Reapers: Keepers of the Balance (M) [Most Original 1Q '13]

[Geras32]

Luka Sokolov - Chapter 1-3: Friendly Foes
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Luka stood where he was for a few moments before he managed to calm himself down. He couldn't believe he had almost triggered a break down in front of his team, and at the very beginning of the mission no less. At least he had succeeded in keeping it contained. He heard his teammates Nox and Adrian arguing about their plans, and Destiny was silent, probably disappointed in them or thinking about how unfortunate she was to be saddled with a bunch of rookies. Adrian finished his point, clearly aggravated, and asked for the thoughts of the rest of the group once more. Luka sighed and came back to the group to give his two cents on the matter.

"I agree with Nox," Luka began. "A decoy would be a great way to enter unnoticed and best use the element of surprise. I also believe that if he can really turn their numbers against them, then we would stand a far better chance at winning." Luka imagined Adrian would be quite upset at this point after hearing this, but that he was patient enough to let him finish. "However, I also agree with Adrian. The plan as Nox presents it is far too dangerous." He turned to Nox. "Besides overestimating the civility of vampires and assuming the beasts wouldn't frenzy after you the moment you step in there, maybe even the moment they see you, you are also underestimating the harbingers big-time. Like reapers, the harbingers have a wide variety of abilities, some even having an array of them by themselves. There is no way of knowing whether or not one of them has one of the many ways of being able to see through a disguise, either physically or mentally. They could also have a way of negating your magic. There are eight of them, and there may even be more yet to come, so the chances of there being one like that are much greater. All I'm saying is that we'll need to think every step of this plan through if we want to survive. Vampires are easy, but each harbinger is a wild card."

Luka really didn't want to upset anyone, but he was willing to in order to keep his team safe. He wasn't going to let Nox's mettle get him killed. He truly hoped Destiny would step in to fix the situation, but it was entirely possible she wasn't going to so that the younger reapers could learn to resolve things themselves, or build character. While he would never question her decision in that case, he still wouldn't like it. He decided he couldn't give criticism without a suggestion, so he asked,"What other disguises would you be able to do? Maybe if there was some way to impersonate one of their own, the plan would work better. If the question is their numbers, we could try finding a way to take one of them out and replace them, so they won't suspect one is missing. It would still be very dangerous and very risky, but I believe it has a slightly better chance of working, or at least keeping the vampires off you." He hoped Nox could pull such a thing off. He began to think Masato or Byrne would have been much better options for this mission instead of himself.

[gimmepie]

Adrian sighed yet again, he wasn't a total moron he knew that there were some merits to his infuriating co-workers plan and in a lot of cases it would work, but in this case it was more likely to get them all killed. When storming a big group you want as much back up as you have available and in this case the back-up that Nox clearly didn't want involved until the last moment were one of the best marksman Adrian had ever met, a six thousand year old veteran reaper with a reputation for being rather powerful and himself who honestly was quite a bit faster than most other reapers which would really be useful inside the warehouse.

"A disguise most likely won't work at all" he said "especially if we are trying to impersonate one of them, we don't yet know enough about harbingers to pull it off and they'd have to be incredibly stupid not to notice. You could do a vampire maybe, but you can't fake not having a pulse or a heartbeat, which the bloodsuckers are fairly attuned to since they drink blood." he stopped thinking for a moment, he knew that the original plan was risky anyway but perhaps Nox's skills with disguises would come in handy...
"can you make us all look like harbingers for a short time? Just long enough for us to walk in and start lopping of heads? By improving the original plan with an extra layers like that we can add to their confusion and make our safe entry more likely." Now that sounded like a good option to Adrian.

[Nakuzami]

Destiny Saviouer :: Moscow, Russia
Chapter One :: Enough with the Nonsense

☮

Destiny listened as the three male Reapers argued amongst themselves. At first Destiny had noticed that Luka was onto something with his plan to shoot through the windows, but she had known he wasn't quite there yet. Adrian had been quick to point out the flaws in Luka's plan, but he had provided a substitute for Luka's actions. However, Nox had soon dismissed the entire plan, formulating a new plan involving his disguise as a homeless person. He was thinking of a plan too complex, seemingly unable to see his own mistakes in its creation. It didn't take long after this for Adrian and Nox to begin arguing, making themselves sound like morons.

"Do either of you speak idiot? I don't think I'm getting through to this guy," Adrian had said, turning to Destiny and Luka. Luka seemed to ignore this comment, continuing to elaborate on Nox's plan.

"Enough!" Destiny boomed, authority in her voice. "Your pathetic arguing is becoming a nuisance. Yes, all of your plans have their flaws, but they also have their merits. Don't be so quick to dismiss the plans of others. Instead of completely ignoring their plans, you should add your own piece from your plan. Unless, of course, the original plan happened to be completely moronic. However, that was not the case this time." Destiny turned to Luka, speaking to him directly for a moment. "Luka, I commend you for at least trying, and for not giving into such piteous rivalries as these two seem to be doing." She turned back to Adrian and Nox, her eyes burning.

"Nox, you, for one, are thinking much too complex. Your idea of a decoy is sound, yes, but the way you're going about it is not. Vampires may be driven by their blood thirst, but centuries of evolution to be able to continuously outwit humans makes them cunning. They will not be fooled by a simple disguise. And even if they are, what makes you think it will be a vampire to open the door? The Harbingers control the vampires; they will likely take the initiative and open the door themselves. This would cause your plan to fall to ruin. It has too many variables that could break it. However," Destiny glanced at Adrian, "that does not mean that the idea of a decoy is completely inappropriate for the situation."

Destiny glanced at all three of the Reapers, pausing for a moment. "If we take Nox's decoy, Luka's use of the windows, and Adrian's battle plan, we can actually piece together something that may work for all of us." Destiny looked to the warehouse, motioning to it as she spoke her strategy. "Nox can be a decoy at the entrance. No disguise is necessary, but it may give you a few extra seconds to be disguised as a normal citizen. Once Nox gets the attention of the Harbingers and vampires on the door, Adrian and I can sneak in behind them through the windows. Luka can cover Nox from the rooftops, allowing Nox the ability to actually escape with his life, if he so wishes." At that, Destiny gave Nox a dry, blank glance. "Adrian and I can attack them from behind, Nox can handle a frontal assault and Luka can prevent any from escaping. Not only does this leave them scattered from the surprise, but it corners them, trapping them between us. With such little space, both the Harbingers and vampires will not be able to function at the same time. This will give us time to slay at least half of them. By then, they will have recovered their senses, but it will be too late. Luka can move into the warehouse with Nox, and we can finish the job." As Destiny finished speaking, she turned back to the boys.

"Any questions?"

[gimmepie]

Experienced or not Adrian didn't care, the woman scolding him and Nox seemed to have her head screwed on in the right direction, unlike the blowhard across from him he could deal with the harsh comments though he had received a lot worse as a mercenary, besides the majority of her rebuff had been directed at Nox and whilst Adrian didn't like his compromise being overlooked it wasn't really too far from Destiny's own plan.

"Any questions?" she asked still acting the boss and, whilst he was sure he'd regret it he actually did
"Two actually" he stated keeping his demeanour calm, there was no reason to send her on another power trip "firstly, could you draw any more attention to us? If you scream like that again we won't have to break in because they'll be on us like the plague which means non-targets will die and we'll be royally screwed. Secondly, how are we going to sneak in through solid glass? Those windows won't open and whilst they won't see us coming through that grime they'll notice the loud smashing noise as we come through. I'm for the plan but we shouldn't pretend that any decoy will last more than two seconds."

Adrian sighed for the umpteenth time, he didn't want to come across as the guy who had to rain on peoples parades or pick holes in things, he was really more of the nonchalant keep it all calm kind of a guy. He just took his work seriously is all. He thought maybe he'd at least try to lighten the mood a bit... albeit at Nox's expense
"You're certainly right about all our plans having merits, vampires will probably eat Nox for example" he made it clear through his tone that he was joking, he was far from wanting any of his companions dead and had decided that he quite liked Luka and Destiny... still not a fan of Nox but he had to admire the nut jobs bravery.

[Nakuzami]

Destiny Saviouer :: Moscow, Russia
Chapter One :: Noise of Moscow

☮

Destiny frowned as Adrian decided to seriously ask questions.

"Two actually," he stated, with a sort of avoidance in his eyes. "Firstly, could you draw any more attention to us? If you scream like that again we won't have to break in because they'll be on us like the plague, which means non-targets will die and we'll be royally screwed. Secondly, how are we going to sneak in through solid glass? Those windows won't open and whilst they won't see us coming through that grime, they'll notice the loud smashing noise as we come through. I'm for the plan, but we shouldn't pretend that any decoy will last more than two seconds."

Adrian sighed. "You're certainly right about all our plans having merits. Vampires will probably eat Nox for example."

Destiny's eyes narrowed slightly, having not been amused by Adrian's joke. "I wasn't actually being that loud. Listen around, my dear. We're in Russia." Destiny opened her arms as she motioned to the whole of Moscow, pointing out the general clamor and business of it all. "As for your second point, I personally would have no problem using my abilities to open the window. Granted, if I were on this mission alone, I wouldn't even bother with the window. As for how you plan to do it . . . get creative. A little higher level thinking shouldn't kill you, I would hope, and it should help you in the long run."

Destiny folded her arms across her chest, waiting for the others to respond, instead of sitting there like mindless zombies. And Destiny had seen quite a few mindless zombies in her life time. Her old friend used to conjure them up left and right.

[Flydro]

Nox Fenoir

Though he somewhat liked trading animosities with Adrian, Nox felt the argument blew up far beyond what he expected it to. He didn't take the insults too seriously as he didn't have any real problem with Adrian other than he didn't like having to adjust his ways of doing things to accommodate him, as is what happens when different individuals a put onto a team and must work as a unit.

The female and oldest Reaper began to scold them as though she was the queen bee, but Nox didn't take offense because she was the oldest after all. He himself wouldn't want to be on a mission with what she probably saw as extremely young teammates, let alone arguing ones at that. However, Nox was never the type to allow himself to be bossed around by anyone, let alone someone who seemed to have a bit of a superiority complex.

"I agree enough arguing, The Grims assigned us this mission because we are all able to handle it. As far as my plan goes, never did I say it was the definite course of action. It was just speculation," said Nox, a hint of exasperation in his low voice. He disliked having to explain himself to people, especially if he feels misunderstood regarding his intentions. "As lady Destiny here so nicely pointed out, we can surely come up with a plan to suit each of our attributes."

He raised an eyebrow at her as the group continued the discussion of their plans. Adrian directed a question at him.

"Can you make us all look like harbingers for a short time? Just long enough for us to walk in and start lopping of heads? By improving the original plan with an extra layers like that we can add to their confusion and make our safe entry more likely."

"I like the sound of that, even if my plan was a bit complex it was what I was suggesting from the start. Something to distract long enough for us to get inside the building," he responded.

[gimmepie]

Adrian just shrugged, shockingly he had just found himself in agreement with Nox. Now who'd have thought? Maybe the slightly self-absorbed reaper wasn't so bad after all.

"Perhaps we shouldn't push our energies too far beyond the fighting actually. We may as well just follow the "the great and mighty one" over there's idea" to himself he added in "who would do well to remember if they could hear her the harbingers could too if she raised her voice"...
"The sun is starting to go down it will be time soon and we really can't afford to debate on tactics any longer. One thing I feel we need to know is does anyone here have any special gifts beyond the usual?" his reasoning was fairly simple, not knowing what strengths your team mates had could be risky in the reaping business .

[siiadams]

Now that the mission was almost over, Masato took his time to get back to where he started from. He knew that as a reaper, his dimension walking ability could function virtually anywhere. However, he decided that this time he would wait. After all, he finished this task quicker than normal. It seemed almost...TOO easy.

Suddenly, he heard a female screaming nearby. Masato placed the soul jar in a hidden pocket next to his lockpicking set. Racing to where he heard the scream, he found himself in front of the alleyway where he first started. There, he saw a grungy guy holding a knife on a nicely-dressed, well-endowed young lady.

Seeing this happen caused something inside him to gnaw at his insides. Something had to be done, but he hesitated. Wouldn't it be an act of unbalancing good and evil if he stopped this guy? As Masato contemplated his next move, the guy threw the girl down onto the dirty ground and confronted him with the knife in his hand.

"Give me your money, or else I'll stab you!" he yelled, attacking Masato from the alley. The man lunged forward, intent on stabbing him. Instinct took hold of him as he grabbed the man's knife arm, spinning around to deliver a back elbow to the man's face. The man, reeling from the attack, tried lunging again. This time, he yelled out as the man attacked, but he grabbed the arm again and used his attacker's momentum to flip him onto his back, spilling him onto the sidewalk. The man, still hurt from his fall, slowly got back up as he grabbed the knife once again.

"Freeze!"

The officer that Masato saw earlier had a gun unholstered, pointed at the man with the knife. The man turned, saw the officer with his gun, and dropped the knife, surrendering. The woman came out of the alleyway and started talking to the officer. Seeing that the problem was resolved, Masato walked backwards out of the way and down the alley. Out of everyone's view, he concentrated his energy and opened a dimensional gate to Hell. Hoping he didn't do anything wrong, he stepped through the gate, allowing the gate to close behind him.


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[dcjboi]

Spencer - Chapter 1

Spencer distanced himself to the far right of Alice but strode ahead of her. He didn’t like the idea of her being the leader so he paced himself ahead of her although he had no clue where he was going, looking back every minute or so to be sure he was going the right way. He was level-headed for now although he knew that it would be hard to stay that way with a leader like this.

Sand! Sand! Sand! Nothing in sight but sand and it felt unpleasant. After trudging over a few hills of sand, a group of nomads appeared up ahead, apparently traveling with some sort of intent, whether it be malicious or innocent although Spencer felt they were truly unaware of what would have been ahead of them (and still could be) if they progressed forward and Spencer stopped dead in the sand. He knew that Alicia would be no help at all so he turned to his male companions to speak.

“We need some sort of plan and I say that this girl will be of no help if she is to be so irritable as she was to us. I say that we do this diplomatically but simultaneously, if they choose to ignore our warnings ”

[Geras32]

Luka Sokolov - Chapter 1-4: The Calm Before the Storm

Luka stood and watched as the argument continued further, Destiny joining the fray in an effort to restore order. He beamed upon hearing her commendation of him before re-thinking it and seeing the important part, "for at least trying". It was sort of like a participation award, meant to make the lesser people feel better about themselves but was really more like physical proof that you were in fact lesser, a joke award. Still, at least being acknowledged individually by her was something.

Soon the feud died down, and in it's wake there was a plan. Apparently Destiny and Adrian intended to sneak through the windows. Luka had thought them far too small for any person to enter, but if Destiny had a plan for them he wouldn't question it. Nox maintained his role at the door, although now primarily as a distraction instead of an infiltrator, and he was to cover for him. He sincerely hoped his only targets would be vampires, though, since his hunting had made aiming for the heart second nature, but is doubt over the abilities of the harbingers would no doubt shake his nerves. Once the team was in, he would need to join the battle up close. Against the harbingers. All eight of them, if things didn't go according to plan, and it was entirely possible things wouldn't go according to plan. Luka groaned loudly at the thought, but shoved it into a corner in his mind. He couldn't be thinking like that when it was time for action, or else he could jeopardize the mission. But his mind soon began conjuring all the ways he could truly jeopardize the mission, then all the ways it could fail in general. Luka slammed his head on a wall, though careful still not to make too much noise, and just left it hanging on that wall. I hate you, train of thought...

A question from Adrian lifted him from his stupor. "Does anyone here have any special gifts beyond the usual?" Luka looked up and was about to say no when he thought for a moment. Was there any way his gift could be of use here? He was pretty sure Vampirism didn't count as a disease, and even if it did, curing it still wouldn't help anything. What about the "other" gift? There were various illnesses at his disposal that caused fatigue and headaches, and there were many other, more complex ones that could disrupt breathing or maybe even cause blindness. He still wasn't quite sure how that power worked, since he never really experimented with it, but still, maybe-

Luka stopped himself before he could finish that thought. No, he had sworn to never use that ability, no matter what. He had been so worried about failing the mission and the team that he had considered breaking his vow. Thinking too much really didn't seem to be healthy. Luka turned to Adrian and simply said, "No, nothing that would help us here," before turning away again. He looked to the horizon to see that the sun had nearly fallen below it entirely. Soon it would be go-time, and he would need to be ready. Luka began moving to a position on another roof where he would have an optimal view of the door and the surrounding area. He wouldn't be able to use his window idea unless he was much closer, but that would be for when the action actually started. He lifted his crossbow and peered through the scope once more, ready to begin. He moved a hand and fingered the hilt of his sword, none too fond of the idea of using it, before bringing his attention back to the bow. He was all set, and it was up to his team to get the ball rolling.

[gimmepie]

Adrian Frode

After Luka had responded Adrian reconsidered, it was true that some Reapers considered that question rude but Luka didn't seem like that type of a guy, Adrian just was curious since he had worked with him quite a few times now and never seen him demonstrate any special gifts. The others though, they were probably the snooty type to get offended at being questioned and for the teams shaky morale Adrian thought it may be a good idea to skip the line of enquiry.
"Actually don't worry, I'll find out soon enough anyway" he smiled as he removed his ever-present sunglasses and stowed them in a pocket for safekeeping "the sun is starting to set so we may as well get this show on the road, am I right?".

Adrian lightly jumped off the side of the building dropping to one knee to soften the noise of his descent and began to stealthily make his way over to the side of the building where he hid against he side wall waiting for the others to be in position and for Nox to initiate their plan. The time for discussions was over and the time for the removing of limbs had begun.

[Flydro]

Nox Fenoir

As he stood on the rooftop, Nox looked off into the distance watching the setting sun. The sky took on an increasingly darker hue as the minutes passed, signaling the approach of night. Soon enough they would have to begin the first phase of the mission. Before he could add more input regarding how they should go about overtaking the abandoned warehouse, Nox noticed a couple of the others preparing themselves. Luka's demeanor changed as he steadied himself to provide cover on the rooftop once the fight began, and Adrian moved into position on the side of the warehouse.

"Well I guess it's on then," said Nox quietly to himself.

He jumped down from the rooftop and back into the alleyway where he had previously been hiding in disguise. Careful not to look suspicious, he wrapped the worn out blanket around him and removed the two bone needles hidden in his hair, freeing it from its ponytail. His long dreadlocks fell to his back as he stuffed the needles into his pockets. He saw Adrian waiting close by and nodded to him before shuffling up to the door of the warehouse. Nox knocked and nudged the door somewhat erratically, making it seem as an accident as opposed to a deliberate knock. Almost immediately, the door creaked open and he was greeted by several vampires.

"You have no business here blind man," one of them hissed. "Leave."

"My apologies sir, I-I was only trying to find my way," responded Nox in a hoarse voice unlike his own.

"Now let's not be hasty, I'm sure we can offer this man some temporary...shelter," said the other vampire slyly, a fanged grin appearing on his face. The two exchanged greedy looks as they gently ushered him through the doorway and closed the door behind them.

Once inside, Nox was careful not to focus his vision on one spot because it would reveal his false blindness. Instead he shifted his eyes this way and that, trying to gather as much information as he could. The inside of the warehouse smelled very old and dank, and was dimly lit by candles. There were easily over thirty vampires inside, and Nox could see them baring their fangs at him. The two vampires who greeted him at the door were leading them toward the group of Harbingers, who seemed to be preparing for some sort of demonic ritual. As he shuffled along, Nox momentarily locked eyes with one of the vampires and she hissed loudly at him.

"I must make my move...now!" thought Nox.

Without hesitation, he threw the blanket from around him and retrieved his bone needles, extending them into bone spears. He quickly drove the spear through the heart of one of the vampires escorting him, disposing of him quickly. As the others began to converge on him Nox violently jerked the weapon from the vampire's chest cavity and threw the bloody spear through the door, forcing it open to signal the others and allowing them entry into the warehouse. The bloody slaying had now started.

[gimmepie]

Adrian didn't wait for Destiny, he knew that the older reaper would be in in a flash herself. Taking a few steps back Adrian leapt through the window... or at least he would have if the window had still been there, magic really was a wonderful perk of being a reaper, he had managed to completely disintegrate the dirty glass.

Nox would be fine on his own for the time being Adrian though to himself as he drew the smoky-looking, charcoal coloured blade he carried from his Sheath and began to hack the heads off of any vampire that came within reach, several of them didn't realise what was going on being still focused on Nox, but eventually the group worked out what was going on and got their wits about them
"There are more of them you idiots" yelled one of the shorter Harbingers, the one furthest from Adrian.
It was at this point that several of the blood-lusting vampires dived for Adrian at once giving him the opportunity to try something a little bit crazy using his superior speed Adrian threw himself into the air before the vampires could hit the ground. Laying back he twisted his legs around the demon in front of him whirling his body around and thus removing its head. He coupled this move by using the momentum of his turn to slice the heads off of multiple assailants before dropping to his knees and stabbing up through the heart of another. Which was a rather inconvenient time for green bolt of light to come flying at him out of nowhere.

Adrian rolled to the side and onto his feet only to discover that, of course, the bolt of energy was now expanding... and burning everything it touched.
"Freaking Harbingers" commented Adrian on the irritating blob of glowing green which appeared to be some weird form of dissolving or burning spell. Again tapping into his own reserves the Swiss reaper froze the weird attack solid, he'd come back to fix it later but at that point in time more vampires were converging on him and two Harbingers were slowly making their way towards him.

[siiadams]

Masato Ryu: Chapter 1

He stood before a pair of large gates that led to the inner confines of Hell. Though he had been here before many times, he would never see the same people within the flames. Thinking about it, he opened the soul jar, releasing Vincent Durand from his temporary prison. Vincent looked around at where he was and turned around quickly. Masato, though, shoved him through the gates, allowing him to be swallowed up in the flames. He had allowed a few times to let the sols go through the gate themselves, but they would only cry and try to bargain with him for another chance. It was the same over and over, so he simply decided not to give them a chance to do it.

He created a portal back to Limbo and walked through it, quickly reporting to the Grim Reapers the success of the mission. Just as quickly, they gave him a briefing for another mission. Vatican City was the location, and a priest was the target. Seems this priest has found a way to end all war. Idiot. War, he knew, was a nescessary evil. Masato and another would be sent to kill this priest, but something about this seemed...he couldn't put his finger on it, but he had a feeling that something big was gonna happen soon.

Finding a quiet spot where he would be out of the way of everyone else, he sat down in another meditative position to conserve his energy for the mission to come. This would also help pass the time while he waited for his partner to come.


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[IceFyr1928]

Kalek Noire - Chapter 1

Kalek ran along the rooftops, not reply caring that he was leavin the other Reaper that he'd been assigned with in the dust. He leapt over a gap, and ducked under a wire as he landed. The thing that he enjoyed the most was that the mission was search and destroy. Exactly what he'd trained for and done for 16 years before his conversion. Kalek slid along the roof tiles, jumping at the last minute. He grabbed a windowsill as he reached the other building, and was back onto the roof in almost an instant. Off he went, yet again. He loved the feeling of running alon the roofs. Not much to hinder you, and not much that could hide from you. He came to a stop at a major street, quite a few lanes across, and looked back for the other Reaper. Seeing that he was still quite a ways ahead, Kalek sat down on the roof, making himself comfortable. He'd wait. He had to. In fact, he shouldn't have run ahead, but really, who gave a damn? The other guy could take care of himself from what he'd heard around Limbo.

Kalek sat up and said to himself, "Now, where might that target be hiding..." He jumped down from the roof, using various holds along the building to slow his descent. Once he was on the ground, he drew his longsword. Just about anything could easily attack him down here. Kalek began his prowl through the streets, his cloak making him no more than a tattered shadow that could hardly be seen by the unaided eye. He continued down the street, converging on his comrade's position while still remaining alert to his surroundings. He eventually made it to him, and came out of the shadows. He asked, "You find anything yet?"

[TheUglyDucklett]

Hearing Spencer stopping short, Seth turned back confused and approached the other male. As he did, he heard the other male asking about plans behind the female reaper's back. It wasn't exactly professional to change plans like that, but diplomacy wasn't a bad idea. The female reaper also appeared to be a wild card, too...

"There's no telling what we might be dealing with, though. For all we know there might be a harbringer involved and we might be waltzing up to whoever it is. We might want to have one of us out of sight but close by in case things get out of hand," Seth suggested, but stopped as he heard a large booming noise. Looking over to the west, he could see something dark on the horizon. Taking out his monocle and focusing his vision more, he could see smog-like clouds. They seemed inky and mixed with a very dark purple kind of color. Cursing to himself, he grabbed Spencer, turned him around pointed to the clouds. "If that's not a mirage then we might be in for some trouble...!"

[Nakuzami]

Destiny Saviouer :: Moscow, Russia
Chapter One :: Poltergeist

☮

"I agree; enough arguing, The Grims assigned us this mission because we are all able to handle it. As far as my plan goes, never did I say it was the definite course of action. It was just speculation," Nox said, a hint of exasperation in his tone. "As lady Destiny here so nicely pointed out, we can surely come up with a plan to suit each of our attributes."

Destiny frowned as she heard the stress on the wordy "lady", as well as the use of such a word in the first place. Certainly some humans called her that, once upon a time, many times over, but Reapers and other immortals tended to only use it nowadays when they were being sarcastic. Two hundred years ago it was common courtesy to speak in such a manner, but even most of the immortals lost such trends as they evolved with the humans. Some did keep their original speech patterns, however, which Destiny actually found to be quite pleasing. They hadn't forgotten who they were in all of this everlasting life chaos. She could tell that was not the case with Nox. Not even close.

"Perhaps we shouldn't push our energies too far beyond the fighting actually. We may as well just follow the "the great and mighty one" over there's idea," Adrian added. Destiny's frown remained, not amused. "The sun is starting to go down. It will be time soon and we really can't afford to debate on tactics any longer. One thing I feel we need to know is: does anyone here have any special gifts beyond the usual?"

Destiny noticed Luka had slammed his head against a wall during all of this. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that. After a moment, however, he seemed to recover from . . . whatever was wrong and responded to Adrian's inquiry with a negative. Destiny could see it in his eyes, though. She could see that he wasn't being completely honest. He was a young Reaper and did not yet have much practice in advanced concealment techniques, whereas she had had thousands of years to hone both her concealment and detection techniques.

After Luka replied, Adrian spoke up once more. "Actually don't worry, I'll find out soon enough anyway." He smiled as he removed his sunglasses and placed them in a pocket. "The sun is starting to set, so we may as well get this show on the road, am I right?"

"Yes, I suppose you will," Destiny said, not having planned to reveal her abilities in the first place. It was a fair question, so that was not the issue. She just liked to wait to reveal such things. It was more amusing, and after six thousand years you either found as many things to amuse you as possible or became as dull as most of the Grims. The Grims were powerful, yes, but a majority of them were just so boring. At least, they were in the everyday. They all had their moments.

A moment later, the group dispersed. Nox returned to the alley that he had come from and wandered over the the warehouse door, practically falling into it. Apparently he was pretending to be blind. Destiny shrugged; a little improvisation was always useful. And amusing. It was a good skill to have.

The warehouse door opened and Nox was greeted by two vampires. A second later he disappeared inside the door, the vampires leading him into what they believed to be a trap. Well, technically speaking, it was. It just wasn't their trap.

There was the sound of struggling, and then the warehouse door flew open, skewered by one of Nox's Bone Spears. In a flash, Adrian had flown through his designated window. Destiny leaped off of her rooftop, her cloak catching wind as she soared towards the warehouse, propelled by her own spirit. With a flick of her wrist, the bolts on the ancient window flew out and the window opened quickly and silently, allowing Destiny to fly through the opening and roll onto the warehouse floor as she reached for her scythe.

Destiny rose to her feet, dragging her scythe in an upwards spiral as she did so, ripping through three vampires that were too close to her. As she stood, she noticed the other nearby vampires hesitate as they turned to examine the third intruder, confused on what was happening and who to attack first. After a second, the group separated, running in equally sized, smaller groups towards each Reaper.

Destiny smirked. These vampires didn't know what the were dealing with. Destiny flicked her wrist once more, creating a small disturbance at the feet of the vampires, causing them to trip over each other. She threw her scythe and it twisted in the air, seemingly taking on a mind of its own. It slammed into the group of vampires and killed about three of them, then it twisted around and sliced off the heads of two more. The remaining two vampires leaped to their feet and turned to run from the "haunted" scythe. Destiny's body dropped to the floor as she used another one of her tricks.

The vampires fell backwards as Destiny's spirit appeared in front of them, shoving them back towards the scythe. The scythe reared and finished off the two undead in one fell swoop.

Destiny's spirit grabbed the scythe and walked back to her body, merging with it. Her body came to life in an instant. She got to her feet and turned towards the others. It wasn't as fun with vampires as it was with humans, but Destiny was the definition of a poltergeist. It could be great fun when she was in a sadistic mood.

She ran towards the others, slicing her way through the vampires as she did so. At least half of them had already fallen. They were not proving to be much of a challenge, which was a bit disappointing. Destiny had no doubt, however, that the Harbingers would provide enough of a challenge to make up for it.

[gimmepie]

Adrian Frode

Several more vampires fell at Adrian's feet slowly beginning to dissolve and giving him a moment to take a look around. Two Harbingers, who seemed to be taking their time, were nearly upon him, Nox was spearing vampire after vampire with those weird bone spears, arrows had begun to fly through the openings at the front of the warehouse turned battlefield and Destiny... well actually Adrian had no idea what she had done but what ever the hell it was had involved a floating scythe, randomly tripping vampires and a sizeable chunk of her attackers now being even more dead than they already were.
"Okay then" he said to himself, he would have to find out about that later.

Several vampires dived at Adrian his brief respite clearly having come to an end, he responded by flipping over the block of ice he had created a few moments earlier slicing at it and releasing the imprisoned Harbinger spell, which proceeded to explode out of the block completely vaporising it, and the vampires that had jumped for Adrian, who was now negating the Harbinger's surprisingly helpful attempt to melt him.
"Not bad" Adrian swivelled round just in time to counter the swinging blade of the speaker. A third harbinger had circled around him, which seemed to have been what the other two Harbingers had been waiting for as they too made a dash for him. Adrian ducked hearing the two blades and a large axe clang together above him, right where his head had been, as he shifted his wait to his left had sweeping his leg at the legs of the two newer attackers and tripping them over before pushing himself back into the air and attempting to cleave the first Harbinger's skull, unfortunately for Adrian his speed wasn't much help against an opponent who had time to prepare. An elbow crashed into his stomach sending him crashing into the ground and producing a large crack in the floor, winded he rolled out the way and jumped to his feet to avoid the sword that had struck the ground where he had been laying moments earlier.

The other two were also up and read converging on the lone reaper, who was too far away for his preoccupied team mates to be of much assistance. He took a defensive stance raising the grey blade he was wielding between himself and his attackers, he just had to hold them off until enough of the vampires had been picked off and Luka could come in and lighten the load. There was a loud crash as the three Harbinger weapons collided with Adrian's pushing him against a wall as he struggled against them. Swearing loudly and panting heavily he somehow managed to force them back, this was not going to be fun.

[Geras32]

Luka Sokolov - Chapter 1-5: Vampire Hunting

Fwip! An arrow went flying through the doorway straight into a vampire's chest. The mission was underway and Luka's team was in the thick of it. Nox had managed to keep the door open, allowing him to shoot into the battle from his vantage point, albeit with a limited range to fire into. Fwip! Yet another vampire fell to Luka's bow. That makes eight, he thought, reloading once more. All his hunting had truly paid off when it came to shooting vampires. When hunting deer, the hunter is taught to aim for the heart rather than the head the way people are killed (in the movies at least). Luka settled his cross-hairs on another bloodsucker.

He had seen Adrian battle before, but he had been amazed when Nox revealed his extending bone-spear weapons. He watched in awe when Destiny entered the fray, mowing enemies down with strange and powerful techniques. But now, the vampires' numbers were thinned by quite a lot, and he no longer had any targets he could hit at the angle he was at. It was time to use the windows. If the Harbingers were as powerful as he believed, he would only get one shot at most before he was caught and forced into melee. Luka jumped from his perch as silently as he could and made his way to the warehouse, jumping up to a window. From a distance he could see very little through the windows because of the grime, but up close there was an obscure, but still there, view.

He peered through the glass at the current state of the fight. Adrian had been surrounded by three harbingers, and he was in serious trouble. He managed to escape from the ring they had made around him, but he they continued after him. He needed help. Luka moved his crossbow near the window and prepared the shot. He would have only one chance, then he would have to jump in with his blade. Nervous, he targeted the harbinger closest to himself, aiming at his head. A shot to the heart on a human (or as human as they were) would not stop them as immediately as he needed it to, so he would have to risk the more difficult head shot. He focused and took a deep breath, keeping the target's head in the middle of his cross-hairs. Damn! Luka's breath was too loud and at that distance the harbinger had heard him! Luka took the shot but instead of hitting his brain stem like he had planned, his enemy turned and took it through an eye.

There was no choice, he had to move now. Luka jumped through the broken window and drew his sword mid-fall, driving it through the harbinger who was clutching his face upon landing. He stood up to face the battlefield, assuming a battle-ready stance with his sword. Everything seemed to move much faster up-close. After taking a second to calm down, he turned to help Adrian only to hear the words "What's the bird doing coming down here with the dogs?" before seeing the massive hammer speed toward him. He reacted and avoided having his spine shattered, but not fast enough, and the weapon hit his left arm, crippling it. Luka spun and hit the ground, in pain from having landed on his now broken arm. He got up warily, now only having one arm to hold his sword.

Coming down here was a bad idea and he knew it, but he came anyway and was now a liability. He didn't expect for the harbingers to be this fast, to catch him off guard and so soon after his arrival. His assailant grinned and said, "Shouldn't have left your little perch," before raising his war hammer to strike again. Luka had little to no talent for magic, but he did know one simple spell which he cast on himself. It was meant to numb the pain of a wound, and he had learned it with the intent of killing his targets mercifully and painlessly. With his skill it couldn't eliminate it entirely, nowhere near it in fact, but it helped. It seemed with the one harbinger down, that left two for each of his teammates and one for himself. Now luka truly felt like the weakest link.

[gimmepie]

Adrian Frode

As the three enemies facing Adrian began to rally for another attack and Adrian prepared to face them there was a brief distraction as an arrow came flying through what had one been a window when a distraction came in the form of an arrow flying into the eye of the Harbinger that had attacked Adrian from behind and sure enough soon after he was down for the count, not quite dead but heavily incapacitated and Luka was in the fray fighting a bulky Harbinger with a hammer. Adrian took the moment of distraction to go on the offensive his movements a blur as he hacked at the knee of the closest Harbinger, a tall and beefy black man with an axe, limiting his movement before whirling his blade at head of the other a thin, pale man with a shaven head and a broadsword. Unfortunately his adversaries were now prepared and the attack was blocked, Adrian didn't mind though. He pushed forward on the swords in front of him getting closer to his opponent and putting his foot behind him, then with an strong shove he pushed the other man to the floor stabbing him through his gut and pinning him to the floor with his sword, which he didn't have time to retrieve because an axe nearly cut him in two as the burlier man swung repeatedly pushing him away from his injured (and stuck) comrade and of course the sword that had impaled the pale warrior.
"Wonderful" though Adrian as he looked around the room, his eyes falling on a thin steel pole resting against the wall... "that could work".

[Flydro]

Nox Fenoir

After infiltrating the warehouse under his blind disguise, Nox had initiated the bloody fight to create an opening for his teammates to join in. They quickly descended upon the warehouse and began slaughtering the vampires with no mercy, blood was smeared along the walls and floor as the Reapers tore through the horde of vampires. It was chaos as the fight continued, and Nox was sure to be on high alert as the Harbingers joined in. He narrowly ducked one of Luka's arrows as it hit a nearby vampire in the chest.

"Argh!" winced Nox as he was attacked by three vampires from behind, attempting to pin him down and sinking their fangs into his shoulder, arm and neck.

As he struggled to reach for one of his spears, two of the vampires held his arms behind his back to prevent him from using his weapon. Unable to use his spear, a few of Nox's long dreadlocks began to rise, transforming into black mamba snakes. The snakes bit the vampires multiple times and they released him at once, hissing and clawing at their bite wounds. The eyes of the vampires too began to change as they started to bleed and turn white and cloudy, resembling Nox's own eyes. As they writhed around in pain Nox grabbed a bone needle and englarged it into a spear, mercilessly stabbing each vampire in the chest. With no time to react, he was then blindsided by a Harbinger, who had rammed into him with such force that it knocked the spear from his grasp and sent him flying into a wall. Nox rose to his feet to find himself face to face with two blue eyed Harbingers standing side by side, apparently twins.

"You and your friends have come to the wrong place Reaper," said one of the Harbingers as he brandished a spiked chain, the links clinking together audibly.

"We'll dispose of you quickly," whispered the other Harbinger as he brandished a dagger, which was ablaze with fire magic.

"Not a chance, Harbinger," Nox retorted as he grabbed his two bone scythes, gripping them tightly with anticipation.

Without warning, the twin Harbingers charged in and the fight ensued. Nox managed to avoid most of their attacks, which was increasingly difficult as the two worked as a team. After slashing the dagger wielding Harbinger across the chest, Nox was caught up in the chain of the other. As he struggled to free himself, the spiky links of the chain tore into his arms while the chain wielding Harbinger held him down. Though severly wounded, the dagger wielder was still able to fight.

"Urgh.. you're finished Reaper," said the Harbinger, clutching his chest and wiping blood from his mouth. He ignited his dagger with flames as he advanced toward Nox.

[dcjboi]

A seal appeared on the ground and for a moment the air of the desert was silent yet thick. A dark spiritual energy flowed throughout the air although Spencer was unaware of this in the slightest. The ominous clouds blew his mind entirely and he automatically knew that they found what they were looking for.

Without a moments notice, he burst forth with a determined look on his face. He didn't know what he could do to stop this but he knew that he couldn't sit by and allow this to happen.

"Seth!" Spencer call out, "We may be too late but we need to try to save as many tribes people as we can. Try to prevent that cloud from manifesting into anything to make the situation worse and I'll try to stop it from the source."

As he neared the large group of tribespeople, they payed no heed to him at although and remained silent in a circle, facing inward. The only noise that could be heard was an arcane chant coming from somewhere in the crowd. A few runes manifested in the air and on the desert ground and lit up a blood red.

[gimmepie]

Adrian Frode

The axe-wielding Harbinger facing Adrian swung his weapon for the unarmed Reaper's head, Adrian though, had anticipated this and leapt up and using the flat of the axe as a spring bored he did a colossal back flip, landing by the pole he had noticed, the Harbinger chasing after him. Adrian grabbed the thin pole as his hulking opponent sped towards noticing the bad position Nox was in, he only had a split second to choose what he was going to do
"he owes me for this" said Adrian to nobody in particular as he hurled the improvised weapon across the room like a spear whilst dodging a swing from the axe. He was fairly accurate but, assuming it hit, it wouldn't incapacitate the Harbinger with the blazing knife for long, he hoped Nox could escape in time.

As he hit the ground and rolled onto his back, smacking his head in the process, he saw the axe descending towards him, kicking forward he hit his enemies injured knee making stumble and miss the shot. Adrian rolled to the side, kicking the weakened Harbingers other leg out from under him and rising to his feet he elbowed the giant in the back of the head bringing him to the ground, before kicking hard at his skull. He heard the loud crack but the man was still going to struggle to his feet. Adrian was about to go for another kick to the head but was distracted by movement he caught in the corner of his eye... coming straight for him.

Adrian dived out the way as the Harbinger he had impaled with his sword, whilst being seriously wounded swung hard at him... with his sword.
"Hey! That's mine!" he yelled as he dodged another slice from the blade this keeps getting better and better he thought to himself.

[heretostay123]

Tasahiro Mishumi: Chapter 1-Part 1: A Meeting of Reapers

Tasahiro watched his ally emerge from the shadows. "You found anything yet?" A rather brash question.

"I've been asking various sources. My little birds are searching as we speak." The young samurai had contacts all over the ancient city. "We will have his location in moments. I have agents making their way here at the moment." Mishumi stepped from his corner in the alleyway, brushed his hair from his face, and brought his trench coat up to conceal the two swords at his waist. "All in due time my friend." His voice was soft, much like a whisper. "What about you?" The other Reaper was younger by far, but he seemed wise: Quiet and calm. Not too reckless. A good man to have in a fight. "I could say the same as you, but you ran off." This man needed to learn how to be in a team. Teamwork was essential in their line of work. It was dangerous for a Reaper to be alone. Tasahiro wasn't exactly a "team man," but he knew the bonus of being a part of a team. "Remember that, kid." He felt elder the since he was over a thousand years older than Kalet.

[Geras32]

Luka Sokolov - Chapter 1-6: Outmatched

Luka and his opponent were at a standoff. It seemed that hammer-man was not your typical berserk bruiser, and that he was cautious yet confident. Despite his efforts, it looked like Luka had indeed underestimated the harbingers, and it had cost him his left arm. He watched his enemy, waiting for him to make a move or leave an opening, but there was no such luck. The harbinger was skilled, and he guarded himself well. Suddenly the man whistled loudly, and Luka panicked. Was he casting a spell? Was it a signal? Luka didn't want to risk turning away from him and leaving himself open, but that could have been anything. Suddenly there was a snarling noise dangerously close. With no choice, he turned, and saw a trio of vampires rushing at him. Acting fast, he impaled one of them and used it's body as a makeshift shield against the others' attacks. With a spin, he drew out the blade and struck the other two, slashing across their throats. Suddenly he remembered his original foe and turned back, barely seeing the hammer before it crashed down on him. He tried to move so it wouldn't hit it's target, his head this time, and instead took the blow to the left shoulder. Luka screamed in pain as the bones snapped, worsening the condition of the already crippled arm.

"A sniper has this habit of keeping his focus on one target instead of all around him," he began tauntingly. "You're so used to your safe little perch that you forget the harshness of the battlefield." Now Luka's little spell was useless, since the pain from two hammer strikes was agonizing. There was no hope, he was completely outmatched. The harbinger was walking slowly toward him. He ran. He kept running, but soon ran into a wall. Then he turned and ran more, but was met by the corner. He heard the harbinger burst out laughing. "This is so pathetic it's hilarious." His laugh turned quickly into a scowl. "But more so, it's insulting. They send a weak amateur like you after us? Give us harbingers a little more credit. Not only do we outnumber you, but even our worst warriors are leagues better than the likes of you. We don't know what little tricks you reapers have got up your sleeves though, but it's clear you don't have any, do you?" There was nowhere for Luka to go. The man stopped a few yards away from him, waiting. Moments passed, but they felt like an eternity. Neither side moved.

"I thought so," he continued. he lifted his hammer and swung for the killing blow. It was over, but not for Luka. At the start of his swing, Luka threw his sword at him. His skill was in his aim, which wasn't only applicable to his bow. His foe had anticipated some sort of attack in desperation, and adjusted his movement to knock the weapon aside. "That's it?" he taunted, before he saw Luka jumping onto him with an arrow in hand. He couldn't pull his weapon back in time, it's momentum exhausted in striking the sword, and so he had no way to counter Luka's next move. He stabbed the arrow into the harbinger's eye and, just like with the other harbinger, took his sword and plunged it through him while he suffered from the arrow. The blade went straight through the man's heart, and the bulky fighter fell.

Luka stood there, breathing heavily. In a moment, the adrenaline faded and the pain of his arm registered it's full intensity. He dropped his sword and clutched it in pain. He was exhausted and crippled, and if he was forced to fight another harbinger, he would surely die. Luka took a moment to look at how his companions were faring, as he focused on numbing the pain in his arm. Nox had been faced with a pair of what looked like twins, and they fought with perfect synergy. He was in serious trouble until he was saved by Adrian, who found himself against two foes once more as the harbinger he had stabbed recovered to fight again. Luka looked back to his own kill and decided to put an arrow through his other eye for good measure, not wanting to be in a similar situation. He thought about his own fight. He had been scared out of his mind, but looking back he was glad for that. He had managed to look so weak that he was not worth the extra caution, and that was the only reason he emerged victorious. Yeah, definitely the weakest link, he thought, but maybe that's not the worst thing in the world. He soon realized that was still terrible, but decided not to think about that. For now he was just glad to be alive.