Hey, sorry for the delayed update. Life caught up with me and I needed to postpone this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait.
Tobey stood in front of a table, his hands gliding with an unnatural grace over replacement guns he acquired through his contacts. Since he had left the bulk of his weapons in the Mansion, he had to secure replacements, both for himself and for others. Fortunately, Project Ares was still fresh and left behind just as he had when he left. Three weapons that would become extremely useful in the upcoming battle, of that he was certain. The shades had calmed him back down to his calculating mood. Other smashers who were familiar with fire arms, Snake, Samus along with El Duce and Gallowglass helped him clean the weapon. Ulfric, Marth, Link, and Ganondorf sharpened their blades and other weapons.
Cherry Bomb stood next to table as well, helping him by loading magazines for him. She looked over to Tobey uneasily. There was only one time he paced enough firepower, and that was the assault on the Brotherhood of Unity. She also disliked his attitude when he was preparing for a mission, there was no way to change him to his cheery self. Each mission he went into was with a stone cold professional outlook. He had never lost a fellow runner on the job, but she had heard stories from Duce about the time they took down the Emerald City Ripper, the one who killed Sam Watts. When face with an abomination of flesh, Tobey took little care for his own safety and charged the hulk with a blazing weapon in each of his hands. He only made sure that if entered death's embrace, he would not do so alone.
"I need a minimum of fifteen magazines for each of these weapons. That may just et us through this hellish nightmare." Tobey spoke in a deathly cool voice. Cherry Bomb nodded and placed her last magazine down on the table. Those who finished sharpening their weapons came over to help load the last of the clips. Roughly twenty guns were laid down in the table, five of each type. Tobey loaded in the first six rounds on his revolver, a single word or phrase was etched onto the sides of the bullet jacket. It was a ritualized thing for him, taking a moment to load the first magazine of his sidearm. It allowed him to clear his mind and allow him to concentrate on the mission ahead of them.
Gallowglass laid out a blueprint of the map on the table in front of him. "Our Holy Father's Catholic Church; old, tough, and enough space to fit an army in the pews. Constructed prior to the time of goblinzations, about twenty or so years actually if you want to get technical. There is only one known way in and out." He pointed to the front door. "One foot thick and made of hardened maple. Walls are two feet and granite. A group of one hundred clergy are in there at all times. I don't see wha the problem is getting there."
"I do." Tobey said and pointed at the area in the map. "Jackson and fifty-fifth?" Nobody replied and he responded. "Human Purity controlled territory. We'll stick out like bullocks on a bull dog, stealth isn't going to be an option." Cherry Bomb sneered with disgust at the members of Purity. When the goblinizations started sixty years ago, the whites, blacks, Hispanics managed to stop going at each other's throats. They then decided to go at the new comers, and it was a long, bitter and not to mention violent struggle.
Snake laughed bitterly, "Well, then it looks like we have to kick in the front door then." He slammed home a fresh pistol clip as he said that. Samus rolled her eyes to Snake's usual maverick attitude towards things. Tobey forced a smile and the others did the same. Tobey then moved to a foot locker next to a bunk he usually slept in. Pricking his fingers, he added a few droplets of blood onto the lock, and it replied in turn. He opened it up and withdrew three bulky black guns. Those who were familiar with them were unsure as hell what these were. Gallowsglass and El Duce nodded solemnly and each took one from Tobey, who kept one for himself. He reached into a pouch and produced fifteen bullets of each kind, all cast a faint glow of green. He passed them amongst those who would be carrying a firearm. "What the hell are these things?"
"They are a product of audacious research. Putting the power of this," he said gesturing to the massive gun, "into that. I have only thirty rounds, so use those well, for I will give you no more. It will become very apparent when you will use them." They nodded and he told El Duce to get some transportation lined up. He nodded and barked orders for the others to followed, which they did. Tobey's features lightened and turned back to Cherry bomb, who slammed unto his lips. "Cherry, I need to ask a favor of you…" She raised an eyebrow and Tobey continued. "Could you keep an eye on the kids for me? I don't need to be worrying about them while I'm on the job. It could distract me from the mission."
She rolled her eyes and ran her finger across his chest. "Really, Tobey? You come to me and the first thing you ask me is to look after a few tykes for you? What about "Cherry, could we go out to dinner after this?" or "Cherry, how about you give me a practice physical for your class?" She smirked on the last one seductively, causing the wind to rush out of Tobey's lungs. She liked seeing Tobey like that, surprised. She slugged him on the shoulder and kissed him again. "Fine, after all if we want our own, I might want to get some practice in." Tobey laughed with her and nodded. "You owe me dinner after this."
She turned around and swayed her hips in a carnal way, causing Tobey to take in a sharp breath. He was still getting use to Cherry Bomb's attitude, and though it put him to ends on more than one occasion, it was her and he wouldn't change it for the entire world. He laughed for a moment before realizing the situation again. He loaded his shotgun and followed the others out for a ride to the cathedral.
Zelda breathed in the cold air. So this is where Tobey haled from, she looked around at the urban sprawl all around her. Concrete was all around her, and she couldn't see one tree anywhere. It was a small wonder on why Tobey said he had survived the concrete jungle. When she first heard him first say that, she thought he was boasting, but it turned out that it was no small lie.
She turned and looked down the street. She pulled a small sliver orb and thumbed the activation rune on the orb to life. Several runes flared a bright green and she looked around for a vehicle to ride. A gift from her new love, Loki had given her this to allow her to adapt to the worlds. A piece of long forgotten technology from the gods gave the user knowledge of the world around them. She looked around and spied three gangers standing next to a motor bike. She smirked like a cat ready to descend on her prey.
She walked forward, her leather boots splashing up the puddles all around her. The three gangers, one Ork and the others were human, spied her. The Ork approached her with open hands, ready to grab the elf. It was his last mistake, as Zelda unsheathed a blade with nothing more than a thought. The blade severed both hands and slit the jugular of the Ork. As the other two reached for their guns, Zelda tossed the straight blade like a spear through the heart of one of them before the twin sons of anger and desperation gave him strength. The third one turned away to run but Zelda was upon him in a moment. Her slender arms slithered across his torso and head. She kissed him gently on the cheek for a moment before sharply turning the neck two hundred degrees. "You wouldn't mind if I…?" She asked the carcasses as she picked up the keys and a biker helmet. "No? Then I'll be on my way."
He activated the small silver object again and looked at the bike. Images flared to life in her eyes. It spat out directions for her to use the motor bike but it reminded her that she was in Tobey's world. As such, she would have to play by his rules of magic. From what it looked like magic, like nature, had seasons. Sometimes magic was violent and unpredictable, other times it was completely gone. She frowned and realized that her magic powers were limited to this world, and it was in a period of laxity.
She withdrew her sword from the carcass of the ganger and took one of the loaded sub machine guns from his waist and holstered it to her side. She balanced herself on the bike and activated the motor to life. Sure slinging spells was nice, she heard Tobey's voice in her head, but sometimes a loaded forty-five can do more than a fireball can. She thought it was perhaps a portion of the sweetest irony that Tobey was going to have his own knowledge used against him in a very lethal manner. He laughed to herself and placed the helmet on her head. The heart of the elements needed to be found, and she would do as her love had ordered her to do so.
The rain had not let up since they set out from the taxies a few clicks from pro-human controlled territory. Every one, smashers and shadowrunners, quietly cursed the rain. Ulfric was at the front with Tobey. Not far behind him was El Duce, Snake, Marth and Ganondorf. Covering the rear was Samus, Link and Gallowsglass. Tobey could tell that this was natural rain and it was not affected by shamanism or the arts of the arcane. Ulfric whispered to none, "It's colder than a High Elf's grin."
They came to the end of the alley and ahead of them was Our Father's Cathedral. It appeared as if it was designed by a militant group rather than men of the cloth. That was to the untrained eye of the onlooker. As a shadowrunner, there was a much more sinister reason for the construction of this holy building. It was the headquarters for the most powerful pro-human organization in the greater Seattle area. Inside were armed, deranged and unstable motherfuckers. He spat away at them without a second thought. He trained his perceptive eyes against the rain and scowled. Two sentries were at the top of the building, patrolling with high powered rifles.
He snapped his fingers and raised his hand above his heads as an order for them to stop moving, lest they give away their positions. Then using that hand, he issued a complex hand signal, with each finger on the hand extended, and bent at the knuckle of fully closed. It described all of the positions of the positions of the sentries and what he wanted Gallowglass and El Duce to do. The two shadowrunners came forward and readied their assault weapons. They didn't bother to place silencers on their weapons; the rain would cover the sounds of their impending death long enough. On a curt nod, the shadowrunners fired a single round, killing the watchers with grim efficiency.
With a speed that belied his size, Tobey rushed forward with the others behind him. He reached the walls of the cathedral. The slick granite would have otherwise been impossible to climb, but he clapped his hands together and pressed them against the stone. A wall of solid ice formed, five inches and with grips for the hands and feet. The crew began to scale the walls with ease, the ice holding to their grip, not slipping that was expected with ice. Ulfric was the one who threatened to pass Tobey, his Nordic heritage growing up in a land of fire and ice boiled in his veins.
After the last of them reached the top of the building, a flat and open roof, prefect for defense and standoffs with the local rent-a-cops, Tobey touched the ice again, turning the last of it to water so it would cover their tracks. He walked over to the carcasses and with the help of the other smashers, he disposed of them. Gallowsglass raised a hand above his head and pointed to the door, signifying a change of the shifts were on the way. Snake and Tobey found positions next to the door along with Gallows. Another one came through the door, assault rifle and coffee in hand. Tobey acted with out hesitation.
Pulling the rosary off the back of the pants of the human, he pulled back the beads and revealed wire, sharp garrote wire. He wrapped it around the neck and with a feral grin, he pulled with all of the strength in opposite directions. The replacement flopped around for a moment before primary veins were severed and he slumped to the ground dead. He uncoiled the wire and likewise tossed the body over the edge. "Snake looked to Gallowsglass, "What the hell is his problem? I hear he had problems but the hell happened in his past?"
El Duce overheard the conversation and spoke in a very low and cold tone. "Snake, if you wish to remain on Tobey's good side, you do not bring up the past in his presence." Snake looked as if he wanted to object, but Samus laid a hand on his shoulder, calming him down. "We might want to establish watch, just incase your friends decide to pay us a visit." He gestured to Link. "I think your heightened senses will be able to detect trouble and if necessary, eliminate it." Link looked as if he was about to object, but he wisely remained silent, knowing that El Duce was right.
Scrounging the ammunition from the sentries, the remaining group descended down the stair well. The sound of their rubber soles on the stone threatened to reveal them to the enemy , but thankfully it didn't happened. The sound of thunderous applause and cheering entered their ears. There were words, but they were inaudible, especially from this distance. As they descended the stairs, they noticed a turn off point to where the choir would be at. They entered and looked at the gathered.
The church was filled, but not to the brim with the members of the group. Their traditional crimson robes with hoods encompassing their heads were worn. It was a sign that there was a metahuman in their presence. Well, one known of at least. Hopefully their cover had not been blown. "My brothers and sisters," The speaker at the head pulpit announced to the approximant one hundred gathered. "It is time that we purify the race of humanity. It is time we spill the blood of the tainted and the despised. We are pure, and we are the true and one race on this planet."
The smashers and runners knew where this was going. Tobey raised a hand to order them to stay put. He unfastened a grenade from his storm coat and El Duce did the same. "Behold no the worst of the metahumans. A deceiver who taunts the pure to give themselves into the filth, I show you an Elf." Dragged by her hair, a young, not to mention beautiful, blond elf was presented before the assembled crowd. He was bound and gagged with crimson cloth. The gathered jeered and cursed the elf and the speaker raised a long curved blade. "Let humanity be purged of this boil." He turned to the elf and raised the knife ready to deliver the killing blow. The young elf's eyes were full of fear and did clenched shut, not want to look at the blade that would take her life.
Before Tobey's finger could tighten around the trigger of his revolver, Ganondorf leapt over the railing and with a grace of agility that truly belied his size, he slammed down unto the cobbled floors and sent stone flying in all directions. He spun around and had a massive hand envelop the face of the leader, who lashed out with his knife but cut only leather and mail armor. "Who are you to threaten Sheik or any Hylian? That is my job damn you!" The skull resisted at first, but soon gave into the titanic pressure. Blood and brain matter splattered all around the leader. With a fist covered in dark magic, he send the body of the leader into whatever abyss awaited to claim his soul.
Tobey pulled the pin on one of his grenades and tossed it high into the air, the exploding fragmentation cut through the ranks and was only followed in intensity by El Duce's. Gallowsglass lashed out with an arcane explosion, sending a small multi-colored ball of pure arcane into the gathered and it rattled the bedrock beneath the church and the death screams of many filled the air. Firearms were being fired off trying to eliminate the smashers, but it was like trying to kill your own shadow because of all the smoke and dust in the air. "Take and hold!" Tobey bellowed over the din of battle. The order was clear, kill them all.
Leaping over the railing and rolling with the fall, he managed to get behind a pillar. Raising his assault weapon, he saw the image of Saint Mary. Raised a catholic back in his early years, he looked to her and wondered if Mary was still watching over him, even as a metahuman. That was one of the main reasons he went to the elements, the churches began to banish the goblinized as people and closed doors on them. The Catholic Church never did, but rather it allowed the churches to do so on an individual basis. All slammed shut in his face.
Regardless, all of the violence around them stopped as he looked to the image of the holy mother, her dark raven hair fluttering in an invisible wind trapped forever in time. He bowed his head to her and whispered a childhood prayer. "Hail Mary, mother of God, hail Mary, full of mercy, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." The words passed from his lips, he rose to ready his body and mind for war.
Link could hear the sounds of massed gunfire and explosions. Every fiber of his being told him to turn and rush to see if they were alright. But he knew that they were in good hands. It would not be for wise to abandon his post that stopped them from receiving any reports or allowing reinforcements to bolster the fray, Reluctantly, he stayed exactly where he was at.
He trained his eyes against the rain and tried to separate it from everything else. His eye sight was better than a normal human and he was willing to wager that it was better then the elves of this world. He took his bow from his shoulder and notched an arrow to the string. The rain was still falling in greater speed then it had. He wondered if it was like this every day as he shook his numbed fingers from the cold rain. If he spent another day in this place he would have moss growing between his toes. He chuckled dryly at the joke he made.
There was a sound that broke the traditional rain and Link turned his head to it to see what it was. He made out a small black, bullet shaped vehicle making its way down the street. Link strained his eyes and identified a motorbike of one sort or another. The occupant was wearing wet leathers and a black helmet. The rider stopped right outside the cathedral and dismounted. It was apparent that she wanted to get in to the Cathedral. Link growled with himself and pulled back the bowstring, sighting his target. He steadied his breathing and looked down at his target. He timed the release of the arrow with his steadied heart and let the arrow fly.
The arrow gut through the wing and the air with ease and smashed into the left shoulder of newcomer. The biker looked in the direction of him and disappeared, blinking onto the roof top where Link was waiting with sword in hand. The biker, who Link identified as a she, lashed out wither her own blade. Link parried the straight sword, which he thought was familiar, but he couldn't identify it in the pouring rain. He sword quietly and readied his shield to defend himself against her incoming blows. He heard a grunted howl underneath the helm and soon he was looking down the barrel of a loaded .45 caliber pistol. His enhanced reflexes allowed him to bring up his shield before the gun discharged and allowed him to counter with a closed fist.
She was sent sprawling and the helmet came off as she tumbled to the ground. She landed face first into the cement and the helmet was not far from her. Link moved in with his sword draw, ready to defend himself if she was going to ty anything unreasonable and try to attack him again. He got a better look at her and saw that she had exceptionally long braided hair, causing him to kneel down and get a better look at her. His curiosity was rewarded with the bike helmet slammed into the side of his head, causing him to stumble back. He heard tisking as the biker jumped back to her feet. "Link, why are you always such a sucker for even the most simple of plans?"
His blood froze in his veins, and it wasn't because the rain was picking up. He looked back to the person who spoke. It was Zelda, his ears and eyes confirmed it. Yet, instead of her beautiful eyes, they were replaced by some sort of baleful crimson, almost exactly like Tobey's. She continued to speak. "You always seemed to try to be the most merciful and when life needs to be taken, you are among the most hesitant. That is a symbol of the weak and I hate the weak." She raised an open hand an bolts of eldritch lightning flew out of the palm of her hands, electrifying the ground around Link. He growled in pain and took a step forward, massive charge of energy flying though his veins.
He growled as he repeated it again and again with the blasted lightning. The electrical flow was not meant to incinerate his body, rather it was meant to over load the heart and stop him dead where he stand. He could smell burning hair and flesh however and as he got closer, Zelda lashed out with her blade. Link gripped her blade and using his body as a conductor she was soon hit with a blast of her own energy. She was sent flying back and collided with a piece of stone. "Do you realize what you have become?" Link asked over the rain and other sounds of the city. "You have become not better then Lithia." He spat nd raised his sword as she did the same.
She uttered a laugh before she charged at him again, the two blades connecting with a massive clang. "I was blind and foolish." She said as she pushed him back. "In the embrace of darkness, I have become what I feared the most: death."
Tobey fired off another volley of rifle rounds and sent another human sprawling down to the grounds in death throes. Of the dozens who were there in the beginning, there was little left. Tobey expended a final blast before slamming another clip home. The dead and the dying were being killed to the last with gunshots or sword and axe blades. Tobey moved forward to Ulfric, who was slicing the bonds away from the elf's form. Tobey turned to Ganondorf with an inquisitive look. "Who is that?"
Ganondorf sighed and shook his head. "Sheik, but I have no idea how she is here." Ganondorf quickly and quietly explained it. Sheik was Zelda's counterpart in the brawls and outside of them as well. They have not been able to separate them into two separate beings. Whatever would have cause this was a powerful and extremely dark magic, some that even surpassed him in skill and ability. Toby nodded and once he heard that she was exceptionally well with stealth and assassinations, he felt a small smile tug at the edge of his lips.
He approached Sheik and knelt down to her level. She had short cut blond hair and was still very nervous of Tobey and others. "Th-… thank you." She stumbled over the words, causing Tobey to nod his head. He reached out into the elements and looked around for where he was detecting the Heart of the Elements. He sensed it and he reached the alter of the church. He felt around for some pressure plates that would allow him to push the thing back. Seeing none, he whistled for Marth and Ganondorf to help him. The others came around and slammed their shoulders into the alter, toppling it over and revealed a sliver lock. Tobey nodded, this was the place.
Samus used her beam pistol to cut away to locking mechanism on the plate and after a while, the lock came loose and a cavern tunnel of untamed rock covered the sides of the walls, allowed them a relative straight forward climb down. With Tobey at the head, the descended into the cavern. Inside was one piece of the artifacts they were looking for. Hopefully this would be enough to stop the end coming.
But hope, the words of an old shadowrunner entered his mind, is the first step of the road to disappointment.