Sorry it took so long to get this up, but I've been exhausted after everything that went down.
After my last post, I made a phone call, then got on my bike. It took me a few hours to get to Sal's, but I made it. I parked my bike and walked up to Ken, who gave me a silent nod and let me in.
It was busy that night. All the tables were packed, and it took me a minute to spy the guy I was looking for. But I eventually spotted Derek sitting at table 8, along with Henry McBurnscars and some sleeping dude. I approached them.
"Glad you could make it, Derek," I said. "You too, Burns."
"It's Quan," Derek reminded me. "Saved you a seat."
Henry just kinda glared at me. I glanced at the open seat. It was the heart seat. Looking at the others, I saw that Derek had taken the spade seat. Dick. it seemed that the sleeping dude was at the club seat and Henry was at the diamond. I took my seat.
"Who's this?" I asked. gesturing at Mr. Sleepyhead. I couldn't see his face at all, but he had long, greasy black hair and a red coat.
"No clue," Derek said. "He was like that when we got here, and this was the only table with open seats."
I glanced at Henry for a sec.
"You're face looks better," I said.
He sat up and looked like he was gonna throw a punch, but Quan tapped him on the shoulder and nodded toward the bar. Sal was watching us all intently. Henry immediately shrank back down.
"So how'd you get my number?" Quan asked.
"Had to ask around," I said. "Took a while, but it turns out you're pretty notorious amongst the runner community, Mr. Quanford. I hear you can lift cars."
"Lot more than cars," he said, taking a swig of beer.
"What the fuck makes you think we're gonna help you?" Henry snarled.
"Calm yourself, my friend," Derek said. "We've got a fully sentient Towerborn here. This is something we need to see with our own eyes."
"So do we have a truce?" I asked.
"Depends," Derek replied. "How big's the opposition?"
"Oceana's got quite a few Oathbreakers on his side," I said. "Might have some Towerborn too. If you want exact numbers, I can't give you any more than a guess."
"A guess is fine," Derek said.
"Probably around thirty."
"Good number," Derek said.
"This is stupid!" Henry said. "We could just get the Towerborn ourselves, couldn't we?"
"Justin hasn't given us a location yet," Derek pointed out.
"So, what do you say?" I asked.
Derek took a long drink from his bottle before answering.
"The Oathbreaker's have been a pain on our side too," he said. "I'll take an excuse to give 'em some trouble."
"So you're in?" I asked.
"For now," he said. "But after this, we go back to hating each other's guts."
Henry begrudgingly nodded.
"Cool beans," I said.
I told them the city it was in.
"I'll give you the exact location once we get started," I said.
"Alright," Derek said, standing up and finishing his drink. "Let's Go."
We all left the bar. Henry seemed to be desperately struggling to not turn on me and kill me as we left.
"One more thing, before we do this," Derek said.
"What's that?" I asked.
He turned to Henry.
"We're up against something big here," he said. "We need to make sure you're ready."
I felt a sudden chill down my spine. Before me stood a tall figure, probably around 8 feet in height, dressed in a black suit and tie. It's pale flesh was featureless, lacking any hair or anything that could be defined as a face. I was gazing upon the Slender Man, the entity that the Proxies served.
Henry was just as startled as I was, but Derek remained cool as a fucking cucumber.
Tentacles emerged from behind Slender Man's back, and slowly encircled Henry, before binding him and lifting him into the air. Henry began crying out in pain. I couldn't tell what Slender Man was doing to him, but it did not look enjoyable. I saw a burning light begin to pulse through his veins, and slowly spread to his muscles.
"What's happening?" I asked, shocked.
"The Enhancement," Derek said. "If he survives this, he'll become stronger than he knew was possible."
"If?" I asked. "You mean he could die from this!?"
"This isn't just an upgrade," Derek said "It's a test."
I could see Henry's muscles starting to move underneath his flesh. They swelled up, before becoming tense, and seeming to solidify like rock. Slender Man dropped him to the ground, and he fell to his hands and knees, still in obvious agony.
Slowly, the burning light faded out. Henry panted for a while, before slowly rising up. He remained crouching for a minute, staring down at his hands. He let out a chuckle as he turned back to me, murder in his eyes.
Crap. He had new strength now, and he had his sights set on me to test it out.
He le out a growl and made a move toward me, but Derek suddenly appeared in his way, and rammed his fist into Henry's torso. Henry stopped suddenly, as a spurt of blood flew out of his mouth. he went limp, and Derek lifted him up over one shoulder with no effort.
"We still got the truce, buddy," he said. "Save it for later."
An inky blackness covered them and they both vanished. Weird. Proxies can enter the Slender Man's domain, but usually only by tearing open a literal portal. I've never seen one... actually, I'm not even sure what he did there. Became a portal? Is that what happened? I'm confused...
Sal handed me a bottle of alcohol, which startle me because I had no idea he had been standing next to me until just then.
"Whoa!" I said. "Uh, who's this on?"
"Me," he said. "Think of it as a last drink."
"Don't got any faith in me?" I asked.
"Faith is dead," he replied. "You're up against a big threat. And you just recruited 2 demigods who want you dead. A poor choice if you ask me."
"I got this," I said, pocketing the booze for later. Don't drink and drive, kids.
"If you say so," Sal said, turning back to the door.
Not sure what exactly compelled me to ask, but I drew the watch from my pocket and held it out.
"Hey, do have any idea what this is?" I asked.
He glanced back and shrugged.
"You're little dream boy might know," he said. "Alternatively, the guys you stole it from were just here. You shoulda asked them."
Fair point. Sal went back in and I got on my bike. I had one more stop to make before the fight.
I got back to the apartment, which was fortunately clear of danger. I went in, grabbed a book, and left to get a motel room.
I don't think I've talked about the book yet. It's an old diary. At least, I'm assuming. It's written all in Spanish, so reading it is a bit tricky. It was written by an anonymous farmer, who was forced to learn to fight, using her scythe as a weapon. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but what I have read has inspired me a lot. Most of my fighting style is based on her writings. And going into a big fight like this, I felt like reading some more of the wise words of this scythe master could help me out.
I pulled out my phone and opened up a translator and got to reading a few more entries before drifting off to sleep.
After I woke up, I made my preparations and contacted everyone, telling them when to meet and where.
Later that night, I arrived near Oceana's hideout. It was a six story high building, which had been abandoned for several years. Hooded Guy, Julia, Terrence, Horizon and Maria were already there. Hooded Guy's left arm was in a sling now.
"You guys ready?" I asked.
Everyone was prepared for this.
"Where'd you go earlier?" Horizon asked.
"Went to recruit some backup," I said. "They should be here soon."
"Okay," Terrence said. "They'd better not make us wait too long."
"You gonna be okay fighting?" I asked Hooded Guy.
"This is nothing," he said, shifting his arm slightly. "I've had worse."
"Okay," I said. "Julia? Horizon? What about you guys?"
"I'll be fine," Horizon replied, sounding slightly offended.
"Sorry," I said. "Haven't seen you girls in action yet. Just wanted to make sure."
"My sister can handle herself," Hooded Guy said.
A few seconds later, Derek and Henry appeared. Henry had armed himself pretty well. He was dual wielding sledgehammers, and had two more sheathed across his back. Derek, on the other hand, was unarmed, save for a pair of studded leather gloves.
"Hey guys," I said. "Glad you could make it."
"They're our back up!" Terrence gasped.
"Yep," I said.
"You recruited a couple of Enhanced!" Maria growled at me. "Are you crazy!"
"Relax," I said. "We've got a truce."
"You think they're gonna give a shit about a truce?" Maria said.
"Don't worry," Hooded Guy said. "This'll go fine."
"Don't get their hopes up too much," Julia said. "There's plenty of ways this can go wrong."
"Try to look on the right side," Hooded Guy said.
"Don't worry," Derek said. "We'll honor the truce. So, Towerborn dude's really in there?"
"He's watching us from the roof right now," Hooded Guy said.
We all looked up to see Oceana staring down at us. He smiled before stepping away from the edge and out of our sight.
"He knew we were coming?" Henry said.
"Of course he knew," I said. "I posted it on my blog for the whole world to see."
"You must be the dumbest person I've ever met," Derek said.
"I'm also the most handsome," I said.
"Eh, 7 out of 10," he replied.
"Fuck you too, Derek," I said.
"How'd you notice him so easily?" Terrence asked.
"I have very good eyesight," Hooded Guy replied.
"So what's the deal with this place," Horizon asked. "You've been here before, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "This is... this is where..."
"This is where Rillek died," Came another voice.
We all turned to see that Matt, the dude who had snapped me out of my coma, had appeared there without anyone noticing.
"What are you doing here?" Terrence asked.
"Justin's not the only one who sought reinforcements," Maria said. "Glad you could make it, Matt."
Matt had shown up wearing a leather duster, and was armed with the longest goddamn rifle I've ever seen. It was almost as tall as he was, and he was damn near 7 feet high. There was a bayonet attached to the end, making it look more like a polearm than a firearm.
"Who's Rillek?" Horizon asked.
"He was my boss for a while," I said. "He recruited me into the Timberolves. But that was a long time ago. It doesn't matter write now."
"So what's the plan?" Derek asked.
"We charge in and kill whoever we see," I said.
"That's literally your only plan ever," Henry said.
"If I may," Hooded Guy said. "There's a couple things I can add to it."
"Go on," Maria said.
"There's 6 floors, with an average of 8 Oathbreakers stationed on each one," he said. "They've rigged the stairwells on the East and West side of the building so that we'll have to cross each floor if we want to ascend higher."
Of course they did...
"Oceana's waiting at the top," Hooded Guy added.
"How do you-?" Henry asked, only for Hooded Guy to cut him off.
"Very good eyesight," he replied. "Anyway, I suggest Justin and Terrence escort Horizon to the roof to meet her brother. I know you want to kill him, but at least give her a chance to get through to him."
"Fine," I said. "Terrence, you got bombs?"
"You know it," he said, flipping open his lighter.
"Don't sweat the small fries," he continued. "Cut a path through and get to the top quickly. Those of us who can teleport should go to the upper floors to help clear a path."
"Whatever," Henry said.
"Got it," Derek replied.
"And you two," Hooded Guy said to Derek and Henry. "You should stay clear of the fifth floor."
"Why?" Henry asked. "What's on the fifth floor?"
"It's not a matter of what's up there," Hooded Guy replied.
"It's what's going to be up there," Julia finished for him.
Oh right. Future vision.
"And one more thing," Matt added, also addressing the proxies. "Don't even think of betraying us."
"Or what?" Henry scoffed. "You gonna kill us?"
"No," Matt answered calmly. "I'm going to tell you to kill each other."
"Wha?" Henry said, taken aback.
"I can be very persuasive," Matt said.
"Alright," I said. "Let's do this!"
Everyone nodded. Derek and Henry vanished into the Path, while Hooded Guy and Julia slowly faded away. Matt, on the other hand, raised his rifle and shot through one of the second floor windows, shattering in, then preceded to leap through it, and action that, despite being impressive, caused Maria to face palm.
"Let's go," I said, leading the others to the front door.
Time to get to work.
We barged in, and the fight immediately broke out. There were 9 guys there. I cut a couple of them down and ran to the nearest staircase. I could still remember the layout of this place from my last time here. We made it over there, and as luck would have it, I had picked the right one. Maria turned away from us to face the remaining Oathbreakers.
"Get moving," she said. "I'll catch up once I've dealt with these guys."
She began fighting and the rest of us took her advice and went up the stairs. We made it up to the second floor, and as Hooded Guy said, we couldn't go any higher due to the Oathbreakers putting a bunch of heavy boxes in the way.
"I get the feeling they're just fucking with us," Terrence said.
"Oceana wouldn't want to make this easy," I said. "Come on, let's get to the next stairway."
Fortunately, we didn't have much trouble getting there. The Oathbreakers on that floor were preoccupied with Matt, who was effectively giving them hell. I saw him impale a guy on his bayonet, lift him a foot off the floor, then blast him down the hall with a gunshot. That was cool.
We got to the stairs and went up to floor 3. This time, we were alone with the Oathbreakers. None of our party members had come to this floor. We'd have to fight our way through on our own.
Terrence through a pipe bomb at them, which took out a couple of them as it exploded, and causing the rest to scatter. Horizon shot a couple in the backs as they tried to flee, and we charged forward. I took off a couple heads as we went, but we ended up having to stop before we reached the stairs because the floor was covered in caltrops. probably poisoned. Just what we needed.
The remaining Oathbreakers attempted to close it on us, and we readied our weapons for a fight, which turned out to be completely unnecessary. The ceiling suddenly gave way, collapsing on them.
"Yo!" I heard Derek's voice call out from above. "Anyone alive down there?"
"We could've handled that!" I replied.
"Yeah, sure," Derek replied. He threw down a rope. "Grab on!"
We all did, and he pulled us up effortlessly. We were down on the 4th floor, which had quite a few dead bodies strewn around. Henry was nearby bashing some poor saps skull in with one of his hammers.
"Calm down, dude," Derek said. "You're not used to that strength yet. Don't go crazy."
Henry scowled.
"Whatever," he said. "Let's keep moving."
Henry took a few steps towards the stairs.
"I don't think so," Derek said. "That's the 5th floor."
"Since when do we take that hooded asshole's advice?" Henry snapped.
"I've dealt with that dude before" Derek said. "If he says something's gonna happen up there, I'll take his word for it."
"Also, that's the wrong stairway," I pointed out. "We gotta go the other way."
"You do that," Derek said. "We'll Path up there once we've made sure there's no more survivors down here."
"Sure," I said.
I wasn't quite sure what would be on the 5th floor, but I sure as hell wasn't ready or it. Once we got up there, we found the dead bodies of several Oathbreakers. The lights were all burnt out. And a short distance in front of us was... I'm not sure if "him" is the right word...
IT stood there, dressed in dark clothing and a pitch black hoody. Its face, if it even had one, was concealed beneath a gas mask. In it's hand, it held a shotgun, which it casually raised to gun down the last surviving Oathbreaker that was up there. It then calmly turned to face us.
I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear, as were Terrence and Horizon. After staring at us silently for a few seconds, it simply turned and walked off. I pulled myself together and began walking to the stairs.
"What was that?" Horizon whispered.
"My boss," I replied.
We made it up to the 6th floor, which was covered in a great deal of blood. Hooded Guy was leaning against the wall, taking a breather, his wakizashi sheathed at his side. Funny, I don't remember him having that with him. Julia was sitting down, breathing heavily. She seemed unharmed, but was clearly shaken. Her left hand was soaked in blood from the fight. They had seemingly finished off all the Oathbreakers on that floor.
"How you guys doing?" I asked. "Couldn't save any for me, could ya?"
"Sorry," Hooded Guy replied. "How's Archie doing?"
"Just as terrifying as I've heard," I said. "Julia doing okay?"
"She'll be fine," he said. "You'd better get up there. Oceana's waiting."
"Right," I said.
As we started walking toward the door, a few portals opened up. Beyond them, I could see the darkly lit halls of an old castle.
"Shit," I said.
Hooded Guy straightened up.
"Earlier than expected," he said.
"Reinforcements," Terrence groaned, pulling a bottle of booze out of his coat.
Julia stood up, and grew the weird red claw on her hand.
"You guys go," Terrence said, getting his cocktail ready. "I'll help these two out."
"Everclear?" Julia said, glancing at Terrence's bottle. "Just how much of this place are you planning to burn down?"
"None of it," he replied, lighting it up and throwing it into the nearest portal. "Fire in the hole!"
Horizon and I made our way to the stairs as the others began fighting the Oathbreakers emerging from the portals.
We finally reached the roof. Oceana stood up there, alone, beneath a stormcloud that was beginning to brew. Rain was starting to drizzle down on us.
"This could have been so simple," he said. "You just had to give me that damn watch. But instead, you've chosen to resist me, kill my men, and expose my nature to the whole world."
"I don't know what the deal is with the watch, but I doubt letting it fall into the Newborn's hands is a good idea," I replied.
"Stop this," Horizon said, stepping forward. "Just come home. Please."
Oceana sighed.
"It's too late," he said. "I can't turn back. Not anymore."
"Brother," she said, pleadingly.
"No," he said. "I'm not your brother."
I drew my scythe.
"It's no use," I told her.
Before I could do anything else, Horizon raised her gun, pointing it straight at the center of his chest. Lightning flashed across the sky.
"It's that stupid games fault!" she said, suddenly angry. "It changed you into this... into this thing!"
Oceana seemed unfazed by this, and it took me a second too long to realize why. I spotted the wires slithering across the ground too late, and didn't have time to warn Horizon before they lashed at her, ripping the gun from her hands and lifting her into the air. I made an attempt to cut through them, but the wires yanked her to the side, out of my reach, before I could.
"Let her go!" I demanded
I could see the cord holding her were coming from his right arm. He silently raised his free hand into the air.
"Give me the watch," he demanded. "And I'll release her."
I tightened my grip on the scythe. He saw this, and then he winced in pain as his arm started tearing itself apart. I stood, stunned, as it reshaped itself, flesh and bone, steel and wire, all reaching toward the sky, then tightening together in a grotesque organic lightning rod. Holy shit...
"You idiot!" I said. "If a bolt comes down, you'll die too!"
"No," he said. "My wiring will guide the current safely away from my vital. The damage to my body will be minimal. Whatever I do lose will be replaceable. Her, on the other hand..."
In a desperate attempt, I threw my scythe at the wires holding her up, but he swatted it away with his lightning rod arm before raising back in the air again.
"You don't have long to decide," he said, as more thunder rumbled above us. "Give. Me. The. Watch."
I drew the watch out of my pocket and looked at it. Should I really do this?
Don't, Daniel's voice sounded inside my head. Use it.
What? I thought.
Let me show you, Daniel replied.
I suddenly remembered that night I first encountered Oceana. When that Oathbreaker got his hands on the watch and turned it towards me, flipping it open. As if he had expected something to happen, only to be let down.
I don't understand, I thought. What should I do? This thing didn't work for that guy. How do I-
Just go with it, Daniel replied, before awakening more of my memories. Memories that got me worked up.
I remembered Daniel's death. And Greg's death. The sight of Ciel with her wounded leg after Oceana's attack. I relived Rillek's death, and a dozen other painful memories.
As my anger built up, I felt the watch start to warm up in my hand.
"Hey, Oceana," I growled. "You want this thing? Well, HERE!"
I turned it toward him and flipped it open. A cone of viridian light burst out of it, consuming Oceana. He cried out in pain, but was paralyzed inside the light.
Matt suddenly rushed out from behind me, bringing his bayonet down on the wires holding Horizon, cutting through them easily. As she fell back down, Hooded Guy appeared out of nowhere to catch her. Maria showed up beside me, Khopesh in hand.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"No idea," I said.
And then Oceana's lightning rod fulfilled its purpose. A bolt shot down, striking it, and consuming his body. I flipped the watch closed, putting an end to that green light.
Now, normally a lightning bolt is over in a split second. But this one lingered for so much longer. Not until the plastic casing of his wires had melted away, and his skin had been charred black did it end.
His body dropped, unmoving, to the rooftop.
"That was one long ass lightning bolt," I said.
"Listen," Maria said.
I could barely make it out, but I could hear the sounds of birds cawing in the sky. The storm began to dissipate.
"What is that thing?" Maria asked, looking at the watch.
"I'm not sure," I said.
A portal tore opened, and a bunch of wires and veins emerged fro it, grabbing Oceana's corpse and pulling him to the other side. Looks like the Newborn was claiming its servant.
I heard motion behind me, and turned to see Henry coming up the stairs. He took in the surrounding, and realizing the mission was finally complete, he set his sights on me and grinned evilly. He raised what appeared to be his last remaining hammer, and prepared to swing it, but Derek showed up, catching the hammer's head and crushing it in his bare hand. Henry froze, stunned.
Derek looked at me, then at Matt, and said "We're leaving."
Henry growled.
"We'll settle this later, Henry," he said. They both left as Terrence and Julia made it up the stairs to join us.
"Everything okay?" Terrence asked.
I looked over at Horizon, who was sitting by herself in a corner, looking sad.
"Mission accomplished," I said. "But... Horizon..."
"You had to kill her brother, didn't you?" Julia asked.
"Well, it was actually a lightning bolt," I said. "But it couldn't have been..."
"I get it," Julia said, going over to comfort her.
"So what now?" Terrence asked.
"I dunno," I said. "R&R? Lick our wounds?"
"Right," Terrence said. "We should go let Ciel know the good news."
So yeah. That's how it went down. It's been a few days. Horizon's said her goodbyes and left. Not sure where Matt and Maria are at the moment. Hooded Guy and Julia are off doing their own thing I guess. Ciel's upset she missed out on all the action. Oh well...
We're probably gonna have to relocate soon, after that whole mess. That'll be fun...
As for the watch, I'm not sure what the deal is with it. I haven't been able to do the green light thing since then, and I haven't heard from Daniel either. Whatever...
I'm gonna take a break. Talk to you all eventually...
