Match of the Millennium

Description: Captured by The Raven Guard, Lotus awaits her fate of torture and interrogation. But before she suffers at the hands of her captors, she seemingly finds help from a Dark Savior...

[DUKE]
For Treven, it was a difficult three days.

It's one thing to be assigned guard duty with limited shift swaps to an extremely dangerous Darkstalker like Lotus. Certainly, she was in chains, but Treven was constantly inspecting, them constantly making sure it was all secure. It wasn't hard to turn the storage room of the community center by the harbor into a prison. Only one way in; and the ventilation was easy to control. As to keep her bound up? ALl that was is making sure her limbs were stretched in opposite directions on top of the table, with her body spread out to four corners. Chains and straps across the body, where you couldn't even wriggle. The compass knot, as it was sometimes called in the House of Podiebrad.

But he was paired with Alajos.

The guardsman would not stop -talking-. He never would stop talking. And it isn't bad to not stop talking, per say. Because Alajos does do his job. But he passed the time the same way he always did: Making non-stop, endless abrasive comments. From the moment he saw Lotus bound up, and made his pelvic thrust in the air, to the constant endless salty banter. Go screw this. Oh what would it be like to screw that. Do you think that that guardslady is screwable? Oh how about this Darkstalker, when do we screw her? Screw, screw, screw. The man practically should be a carpenter. For three days, on top of dealing with a dangerous Darkstalker that nearly murdered two squads, the diligent guardsmen had to endure his cousin's endless babbling. But that wasn't the worst part.

Because she wasn't gagged either.

"Day three, snake titted slut!" Alajos barked out to Lotus, having spent the last three days not just antagonizing Treven, but taking every moment to do the same to Lotus. "How's that throat of yours, eh? All cleared and smoothed out? I've been getting pretty damn horny these last few days, and Treven, eh, he's too much of a bottom!"

Treven whines, as he has for three days non-stop, as he facepalms.

[LOTUS]
"Day three, Sparrow-beak-for-a-dick!" comes Lotus' response!

For a prisoner, she is both snarky, talkative, and seeming not the least bothered OR scared by such, which may or may not be unusual. She seems to make little to no effort to escape, and regards her captors with humor-barbed disdain. For all the snark Alajos sends her way, she sends it back just as much. Treven isn't safe either, from offhanded comments.

"Oh, the throats fiiiiine thanks! How's your buddies? you know, the one who about a week ago i gave him a little toothy kiss on his neck? Still sore?". She grins savagely, eyes intense as the memory races through her mind "Horney? Oohh, biiiiig man! With me chained up and all, says a lot about what kinda ladies YOU like! Unless your tryin to hide your preference for your cohort here.... or maybe HE has the hots for YOU? Maybe your flirting with me has been making him jealous!".

[DUKE]
See, for Treven, it would have been better if she -was- bothered or scared.

No, it was worse than that. Instead of have dealt with a single abrasive, snarking, verbally abusive monster? He had to deal with a pair of them, jabbing and jousting endlessly for days. Alajos -loved- the game; when Lotus shoots back, he actually gives that nasty cackle that Treven had put up with too long. "What, Treven? Oh, we all know he's a switch hitter; he just doesn't get it up unless it's from a big strong mommy or daddy type." Treven's face was concealed by the Raven guardsmen masks; but you could -tell- he was blushing furiously. "But it's so nice you are so worried about our little family. Like Lukacs and Moricz, eh, they is doing just great!" There is a flash of a knife, as he snaps it out. And too quickly, he's right at the monster's throat. "They's going to want me to cut a few more holes in you, eh? Going to see how much it takes to make you scar..."

"Stop it, Alajos!"

Treven finally whines out loud, scolding his partner as he pulls him away. "You know we are not supposed to touch her!" The guardsman shakes out of Treven's grip, pointing the knife at Lotus. "Eh, fuck you Treven! This little bitch shanked me and threw me from the roof! I am owed a little justice." Treven refuses to relent, shaking his finger at his counterpart. "I will tell on you to the Patriarch, and he will-"

"Or I will do what?"

The Patriarch was standing in the room; the door slightly ajar behind him. He had well freshened up since his last encounter with Lotus; while some of the cuts were still visible, the smaller ones seem to be covered by gold and silver jewelry. In his hand was a golden hourglass; the sands were all currently at the bottom. The white haired nobleman was looking idly at the hourglass, inspecting it carefully in his silk-gloved hands, as his jewelry clinks at his hipsway.

"I hope Treven hasn't been mistreating you, Lotus."

[LOTUS]
That savage grin stays on Lotus' face as the guards do their thing. She doesn't even flinch when the knife is at her throat. She just staaaaaaaares at Alajos as he holds it there "Ooohhh. So YOU were the one on the roof who wasn't paying attention! Have a nice fall?". Raucous laughter follows, likly causing the knife to make a few small cuts if its too close, not that she cares, and not that last longer than a few moments before healing completely

When said Patriarch shows up, Lotus is..... happy!? "Hey! Head Honcho! GREAT fight! Good to finally see someone in charge that lives up to the role and actually DESERVES respect for a change!". She looks down at her guards "Naw. Trevens actually tried to follow orders and deal with my crap for the past few days. Other guy?" she looks left, looks right, as if worried someone might hear her, and speaks in a mock-whispering tone "he REALLY likes sharp knives paired with tied-up women". This is followed with an exaggerated wink. The wink then devolves into insane giggles and cackling.

[DUKE]
Treven and Alajos quickly fall into attention, bringing their clawed gauntlets over their breast in head-lowered salute. Bela, moving with the ebb and flow, seemed to be concentrating into the hourglass. Indigo light was flickering within the sands, like stars in the sky. Lotus's encouragement can't help but bring a smirk to his lips. His hatred of darkstalkers was carved into his soul, yes. But as she points out that Treven was listening, and Alajos's interests, he nods along, almost dreamily. "Yes, though normally Alajos is forced to deal with the one being tied up..." He shakes his head, as he turns his attention back to Lotus. "You seem to be in high spirits. Excellent." He steps up to the table, looming... next to Lotus he is still short even with heels.

"We will begin this again."

He glances back into the sands. "The questions, all again. That is what we will start with. Treven will take down the notes. And Alajos will be extracting the answers from the questions. This process will When the sands run down from the hourglass, it will tell me to come. I will review your progess, and your answers. And then, we will prepare the next session. And the next. And the next. It will be a slow, arduous process, Lotus. But with Treven's dilligence, and Alajos's... vigor, I expect that we will confirm every truth, and reveal every lie." Bela places the hourglass upon a table beside Lotus. He traces a finger across Lotus's hair. "Please cooperate as best as you can, Lotus. The sooner we get this done with, the better it is for everyone." Bela turns around, his silver jewelry clanging, though his gold seemed to be less now than before. The door opens with a flicker of indigo light. And then, it shuts. Treven drops his salute, warily, looking around for his pen and notepad. But Alajos.

Alajos was snickering darkly, as he turns back to the restrained Lotus.

[LOTUS]
The giggles and cackling settle slowly, and Lotus eyes the back of Bela as he leaves "Have it your way, though not sure how many ways to tell the same things. I was completely honest from the get-go, unless these are NEW questions". She then looks at Alajos "So, big boy. You gonna show me how you stick it in? Careful. Odds are i might LIKE it!". If he gets zealous enough to get too close, she WILL go for a dry bite, just to piss him off and fuck with his head (did she poison him? or not!?). She doesn't want him to be TOO badly damaged. She wants to play with him later!

[DUKE]
Alajos was adjusting his belt, as Treven suddenly moves in front of him again.

"Listen, eh, you keep jumping in front of me, accidents can happen, you might get cut." The tone was mincing, but the knife was leveled out at him. Treven just shakes his head. "Please, we need to- we need to do this by the book. We aren't supposed to do that, the Patriarch-" "Man, fuck the-" Alajos lowers his voice. "Bela, eh, he doesn't know how to do these things right." He shakes the knife out at Lotus. "That bitch, she humiliated us. So, we humiliate her. But she's a monster, eh? How do you break a monster?" Treven shakes his head. Alajos nods.

"Aurel knew."

He tries to push past Treven, unsuccessfully. "You were too young, but Aurel? The old Patriarch would run something he would call the 'Raven Train.' You would get 10 or 20 guardsmen, yeah? And they would just go in, one by one, again and again, over and over; we'd have a whole cask of wine, it would be a party. That's how you would take the edge off. You get nasty bitches like this, who think they are better than us? Well after a ride on the train, they'd be broken. Works every time. Like, you know Zsa Zsa's mother, eh? Treven?" Alajos's badgering stops a moment, a glimmer of concern. Because for a while, Treven seemed to be ready to object, to complain, to say something. But he was frozen, trembling, staring past Alajos.

Because there someone here now.

Alajos turns, and stares at it, The shape was at first, a blue outline, a humanoid shape cast in the purple blue light. At first, there is a skull in the midst of the face. But the shape was clear now. The ghostly blue skin was there; a darker blue purple suit over it, skin-tight. His winds are like scythes, a headdress sits over it, and his imposing, if a bit short figure was complete. Treven and Alajos were staring, dumbstruck, as the knife drops from the latter's hand. For them, the figure would be only distant. But for Lotus, the apparition would be very familiar.

As it was the Dark Messiah himself.

[LOTUS]
Lotus just drinks in the discord, enjoying the strife between the two. One by the book trying to follow orders, the other an aggressive generally bad person wanting to run things into the ground for his own amusement.

She laughs "Funny you say that, Alajos. You say i think i'm better than you? Well, maybe. I DID throw you off a roof and dice your teammates into a fine paste for the most part. Honestly, you call ME a monster, but you don't sound all that different. At least I'M honest about it!".

She blinks and goes quiet as she notices the newcomer. She stiffles a laugh, just staaaaaaring at him as quietly as she can, wanting to see how long it takes for the other two to realize hes there.....

When they finally do, she breaks down, and her mad laughter echoes through the room!

[DUKE]
Alajos is the one who reacts first.

He charges the spectre. Treven is still stunned, still trying to make sense of it. As Alajos reaches the figure, it lashes out his arm, a blue line of light ripping through the air it tears its claws in the guardsmen. The ghost proves to be all too real, when the claws rend through his armor, and sends him flying into a stack of chairs. That snaps Treven out of his daze. He turns around, his screams trapped in his throat, as he runs to the door. Help. Just shout help. He reaches for the door.

He doesn't make it.

The ghost floats in the air, and descends like a comet. Slamming into Treven's back, the guard is absolutely flattened, moaning and writhing on the ground. The ghost reaches the door, attempting to touch the lock almost instinctively. But at the touch of his claw, he recoils; the merest touch nearly slices and burns away the handle. Grimacing, he merely cuts the handle; a temporary fix. Treven begins to rise up, staggered. The apparition turns back to him, looking unamused. Drawing back his limb, he -slams- it hard into Treven, who flies back towards the stack of chairs, and of course, Alajos. He slams into his counterpart, and the duo goes still, body still burning from the indigo energy. The ghost turns back to Lotus. For a moment, he has a... curious look in his eyes. Almost hungry, as he looks at the restrained Lotus. But the glimmer fades as he returns to his distant frown, floating over to the Darkstalker. And the spirit speaks, his voice hollow and distant, almost distorted. But it is his voice, in tone and cadence.

"Getting yourself captured was not part of our agreement, Lotus."

[LOTUS]
A shrug is attempted, but being chained up, not really workable. NOBLE ATTEMPT!

"I made them EARN it! It took their head honcho himself to take me down, and only after i did a decent number on him. The rest of their members that tried..... well, lets just say they won't be forgetting me anytime soon!". She snickers mischeviously to herself "I heal fast, but even *I* can only take so much at once, sadly..... at least, for NOW!". That intense look returns to her eyes, as she contemplates how much scarier she COULD be someday......

[DUKE]
The apparition taps a claw to his chin, as Lotus responds.

His eyes kept dancing over her body, her form, over the chains. "Your hard work is acceptable." He finally decides. He circles the table, as he reaches out. Lifting up the golden hourglass, he holds it up to his eye level, staring distantly at the sands as they tumble down. Time was limited.

"Did you reveal anything to them, about my intentions for Southtown?"

[LOTUS]
"Not quite. Once they deduced i wasn't one of the brainiacs helping to plan the shenanigans, they stopped asking for those details. Wanted to know more about you and what makes you tick, and how it related to me or other such subordinates. Lot of 'test' questions mixed with more subtle stuff.

Lotus gets a....suprisingly thoughtful look "Maybe they wanna cut the head, then kill the rest during the confusion..... unfortunately, there was little gleaned the other way, other than that Zsa Zsa is a wonderful freak, one of the more important subordinates is a hardass that takes the welfare of his men seriously, and Bela himself is no slouch. The rest of the minor riffraff couldn't keep up with me well, but weren't slouches either. Most others without my healing would have been in trouble given time. They are quite well coordinated in groups.

[DUKE]
Jedah taps his chin, holding up the hourglass high, listening. He did not seem annoyed by Lotus's tangents. Well, too annoyed. "They are just roaches. Vermin, like the rest of the humans." He shakes his wrist, flicking his hand as if he is shooing away a pestering fly. "If they annoy me too much, then I will swat them. Whether they are mercenaries, or the NOL, or the people of Southtown. It does not matter. And if they are trying to go for the head..." He looks away from the hourglass, turning back to Lotus. Bringing his claw up, he rips his head fresh, a rush of energy spreading around. He places it back. "They will be disappointed in my tenacity." He shakes his head.

"But it's clear to me how you could become a liability, Lotus."

It's a tense moment, hanging in the air, when a demigod considers you a liability. The ghost places the hourglass back on the table, the sands trickling down. Briefly, his hand passes through the table unconsciously; it immediately slices through the portion, the table's integrity beginning to suffer. Everything physical around him seemed to be unable to coup with the pure energy; the apparition was antagonistic to reality, whether flesh or otherwise. Jedah turns back to Lotus, looking dismissive. "I will cut you loose from service, I will not risk you being captured and reveal my secrets again." He states firmly.

"But you must complete one last mission, for me."

[LOTUS]
As is well known, Lotus is quite off her rocker. Things that wouldn't frighten a child might terrify her..... while things that would make the Juggernaut scream with fright make her giggle like a schoolgirl. As such, the tense atmosphere does nothing to her, and she only grins, staring at Jedah as she wonders what he will do. Live or die, it's witnessing the choice that is what is interesting! Life or death? Meh. EVERYONE dies eventually.....

Including herself, one day. She's sure of it!

She tilts her head inquisitively as he mentions letting her off the hook and a last mission "Oooooooooh. sounds fun. I'm game! What's the job?

[DUKE]
The spectre smirks cruelly, as he turns away from Lotus.

"You will seek out the Mayor of Southtown in his home. There, you will murder him. Make sure there are witnesses, and make sure they know that Kira Volkov is behind it. She has done well to not only distract the people from our true plan, but to humiliate the NOL to the eyes of the common people. When they see that the can't even protect their beloved Mayor? They will throw out the NOL, and then." He looks towards the door, steepling his claws. "I will do what I could not do in Metro City, with a willing host of bodies." The ghost sweeps his hands at Lotus, claws ready to swipe.

"Do you understand what must be done?"

[LOTUS]
Lotus griiiiiiiiins "Sounds like a deal, boss man. Don't like to kill if i don't HAVE to, but it's a job to which i would be ideally suited!"

[DUKE]
"Then you are free."

The slash of the nails come, and the chains are shredded; the indigo energy slicing cleanly through. And the table too, for that matter. Lotus can handle the rest. He looks at the two guards, unconcious, and the hourglass. He picks it up, looking at it. Waking to the wall, he pauses. "Our time is short." He says. He swipes he claws again, at the wall.

And it rips open, bricks tumbling down as the alleyway is revealed.

"Hurry, Lotus. Do your mission. And then, you are free. Do not seek me again... or I will have to kill you." He stares at the hourglass, as the last sands begin to trickle down.

[LOTUS]
With a quick leap, Lotus is back on her feet. She streeeeeetches, recollects her weapons from the table nearby, and looks around the room. She quickly isolates an air vent, and with several simple slices, has her exit. She turns, gives a grin and a salute to the ghostly Dark Messiah, and vanishes into the darkness!

[DUKE]
And the figure holds, waiting until Lotus is cleared away.

The last of the sands trickle away, and the ghostly shape turns away. It's features fade, collapsing into a skeletal frame; the face soon is nothing more than a burning skull, as he turns back to the doorway. The door opens... and the figure winks out like a light. A hand extends, and catches the hourglass.

"And so, the first of three is now complete."

Log created on 11:13:52 05/11/2020 by Duke, and last modified on 22:24:17 05/11/2020.