03-26-2009, 02:49 AM
A team is only as strong as its weakest players. And right now, in this game, he needed a strong team—but no one could be strong if they refused to kill the enemy. This was a war, and wasn’t that what war was about? Killing the enemy, saving your hide, and those you fought for? Nothing was going to come do the job for them.
Death was necessary, and if they wouldn’t do it, then he would.
Loud noises once again broke the silence, the sounds of ki rifles shooting off endless barrages with the gentle accompaniment of the occasional explosion. “It’s Ares,” Juno sighed.
“Ares is here?” Kaden piped up, glancing at the redheaded woman. Juno cocked an eyebrow—was everything and everyone here interconnected, or did Kaden just happen to know everyone who was in this decrepit place with them? Sophia, Piper, Ares—he seemed to know them all.
“Wait, you know him too?” Juno voiced his concerns. Kaden nodded, and Juno continued: “The guy’s got a death wish.”
“He thought it would be a good idea to start a firefight,” Sophia informed the pair, and they nodded—obviously, his personality gave way to what Juno liked to think of as his weak mental state. Or, he’d pulled something like this when he was traveling with them, too.
“A firefight?” Kaden repeated, as if he was in disbelief. Juno scoffed, turning away from the group and staring at the unconscious soldier. The bent carbine lay in a huddled mass next to him, and the young boy could see his fingers twitching. It wasn’t exactly easing to his soul.
“We should get moving,” Piper urged, “We’ve been standing around too long.” She began to dart towards the alley opposite of the man, and though normally Juno would’ve been inclined to agree on the matter of changing their position, this was a special occasion. He turned to the three that had already started off.
“You guys go ahead,” he told them. “I ‘see’ something, Soph, and I just want to check it out.” Soph nodded, and turned. Kaden’s eyebrow rose questioningly. “I see things too, Kaden,” he informed him. “Probably in a different way, but I see things too.”
His lie bought him some sweet time. While the trio turned to leave, Juno walked menacingly back towards the soldier. He stepped on the foot of the female as he walked, and heard some of her bones crack beneath his feet. Blood spilled all over the ground, and he made a careful attempt not to soak his bare feet in it. It would give him away.
Standing over the body, he knelt down. Slapping the man on the cheek, he heard him squeal slightly as he was woken from his slumber. The halfling stared at his enemy with increasing ferocity, his tail flickering.
The soldier looked up at him. “What—what are you doing here?” he asked pitifully. Juno smirked almost evilly, looking down at the man who deserved to die. The man who had tried to kill him, and Piper, and Sophia, and Kaden, and yet was spared. The man who deserved no mercy.
“I’m here to kill you,” the seer stated with brevity. The soldier grew pale, but Juno didn’t care to watch his fear. He slammed him against the wall and placed one hand firmly around his throat. The man squirmed violently, but the boy in the black jumpsuit wouldn’t budge. No clemency at all would be awarded to this man.
And then, without a second thought, Juno pressed down on his neck.
Gasping, the soldier’s breaths grew shorter and shorter, quicker and quicker, weaker and weaker, until finally—there was no breath at all escaping his lungs. His fingers stiffened, and his eyes rolled out of their pupils. His skin grew cold, and his heart silent. He was dead.
Satisfied, Juno reached down and lifted the man up, holding him almost like a cradled child in his arms. He sighed. “You deserved to die,” he reassured himself, and turned towards the well in the middle of the alley from whence the soldier had come; it was sans rope, or bucket, and water, and thus, was the perfect grave.
Feeling sadly emotionless, the tailed boy lowered the body out of his arms and let it fall limply to the bottom of the well. After hearing a loud thump from below, Juno sighed, and turned back towards the other side of the road, where his group had gone off to.
He raced across the open street and dove into the alley, weaving through a couple of twists and turns before finally catching up to them. The quartet looked back. “What took so long?” Kaden asked, raising an eyebrow, as if he knew something was wrong. Juno chuckled slightly, brushing off his comment nonchalantly.
“Just checking things out, making absolutely sure we had the all clear,” he lied, and Kaden slowed his walk, letting Piper and Sophia get a ways ahead, where they wouldn’t be able to hear.
“Hey,” Kaden whispered to Juno, grabbing his shoulder, “I know you went back and killed that guy. I can’t see him anymore.” Juno squinted his eyes, scoffed, and brushed Kaden off, moving ahead. Kaden sighed, defeated, and followed reluctantly. This kid was a piece of work.
The quartet moved ahead, Kaden still eyeing Juno carefully and Sophia and Piper blissfully ignorant of Juno’s actions. Shortly, however, the foursome found themselves on yet another wide, sunlit road. They scoped the area, looking for something, anything.
A surge blasted through Juno’s mind, and he saw a jeep coming towards them at breakneck speeds, with three others of its kind chasing them. Juno couldn’t make out the faces that sat inside, but they looked familiar, nonetheless. Blurs of blue and pink and grey—blue? Blue hair? Juno shook his head. It couldn’t be.
“Something’s coming this way,” he noted, pointing in the direction he had seen the jeeps coming from. The others followed his gesture, and sure enough, the vehicles turned the corner, just as Juno had seen them.
Juno, Piper, and Sophia headed back for the alley, but Juno halted when he saw Kaden still remained in the middle of the road, gathering energy. “Always got to try to be the hero?” Juno called, but Kaden was too focused to hear him. He shot a gargantuan blast of blue ki forth from his palms, and one of the vehicles was ripped to shreds.
A vision flickered through Juno’s mind of the occupants of that vehicle lying dead and torn apart. Even if it was just his hopes and dreams playing tricks on him, he had good reason to believe that Kaden had killed those people in the jeep. Wonderful.
But that wasn’t important right now—no, right now, Juno had to get the stupid man out of the road. So he reached and pulled Kaden by the back of his shirt into the alley just as the third vehicle in the convoy moved past them. The hybrid sighed, letting go of the blonde-haired human. “Trying to get yourself killed?” he laughed.
“What can I say? Seemed like a good idea at the time,” Kaden replied, and Juno nodded, smirking out of whatever evil desire he had for Kaden to kill those people. A loud crash rung out from just ahead and the quartet ran out to see that the first buggy had crashed into a storefront. “So, should we see what’s going on?” Kaden asked.
Juno, however, was more focused on the image he had seen in his vision. Blue hair—could it be? And the buggy with her in it had just crashed. “Sophia,” he said urgently, tugging on the sleeve of the priestess. “It’s Sage—Sage is in that car.”
“What?” Sophia replied, squinting her eyes, trying to see the girl’s traditional blue hair to no avail. “Oh, my God—you saw this in a vision? That’s how you know it was her?” Juno nodded, and tugged on her hand. “Well, then we can’t just stand around; Kaden, Piper, come on, we’ve got to help them.”
The quartet ran towards the rubble, quickly reaching their destination. However, things must’ve moved fast, as by the time they got there, everyone was gone, and shortly before they reached the store, it had exploded, much to the horror of Juno and Sophia.
Searching through the rubble, the group found nothing, so they took to searching behind the building. And, as they looked around the alley that ran behind what had once been the shop, they heard one of the most earsplitting screams that had ever echoed forth from the mouth of any being, anywhere. Juno’s head whipped towards the noise, and almost immediately, he knew what caused it.
Balrog had them.
Death was necessary, and if they wouldn’t do it, then he would.
Loud noises once again broke the silence, the sounds of ki rifles shooting off endless barrages with the gentle accompaniment of the occasional explosion. “It’s Ares,” Juno sighed.
“Ares is here?” Kaden piped up, glancing at the redheaded woman. Juno cocked an eyebrow—was everything and everyone here interconnected, or did Kaden just happen to know everyone who was in this decrepit place with them? Sophia, Piper, Ares—he seemed to know them all.
“Wait, you know him too?” Juno voiced his concerns. Kaden nodded, and Juno continued: “The guy’s got a death wish.”
“He thought it would be a good idea to start a firefight,” Sophia informed the pair, and they nodded—obviously, his personality gave way to what Juno liked to think of as his weak mental state. Or, he’d pulled something like this when he was traveling with them, too.
“A firefight?” Kaden repeated, as if he was in disbelief. Juno scoffed, turning away from the group and staring at the unconscious soldier. The bent carbine lay in a huddled mass next to him, and the young boy could see his fingers twitching. It wasn’t exactly easing to his soul.
“We should get moving,” Piper urged, “We’ve been standing around too long.” She began to dart towards the alley opposite of the man, and though normally Juno would’ve been inclined to agree on the matter of changing their position, this was a special occasion. He turned to the three that had already started off.
“You guys go ahead,” he told them. “I ‘see’ something, Soph, and I just want to check it out.” Soph nodded, and turned. Kaden’s eyebrow rose questioningly. “I see things too, Kaden,” he informed him. “Probably in a different way, but I see things too.”
His lie bought him some sweet time. While the trio turned to leave, Juno walked menacingly back towards the soldier. He stepped on the foot of the female as he walked, and heard some of her bones crack beneath his feet. Blood spilled all over the ground, and he made a careful attempt not to soak his bare feet in it. It would give him away.
Standing over the body, he knelt down. Slapping the man on the cheek, he heard him squeal slightly as he was woken from his slumber. The halfling stared at his enemy with increasing ferocity, his tail flickering.
The soldier looked up at him. “What—what are you doing here?” he asked pitifully. Juno smirked almost evilly, looking down at the man who deserved to die. The man who had tried to kill him, and Piper, and Sophia, and Kaden, and yet was spared. The man who deserved no mercy.
“I’m here to kill you,” the seer stated with brevity. The soldier grew pale, but Juno didn’t care to watch his fear. He slammed him against the wall and placed one hand firmly around his throat. The man squirmed violently, but the boy in the black jumpsuit wouldn’t budge. No clemency at all would be awarded to this man.
And then, without a second thought, Juno pressed down on his neck.
Gasping, the soldier’s breaths grew shorter and shorter, quicker and quicker, weaker and weaker, until finally—there was no breath at all escaping his lungs. His fingers stiffened, and his eyes rolled out of their pupils. His skin grew cold, and his heart silent. He was dead.
Satisfied, Juno reached down and lifted the man up, holding him almost like a cradled child in his arms. He sighed. “You deserved to die,” he reassured himself, and turned towards the well in the middle of the alley from whence the soldier had come; it was sans rope, or bucket, and water, and thus, was the perfect grave.
Feeling sadly emotionless, the tailed boy lowered the body out of his arms and let it fall limply to the bottom of the well. After hearing a loud thump from below, Juno sighed, and turned back towards the other side of the road, where his group had gone off to.
He raced across the open street and dove into the alley, weaving through a couple of twists and turns before finally catching up to them. The quartet looked back. “What took so long?” Kaden asked, raising an eyebrow, as if he knew something was wrong. Juno chuckled slightly, brushing off his comment nonchalantly.
“Just checking things out, making absolutely sure we had the all clear,” he lied, and Kaden slowed his walk, letting Piper and Sophia get a ways ahead, where they wouldn’t be able to hear.
“Hey,” Kaden whispered to Juno, grabbing his shoulder, “I know you went back and killed that guy. I can’t see him anymore.” Juno squinted his eyes, scoffed, and brushed Kaden off, moving ahead. Kaden sighed, defeated, and followed reluctantly. This kid was a piece of work.
The quartet moved ahead, Kaden still eyeing Juno carefully and Sophia and Piper blissfully ignorant of Juno’s actions. Shortly, however, the foursome found themselves on yet another wide, sunlit road. They scoped the area, looking for something, anything.
A surge blasted through Juno’s mind, and he saw a jeep coming towards them at breakneck speeds, with three others of its kind chasing them. Juno couldn’t make out the faces that sat inside, but they looked familiar, nonetheless. Blurs of blue and pink and grey—blue? Blue hair? Juno shook his head. It couldn’t be.
“Something’s coming this way,” he noted, pointing in the direction he had seen the jeeps coming from. The others followed his gesture, and sure enough, the vehicles turned the corner, just as Juno had seen them.
Juno, Piper, and Sophia headed back for the alley, but Juno halted when he saw Kaden still remained in the middle of the road, gathering energy. “Always got to try to be the hero?” Juno called, but Kaden was too focused to hear him. He shot a gargantuan blast of blue ki forth from his palms, and one of the vehicles was ripped to shreds.
A vision flickered through Juno’s mind of the occupants of that vehicle lying dead and torn apart. Even if it was just his hopes and dreams playing tricks on him, he had good reason to believe that Kaden had killed those people in the jeep. Wonderful.
But that wasn’t important right now—no, right now, Juno had to get the stupid man out of the road. So he reached and pulled Kaden by the back of his shirt into the alley just as the third vehicle in the convoy moved past them. The hybrid sighed, letting go of the blonde-haired human. “Trying to get yourself killed?” he laughed.
“What can I say? Seemed like a good idea at the time,” Kaden replied, and Juno nodded, smirking out of whatever evil desire he had for Kaden to kill those people. A loud crash rung out from just ahead and the quartet ran out to see that the first buggy had crashed into a storefront. “So, should we see what’s going on?” Kaden asked.
Juno, however, was more focused on the image he had seen in his vision. Blue hair—could it be? And the buggy with her in it had just crashed. “Sophia,” he said urgently, tugging on the sleeve of the priestess. “It’s Sage—Sage is in that car.”
“What?” Sophia replied, squinting her eyes, trying to see the girl’s traditional blue hair to no avail. “Oh, my God—you saw this in a vision? That’s how you know it was her?” Juno nodded, and tugged on her hand. “Well, then we can’t just stand around; Kaden, Piper, come on, we’ve got to help them.”
The quartet ran towards the rubble, quickly reaching their destination. However, things must’ve moved fast, as by the time they got there, everyone was gone, and shortly before they reached the store, it had exploded, much to the horror of Juno and Sophia.
Searching through the rubble, the group found nothing, so they took to searching behind the building. And, as they looked around the alley that ran behind what had once been the shop, they heard one of the most earsplitting screams that had ever echoed forth from the mouth of any being, anywhere. Juno’s head whipped towards the noise, and almost immediately, he knew what caused it.
Balrog had them.