Barnaby a nod, acknowledging. It's a pretty gruesome scene, but hey he's sure they've both seen worse. ]

Almost immediately. Maybe a minute.

[ A beat. ]

I've been asking around. No direct witnesses.

[ex_bandai157]

I see.

[ He can't help but think, wryly, that it'd be too easy if there were witnesses. ]

What did they notice?

[ Because - well. This is far too nasty a scene to have happened quietly, so there must've been something. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

Heard wheels squeeling and a shriek of metal, that's all. Few hours ago. Didn't dare to go near the scene.

[ Another pause, as he considers what he knows so far. ]

I don't think it was a traffic accident-- [ he circles the car until he reaches the driver's door ] It's more like it's been actively torn apart by something. Or someone.

[ex_bandai157]

[ Barnaby takes all of that in, circling the car as well (a rip like that really doesn't look like it could've possibly happened by mundane means), although he walks past Adam and looks out at the street behind as well. It's quiet now, maybe because it doesn't usually see much traffic or maybe because word has spread among the locals and they're avoiding the scene, but what that amounts to is that he gets a clear, unobstructed view of the area behind them.

As well as the lampposts. That they're rent and out of shape isn't all that unexpected, but they bother him. A minute later, it clicks why. ]

Something or someone who had an appetite for destruction. [ He turns back to Adam, gesturing at them. ] Or couldn't control themselves.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Adam's response consists of a grunt and little else. He agrees--too bad there's no police force around because honestly, this should be investigated. It's rather baffling that they'd just find something like that out here and nobody would give a damn.

Adam's not sure if they should inform the others yet; it might cause people unrest... or worse. ]

I'm gonna check if I can find anyone else who's seen or heard something. Do you want to take a closer look at the car and the victim?

[ex_bandai157]

[ If there were a real police force around, he'd suggest reporting the incident to the police, if not handing it over. He'd still want to investigate the scene anyway though, and since there isn't anyone else in particular who can take this up - well, protecting people at all times is what heroes do. If there's some kind of a danger on the loose, someone'd better look into it, and it's not like he doesn't know for a fact that both he and Adam are perfectly qualified to. Backup can always be asked for as necessary - odds are, they won't find the culprit soon anyway.

He nods. ]

I'll see what I can find out from this.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ How great they're on the same page here, so Adam just nods and disappears for a while to check out the neighborhood, and we can do a convenient timeskip.


So, Adam returns after about 30 Minutes. Sadly, he hasn't found out much more, but now there's a roof he wants to check out. ]

Found anything?

[ex_bandai157]

[ Barnaby was around the back of the car, at the trunk, but he straightens when he hears Adam. ]

Our driver was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[ He thinks. But there's nothing in the vicinity to suggest a chase or even that the driver lived here, and if someone was going to be that sneaky about killing someone else - or trying to make a statement - why make such a scene of it in such a private place? ]

And the culprit left something else behind, too. [ He gestures for Adam to come see. ] What about you?

[neveraskedforthis]

[ In the trunk now, really. He comes over to have a closer look, pretty much agreeing with Barnaby's assessment so far. ]

There's a roof I wanna check out. Someone heard--

[ UHM GROSS wow that smells really bad. Also is that blood? He raises a hand to cover his mouth and nose. ]

The hell is this?

[ Looks like some kind of.......slime?? ]

[ex_bandai157]

[ A roof? Why not, but that's certainly unexpected.

Mildly: ] I don't know.

[ What, do you think he touched it or anything. ]

Finding blood wouldn't be surprising given the nature of his injury, especially if the blow came from the front. [ Which he's not convinced it did (was he transporting something that staged an escape?), but it's hard to say. ] But even then, it wouldn't be this kind of a mixture. It'd probably take a chemical analysis to see what else is in this.

[ How do you feel about taking a few steps away from the trunk, let's do that. ]

What did someone hear about the roofs?

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Who knows. Maybe your superpower includes being able to analyze slimey stuff without needing any equipment.

And yeah, definitely stepping away. This is the sort of stuff you let other people look at. ]

Do you know anyone with the necessary equipment and knowledge to analyze this? Because I think it might be relevant to this case.

[ It's starting to look more and more like something out of a bad horror movie. Some slime-spewing monster. Well fuck. ]

One of the occupants heard a noise coming from their roof, right after this-- [ Vague gesture towards the car ] Like a thud. So I want to take a look, since he didn't check it out himself. I'm allowed.

[ex_bandai157]

[ He might've been able to if only he had his suit. ALAS. ]

No, I don't.

[ With a frown, because he agrees that it's almost definitely relevant. He sighs, then takes a look at the roof, though it's hard to see from here if there's anything up there. ]

Do you have a way up?

[ If he activates his Hundred Power, he could probably just leap up there, but that may not help Adam much and anyway it'd be better not to waste the five minutes if they have another way up. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

Didn't bother to ask. There might be a fire escape.

[ But why use a fire escape when he can just JUMP HIS WAY UP ... it's not a particularly high roof, given it's a rather traditional country house.

So whether or not Barnaby decides to join him, Adam will be off to--

Find himself a dumpster, and stack it on top of another dumpster. Right next to the house. Then he'll jump onto that, and from there, onto the roof.

DON'T QUESTION HIS METHODS. ]

[ex_bandai157]

[ ADAM WHAT.

Well that's one way to do things, and since it's probably faster than trying to find a fire escape, he'll go with it. Once on the roof, though, he'll take a moment to add - ]

They'll want us to come back to fix that later.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Fix the dumpsters? Pffff, like Adam cares--he just shrugs. It's not like him to clean up his own messes. And it's not like a dumpster pile is hurting anyone.

SO. WHATEVER. He scans the roof for anything unusual and, wouldn't you know it, he finds something pretty quickly. ]

Over there.

[ Aaand more or less carefully heading over to examine a certain dent that looks pretty fresh. ]

[ex_bandai157]

[ Ohh, that reminds him of some people he knows, but he doesn't comment on that. Instead, he heads over to that dent too, frowning. ]

Something big enough to tear a car in half...

[ ...could've conceivably left a dent this deep, he doesn't say aloud, and he doesn't think he needs to. Instead, he looks up and ahead, looking for any others - their person or monster or whatever might've jumped down onto the street from here to attack (or no, that would've left even more damage) or else used the roofs as an escape route.

And sure enough, he can see more roofs with big indentations in them. ]

There's a trail.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Adam checks out the roofs in the vicinity--it's a bit hard to make out from here, but he can definitely see it.

So that means... ]

Big and heavy with strong legs.

[ He considers this, then looks at Barnaby, inquiring. ]

Did you want to inform others first?

[ DOESNT EVEN ASK IF THEY'LL FOLLOW IT, DUH, BECAUSE THEY SO WILL ]

[ex_bandai157]

[ He's seen enough scenes left by NEXT to add: ]

Possibly superpowered in terms of strength.

[ OBVIOUSLY THEY WILL. At Adam's question, he nods - he would've agreed regardless of circumstances, but the fact that his partner is here now gives him the extra incentive to be a little more cautious. ]

Everyone should know if there's something dangerous attacking people in the city.

[ And if they find something unexpectedly fierce - all the better if other people know. ]

[neveraskedforthis]

All right. Let's do that first.

[ ooc: OK SINCE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO FIND THAT SHIT DURING THE NIGHT IF THEY FOLLOW THE TRAIL.... I have an idea.

How about we do a time skip here and jump over to the next thread--I propose Barnaby makes a network post first informing people of their findings so far, then later we can EDIT it when they encounter the monster, because Adam's eyes have an image capture feature--so he can broadcast whatever he sees DIRECTLY TO THE NETWORK AS AN ADDENDUM.

y/n/maybe??]

[ex_bandai157]

[ THAT SOUNDS GOOD or adam can even have his own post after, depending. I'll get the Barnaby post up tonight! ]