Cleveland

Antioch|GM

Freddy hurls his shoe mid-run at the bloody, winged Tinker, charging in a last ditch attempt to stall her -- stall a murderous, rampaging villain who wasn't stalled by his rat minions for very long and ended said stalls by cleaving them in half or blowing them up from the inside. He freezes, hesitant, the adrenaline from wrenching himself out of the grasp of

whatever mental compulsion Absynthesis hit him with giving way to sheer, unadulterated panic.


He sees her jerkily turn towards him, metallic spikes on her fingertips lancing out -- then all he sees is the ceiling as he's violently pushed to the ground, unable to complete his charge.


Dazed, fumbling for his bearings, he finds the entirety of the room awash in a blaze of red light, powerful enough to leave a permanent afterimage etched into his eyes as he screws them shut.

Nick|Freddy

Freddy's ashamed as he's thrown to the ground. He wasn't able to do it. But the red light? Does that mean that The Good King's gun had gone off?

And Freddy seeing the light, being aware of it, does that mean that he's still alive?


He waits for the light to subside, and rolls over onto his stomach, scared to open his eyes, to see the aftermath of those last few chaotic seconds. He screws up his courage and opens them anyway, pushes himself off the ground.

Antioch|GM

In the aftermath of things, everything is terribly, terribly quiet.

The cold, winter wind passes over the gaps in the shattered window, The Good King panting for breath, and... very little of what was there, when it comes to Sigma, Absynthesis, and the guy that shoved him out of the way.


All that remains is a puddle of what looks like mercury and ash, with the ceramic tiling the beam passed over distorted, melted in a rippling wave pattern into a slag-like surface.

Nick|Freddy

Holy shit.

"Holy shit," Freddy wheezes.


Three people. Three people just died. The guy who shoved him saved his life. Absynthesis probably did, too, with her gun. And now they're a mixed-up pile of slag on the floor. Freddy's shivering. Not just from the aftereffects of the mind-control gun, either. That whole experience, the past 2 or 3 minutes, he doesn't even know what happened. One moment, he was sleeping, and the next, he's here, lying next to the desecrated corpses of three capes he'd never met, two of which had saved his life. Blake saved his life, too, but he's still alive. Thank god. Freddy's still alive too. He's not dead. He's hurting bad, but he's alive.


Holy shit. That fight was the most intense, the most absolutely terrifying thing he's ever experienced. Nothing else came close.


Freddy's brain is racing, not staying still long enough on any one thought to follow it to its conclusion. Three people, dead. What happened? He's lucky to not be one of them.


Freddy puts his back to a wall, and lets himself slide down it. He hugs his legs to his chest, and tries to process the awful scene.

Antioch|GM

He can hear Blake on the other side of the room slump to the floor, his power armor making a very noticeable thump as he does so.

"Fuck," he says weakly. "Jesus christ. What the fuck."

Nick|Freddy

No kidding. Understatement of the century. Any and all illusions Freddy had about the glamorous lives of superheroes (and he had a fucking shitload) are gone. That fight, if you can even call it that, had been the one of the worst things Freddy's ever gone through. Probably even worse than his trigger event. At leat he hadn't almost died when he triggered.

Freddy's eyes tear up for nothing like the first time tonight. He wipes his face with his quivering hand.

Antioch|GM

After a moment, Blake picks himself up again, stumbles closer, leaning against the wall as he does so, breathing heavily.

"I, gah, fuck, I need to call the Protectorate."


Still off-balance and apparently under a great deal of stress, he glances over the room, laying eyes on Freddy and the still-unconscious Artful Dodger.


"Thank fuck you're alright," he says, collapsing again.

Nick|Freddy

Freddy doesn't respond, but glances at the Artful Dodger. Looks like he made it out too. Three survivors. That's not a fucking lot. He takes in some deep breaths, trying to get a handle on the situation, and mostly failing.

Antioch|GM

Despite his intentions on calling the Protectorate, Blake seems to be too busy faceplanting into the tile floor to do precisely that.

Dodger's still out cold on the ground.


The pitifully small pile of ash is still a pitifully small pile of ash. He tries not to look at it.

Nick|Freddy

Freddy can't call the PRT. He sacrificed his phone for a half-second's advantage against Sigma. Against Antithesis. Whoever. He sacrificed his rats the same way. He almost sacrificed himself. The other man /did/. Three people dead. Two of them saved his life. And Blake's life, and the Artful Dodger's life, and the lives of whoever Antithesis was going to kill after them.

A completely random thought comes to Freddy, now that the combat's over. Wasn't the Artful Dodger a villain? One of the Blackuards? Primus fought him, when he was at their base.


Freddy's concerns about Primus feel far off. His heart's still beating way too fast, he's not thinking straight.


He closes his eyes again, shutting out the destruction and death.

Antioch|GM

That half second may well have been one of the important ones.

Even in the aftermath, he feels like he's still a hair's breadth away from a violent, grisly death.


It's hard not to feel that way, with three dead in front of him, in a span of time that amounts to the snap of a finger, from his distorted perception.


With the two people in the room apparently down for the count, it's a lonely feeling, lonely in a visceral sense. So quiet it's chilling.

Nick|Freddy

Freddy's suddenly seized by a sharp fear. It's like his body is telling him that he isn't safe, not yet. He lets out a yelp before getting himself under control. Still, though, he feels like he did when he was younger, afraid of the dark, wanting to sleep in his parents' bed after a bad dream. Freddy rushes over to Blake and shakes his shoulder, wanting another person with him, to stave off the nightmare.

Antioch|GM

$roll 1d6+1 TGKG

$ Antioch|GM "TGKG" [4] +1 = 5

Antioch|GM

"Fuck," Blake mumbles, stirring, pushing himself up. "Thanks. I, fuck, where's my phone."

He struggles upright, still leaning on the wall for support.

Nick|Freddy

Freddy looks around for the phone, but he can't really focus on that when everything he looks at reminds him of what just happened. Three people. Dead.

Antioch|GM

He stumbles out, leaning on tables, workbenches, the doorframe, towards the small reception desk near the elevator.

Nick|Freddy

Freddy follows him, unsteady to a lesser extent, just so he's not left alone again.

Antioch|GM

He grabs the phone, punches in a few numbers, leaning on the desk.

Freddy's in too much shock to hang on to most of what he's saying, but nonetheless, it helps break the silence.


"... Fairview Hospital -- attack -- Sigma, or Antithesis -- three dead -- Absynthesis, Khandhas..."


At least he knows the name of the guy who died to save his life now.

Nick|Freddy

Freddy stands there, behind the desk, vaguely looking at Blake. His adrenaline is slowly dying down, which isn't exactly helping his awareness of the situation. He's not sure if he's closer to fainting or falling asleep. He almost falls over before catching himself.

Antioch|GM

Blake sets the phone aside, hand on the receiver.

"The... the Protectorate is coming over to pick you up, okay? You're gonna have to stay with them for a bit. I... I don't think it's safe here anymore."

Nick|Freddy

What? Freddy doesn't know anyone at the Protectorate. He can't leave now.

"Wait, no. I want to stay here," he says. His voice is unsteady.

Antioch|GM

He shakes his head as emphatically as he can manage, which isn't very much at all.

"Can't," he says. "Don't know what she wanted, who she was working with. Might happen again."


He gives Freddy a pained smile from behind the semi-translucent guard of his lower mask.


"It'll be fine, I promise. You can stay with the Wards."

Nick|Freddy

Oh, man. The Wards. It'd almost be exciting, if he disregarded everything that happened tonight. As it is, though, he can't bring himself to feel excited. Three people, dead. Absynthesis, Khandhas.

"She wanted you!" Freddy says. "Where are you going?" He's worried that if someone else attacks, without anyone to defend him, sacrifice themselves for him, Blake won't survive.

Antioch|GM

"Calling in favors. Looking for answers. I'll be fine," he says through gritted teeth. "Can't let things end like this."

Nick|Freddy

That just raises more questions. End like what?

"Why don't you come to the PRT too?" Freddy asks. He wants Blake there for his own safety, but also so he's not surrounded by strangers.

Antioch|GM

"That'll be one of the favors I'm calling in, ideally," he says. "I'm not sure how much to expect, given how stretched thin they appear to be."

Nick|Freddy

"What... just happened?" Freddy asks. He's nowhere near over it, and the whole thing was confusing from start to finish. He didn't even know any of these people were in the hospital, and suddenly a fight breaks out, and three people are dead. Absynthesis, Khandhas. Antithesis.

Antioch|GM

OOC: Sorry for the delay. I'm checking logs to recall if Lilith ever mentioned Sigma to TGK, during her stay at the hospital.

Nick|Freddy

OOC: No problem :)

Antioch|GM

OOC: Turns out she never did. Damn. There goes another lead out of an already scant number of them.

"I... I don't know. Don't know what she wanted. Sigma? Antithesis? It doesn't ring a bell. There've been... way too many Tinkers in town to keep track of."


"But it had to do with Longinus. She mentioned him. So that's a step in the right direction."


The gaps between his sentences grow longer as he struggles for breath.

Nick|Freddy

"Are... are you OK?" Freddy asks. He's overly anxious still, and even with the adrenaline wearing off, TGK struggling to breathe is enough to send his heart rate back through the roof.

Antioch|GM

"Not... at the top of my game," he admits. "The weapon I used was experimental tech. Used it once against Behemoth. Didn't expect to survive. Used a lower setting, this time. It's a weapon that catalyzes itself using my body as a medium, and there's... there's a lot of backlash. My regeneration formulae should kick in and patch things up, given time, but...

it's a tug-of-war, right now."

Nick|Freddy

Oh. Fuck. 'Tug-of-war' doesn't exactly sound reassuring. Tugs-of-war have winners and losers. Freddy's concerned that Blake won't be on the winning side.

Fuck. And after that whole fight.

Antioch|GM

"Just... just give me some time to recuperate. I'll be fine, in the long term, it's a question of how long I'm out of commission. Shouldn't be more than one, two days, tops."

Nick|Freddy

Freddy finds it hard to believe, what with his current condition and the way he's talking. But then again, he said he used it on Behemoth at a higher setting, and he survived that.

"Well," Freddy says quietly, "Thank you. For using it." It had saved his life. So had Absythesis. Khandhas. Dead.

Antioch|GM

He shakes his head. "Thank you, for helping. You... you didn't have to put yourself at risk like that."

Nick|Freddy

"Wh-what else was I supposed to do? She would have k-killed you if I didn't use my rats," Freddy says. Like she did kill the others. Khandhas. Absynthesis.

Antioch|GM

"I'm... I'm sorry. You shouldn't have been in this situation in the first place. I... I need to figure some things out."

Nick|Freddy

"Figure what out?" Freddy asks.

Antioch|GM

"Like why she was after me. Who she was. What Longinus has to do with all of this."

Nick|Freddy

"Oh. Yeah." Those are good questions. Freddy's curious about them, too, but in the short term they don't seem too important.

"When is the person from the PRT going to come?" he asks.

Antioch|GM

"They're sending a half-squad and forensics over, with Fleetfoot and two Wards to bring you back. I'll stick around for a little bit, fill them in as best I can, and head over later."

Nick|Freddy

That's a lot of people. Freddy's surprised, but his sense of scale is kind of fucked up, because he's just gone from 'never been in a fight' to 'fight where 6 people almost die and 3 do,' so he has no idea if that amount of people is normal procedure for a cape fight.

"And what about Artful Dodger?" he asks. "I thought he was a villain."

Antioch|GM

"Nah. He helped put Cremator away. He's going with Cantus Aureus."

Nick|Freddy

With Cantus? Freddy's tempted to ask if he can go with Cantus too. He likes Cantus. But the alternative is the Wards...

Freddy's unsure if he'd rather be with someone he knows or with the Wards. He's still scared of being by himself, and being with strangers is only slightly better. The Wards might be slightly better again, because he knows a bit about them.


"Oh," is all that comes out of his mouth.

Antioch|GM

"Alright," he says, leaning on the wall and sliding to the floor -- his power armor leaves gouges in the drywall, sending white specks of dust flickering onto his suit and the floor. "I need... I need to sit down for a second."

Nick|Freddy

"Yeah," Freddy says, sitting down himself. He pulls his legs into the same pose he did earlier.

Idly, he starts the creation of a rat, not putting much thought into the type or shape.

Antioch|GM

A long silence passes, after which a rat skips and hops into the reception area from the decimated main lab, entirely too cheerful for the occasion.

"Howdy, everyone," it says, nudging Freddy with an elbow. "Buck up, buckaroo!"

Nick|Freddy

Freddy groans in a 'why this?' sort of way. Why couldn't he have gotten the power to fly?

"Stop it," he tells the rat in a very displeased voice. "Go, I dunno, keep watch on the roof or something."

Antioch|GM

"Okie dokie, pardner," it says, scampering away.

Blake either declines to comment, or is at a loss for words.

Nick|Freddy

"Sorry," Freddy whispers. He tucks his face more into his knees to hide from TGK. He'd just made the situation ten times worse.

Antioch|GM

He shakes his head. "No, it's fine. Your power helped a lot."

Nick|Freddy

Yeah, it did help. Freddy contributed to the fight. It's too recent for him to be proud of it. He'd rather not think about what happened for now.

Antioch|GM

"Hey," Blake says, after another pause. "Can I see your hand for a bit?"

Nick|Freddy

"My hand?" Freddy asks. He lifts his head up to look at his hands himself before scooting over to Blake and showing them to him.

Antioch|GM

His gauntlet expands into a small array of medical equipment. Syringes, scalpels, other things he can't make heads or tails of.

"Blood sample and skin tissue sample," he explains. "I do this for all the Protectorate, all the Wards, so I can have a healing formula on hand for them if they get hurt. May as well get you out of the way."

Nick|Freddy

"Oh," Freddy says. It feels like he's been saying that a lot. He hold out his left hand to Blake and turns his head away. It always hurts more if you watch.

Antioch|GM

Doesn't hurt at all, in fact. Something cold and soft swabs at his finger, at the back of his left wrist, and by the time he turns back to look, his skin is being sprayed by a mist that seems to cling to the stuck finger and scraped wrist, creating a thin film that binds with the skin and stops the bleeding.

Nick|Freddy

That's... impressive. It feels dumb to be impressed by this, right after the huge gun that ki-. That Blake just used.

Antioch|GM

"I'll have three sets of vials sent over to the PRT. They'll know what to do with them. It might... be a little bit, with my setup trashed. Again."

"But I've had to make do with much, much worse before, and I can do it again."

Nick|Freddy

"Thanks," Freddy says. It's not enough.

Antioch|GM

A longer moment passes. The PRT and Wards finally arrive. He recognizes them -- Knuckleball in his batter's costume, Switchblade in his cowled, flowing robe, both looking rather haggard and tired. The fundraiser was this very same night. They've had a long day. So has he.

"Hey," Knuckleball says, extending a handshake. "Freddy, right?"

Nick|Freddy

"Uh. Y-yeah," Freddy says. Knuckleball's greeting feels almost as out of place as the cowboy rat's, earlier. It's weird to think that he wasn't part of the fight with Antithesis, that he probably was eating or sleeping or doing paperwork while people were dying.

OOC: How much longer you thinking for this session, Anti? If it's more than a half-hourish, could we pause it?

Antioch|GM

OOC: I was gonna have you hop into the squad car and we'd call it there, so we're just about done.

OOC: I gotta drive for a bit tomorrow, so I'm angling for an imminent ending myself.

Nick|Freddy

OOC: Cool

Antioch|GM

There's not much to be said. After initial pleasantries are traded, things fall kind of into an awkward silence. It's too somber to make small talk.

The squaddies and grown-ups stick around, talking to Blake, while the two Wards take him back in a smaller PRT vehicle.


He's headed to PHQ, hanging out with two of the Wards.

Nick|Freddy

He just wishes he was happy about it.

Antioch|GM

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