trans_9 | The Fallen Knight (Phase Three) [closed]

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The Fallen Knight (Phase Three) [closed]

The streets of Religion Row were stained with bloody scorch marks, leading in a gruesome trail through the maze of temples and shrines. The stains seemed to lessen the further the trail was followed, and the last splotch of blood led to the steps of the Vatican.

The door of St. Peter's Cathedral had been knocked open and inside, the cavernous chapel seemed empty. This place still showed signs of the last battle here, the struggle against many of Veronica's relatives and the innocent people they had infected.

Deep within the chapel, he lurked.

His heavy footsteps were obvious, but the echo made it impossible to tell where he was. Heavy breathing, edged by growls, was audible from the somewhere in the darkness.

He heard them approaching, and he waited.

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It was actually fairly unusual for Claire Redfield to be as generally quiet as she had been, but aside from the few times when Leon totally deserved the sarcastic remark, she'd been silent. It hadn't proven all that difficult to track Steve down, anyway. Just follow the bloody mess and trail of injured crew. That was another reason why she'd been mostly quiet. Horrible horrible guilt turns out did silence even the most acidic of tongues.

At least Steve had run somewhere fairly abandoned, and Claire couldn't help but wonder again if he was still in at least partial control. She threw Leon a glance when they stepped through the ruined doors, immediately able to tell Steve was around, but where was an entirely different story.

She paused to shift the Linear Launcher into a more accessible position, her hands finding the grips. If Steve decided to show himself, she'd need to be ready to shoot him.

It wasn't unusual for Leon to be quiet on missions. Most zombies and BOWs weren't very good conversationalists anyway. But it was unusual for him to be that quiet while being with Claire. He had only spoken when he needed to, and otherwise kept his mouth shut, even through her occasional bits of sarcasm.

It wasn't as if either of them wanted to do this.

He gripped his 9mm tighter, an odd choice for a weapon considering what they were hunting, but right now he needed the mounted flashlight more than he did the firepower. It lit up the darkness, and he swept it from left to right as he moved, occasionally checking high on the walls and the ceiling, looking for any signs of where Steve was hiding.

Sweeping the light around would eventually spot a flash of red eyes in the darkness up on a high ledge. It disappeared quickly, ducking back into the shadows, and the pounding of footsteps intensified.

There was suddenly a tremendous crash and a massive shape hit the ground not 20 yards in front of them. The Tyrant roared and began to slowly stalk towards them, pausing once he'd gotten close enough to see just what had come in after him.

And he didn't look especially pleased.

Well that certainly hadn't taken long.

Claire let out a surprised gasp when Steve landed before them, and quickly squared the launcher away on her shoulder, but she didn't fire. Despite the chaos and destruction, she knew the cure was still being worked on, and she had to at least try one more time to get through to Steve, to save his life, before she was forced to end it.

"Steve! If you're still in there, you need to fight this! You need to stop!" Her finger was on the trigger, though, and if he got any closer, she knew she'd have to fire. Her own life she was willing to risk, but Leon's she wasn't.

"Claire..."

He didn't need to say any more than that out loud. His tone was saying for him the words he couldn't. Take the damn shot.

The Tyrant snuck closer, only a bit, then paused. He stared the two down and tensed at the sight of the launcher up on the human's shoulder-- some part of him must have recognized it once again.

He growled low in his throat and suddenly lowered his head. He paced like it was hard to hold still, keeping his eyes locked on the armed pair in front of him. Then he took a few steps backwards, and the growl changed to a heaving pant and his body seemed to start trembling.

She heard the tone in Leon's voice, and she'd been prepared to take the shot, but then... Steve backed off. She stopped breathing for a second, her mouth slightly open as she watched the disfigured teenager, unsure what would happen. She kept the launcher trained on him, but held off on pulling the trigger.

"...Steve?"

He backed away further, shaking his head quickly like he was trying to throw something off-- the virus' control on him, or maybe the other way around? It was hard to tell. He punched the ground a few times and looked up at the pair again, staring at them hard.

He was clearly struggling about something.

A few seconds later he snarled again.

Claire's brow furrowed as Steve struggled, but when he kicked back into aggressive mode, snarling at them again, she couldn't wait any longer. This was a battle he wasn't winning. They weren't winning. So she had to end it.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, before bracing herself for the kickback and after the briefest hesitation, pulled the trigger.

The bolt of electrified plasma flew through the air, crackling and sizzling on its deadly path toward the very large target-- who at the last second, darted off to the side and out of the way.

It was really unfair how fast a creature that big could be. The bolt exploded against the back wall, leaving a burnt-out Linear Launcher recharging while its intended recipient stood unharmed on the other side of the room.

Until he roared and started charging. Now this was aggressive mode.

Dammit!

"Go!"

Leon starting firing his gun at Steve, knowing full well that it wouldn't do much damage if he hit. But hopefully the shots would piss off Steve enough that the monster would go after him. That would buy Claire the seconds that the Linear Launcher needed to recharge.

The Tyrant took up the challenge whole-heartedly, turning towards Leon and bounding at him at full speed. He leapt in for the kill, claws poised to deliver a nasty bisecting... and if they missed, there was always the half-ton of monster flying at him.

The last time he'd been in the city had been for the Council meeting, and as he emerged into the huge space, full of strange and sundry buildings, Luke idly wished that he could be here for something as innocuous as that. But a ripple in the Force - danger, close but not too close - was an unnecessary reminder of why he was here.

"I guess there aren't any homing beacons we can use to pinpoint where everyone's at," he said. "We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way." Jedi senses could give him a direction, which he figured was all they needed. Stretching out with his mind, Luke hesitated, then started off on a route that he thought would lead them by the Jedi Temple and the cathedral, then onward past those.

"Keep your eyes and ears peeled," he said to Miku. "Don't be afraid to take the lead if you see something. I've got your back."

The "bad" feeling that kept clawing up inside her ebbed and flowed as they walked through the path of destruction. Even where Steve hadn't been had the awful feeling of Do you see what he's done? married to it.

"R...Right, I understand." Miku breathed and adjusted the gun again for what felt like the three hundredth time. It wouldn't do to be distracted.

Luke had a bad feeling about all this, too. His danger sense was nagging at him insistently, as though there was something nearby that was the source. But he figured if there was a fight going on, they'd hear it if it was as close as whatever the source of this seemed to be.

Still as they approached the cathedral, Luke pulled his lightsaber off his belt, just in case. It never hurt to be prepared.

Glancing over, he saw Miku adjust her hold on the gun. "Want me to carry that for a little while?"

There was another splatter of burned-up blood in one of the small planters alongside one of the shrines. Growing out of the planter now was a massive tangle of bizarre vines, twisting around like tentacles.

As the pair approached, they wouldn't notice the vines quickly whipping out along the path behind them until they had snagged both of them by the ankles and yanked them off their feet, towards the planter-- where a massive flower was slowly blooming, teeth and all.

Somehow it actually managed to look hungry. Or perhaps that was easy to figure out with how quickly it's pulling them in towards itself.

"It's okay I thi--" Miku was suddenly cut off from her sentence with a shriek as the world went sideways. She reflexively turned herself to keep from landing on the gun, but if it was to save the weapon or keep herself from getting pounded, who knew?

Miku tried to dig her heels in but it didn't quite seem to be working. "Get off!"

He'd had only a moment of warning, a sudden spike in the nagging feeling, and then something was grabbing his ankle--

"Woah!"

Luke was stunned a moment, the sudden drop having knocked the breath out of him, but he recovered fast enough. His hands were still free, so he tightened his grip on his lightsaber and ignited it. With a snap-hiss, the brilliant green blade came to life, casting a reassuring glow. Using the Force as a guide, he sent the lightsaber flying, turning end over end, and slicing through the tentacle that had Miku's ankles. "Go!" he shouted to her, using the Force to bring the lightsaber back to his hand.

He let the tentacle drag him in more, then threw his lightsaber again, using the Force to guide it. The green blade went clean through the other side, and with a horrid screech, the plant shuddered and went still. Luke didn't take any chances, though - he called the lightsaber back to his hand and shut it off.

Her ankle ached, but Miku complied; she took off down the destruction trail of Religion Row, stubbornly clutching the gun. When she thought she was safe enough, she stopped and waited for Luke. A cursory glance of her person revealed scratches and torn stockings, and red marks around her ankle where it promised to bruise up fantastically.

"Where are you, Steve?" Miku breathed, turning in place to find a clue to their direction. She was answered by the sound of the linear launcher going off nearby followed by a heart-stopping, inhuman roar.

Luke jogged up to her side, pausing when the roar reverberated through the city. "I think we're getting close," he murmured, eyes and senses stretched out. "We'd better keep moving. Steve needs that, and he needs us. First, though - you okay?"

Miku looked like she was about to cry, but nodded. "I'll be all right," she assured Luke, despite the waver in her voice. She pointed in the direction of the roar, "I think we should go that way. That's where I heard the... laser...y.. noise."

She ducked off to the side when Leon shouted for her to move, putting some distance in-between him and herself while silently cursing Alexander Ashford for not bothering to think of having a reserve battery pack built in in case the first shot didn't hit.

The second she heard Steve advancing on Leon she spun around and while she hoped to God Leon would get out of the way, she acted automatically. The Launcher was useless at the moment, but it wasn't like she'd come unarmed otherwise. Her own handgun was strapped to her right side, which she couldn't get to at the moment due to the launcher restricting her movement a little, but she had her combat knife in its sheathe on her belt, which she could reach.

She knew it wouldn't do much damage, and would only serve to draw Steve's attention back to her, but that's what she wanted. He hated Leon even when he was in his right mind, she didn't exactly like the idea of him being the bait, here. The Launcher was still in its charging cycle, so she did the most (ir)rational thing she could think of. She flung her combat knife, aiming at the creature's back.

"Hey! If you're gonna kill someone, kill me!"

Leon was a professional. And, thankfully, not nearly as suicidal as he looked.

He dived to the side, and then continued to roll out of the way. He landed in a crouch, and--

Was Claire completely out of--

Focus.

--he swapped his handgun for an assault rifle, and started taking shots at Steve's legs.

The Tyrant skidded to a halt and slammed into the wall just beyond Leon, bringing an end to what was likely a priceless row of classical art. He rebounded fairly quickly and stood a little stunned for a moment-- until a knife slammed him in the shoulder and he let out a loud howl of pain. It was stuck up to the hilt and stung, even if by size comparison it was basically a papercut.

His eyes narrowed at the human who'd thrown it and he rushed towards her viciously, tripped up and slowed down by the bullets hitting his legs, which brought him to almost a crawl.

Crawling it still pretty fast when you're that big.

Not the best plan she'd ever had. Then again, Claire had never been spectacular at planning very far in advance. She scrambled backwards as the creature advanced on her, checking the battery charge gauge on the Launcher as she went. Barely halfway charged.

Alexander Ashford was again, cursed. She spun around to try and get more distance between her and Steve, attempt to circle around, but found she'd inadvertently backed herself into a corner.

"Oh, shit." She turned back around, pushing the launcher behind her so it was swinging on the strap, useless and keeping her separated from her only line of defense, at the moment. She knew bullets were spectacularly useless, but she could at least attempt to slow him down enough to get herself somewhere less stupid to be standing.

She unholstered her gun and snapped it up as fast as she could, squeezing the trigger as fast as she was able, focusing her fire on his head. She knew it wouldn't kill him or even permanently damage him, but temporary blindness would be a very good thing.

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The Fallen Knight (Phase Three) [closed]

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Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city...

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