Fantasy Anything Goes

[MissZoeHatter]

Victoria squeezes his hand and tries to keep her breathing steady. She follows closely and quietly.

 

[OmegaFang232]

He led her to the side of the building where the window was located above them, on the second floor. As he'd done before, he tossed the climbing hook up and tested the rope to make sure it was secure. He pointed to Victoria's pistol, then her eyes, then the street; using hand signals to instruct that she watch the street while he made the climb. If there was a threat inside, he prefered to address it himself instead of putting her in even more danger.

 

[Deadly Darkness]

Aileada had spent two days in her room. She only left her room for food and trips to the bathroom. She was only on page 6935 out of what felt like an infinite amount, but she knew that this book had an end. Apparently Aileada would be seeing the white haired man again soon, at least that's the book said. That day, that night, in a bout half an hour. Of course she had the choice to obey what the book said or have it rewritten.

 

[MissZoeHatter]

Victoria nods and holds her pistol the way he had taught her. She looks up and down the street, looking for anyone.

 

[OmegaFang232]

He quickly ascended and pryed the window open, checking the tiny room for any signs of disturbance. As usual, there was no one, but something smelled different than before. It was almost like déja vú, a microscopic tingle in the top of his spine. Ignoring the superstitious feeling, he leaned out the window and made a tiny whistling sound, signaling to Victoria that the path was clear so far. Leaning out the window with his pistol aimed, he waited for her to make the climb, watching the street with cautious eyes. Something was definitely off about the situation. They'd need to move quickly.

 

[MissZoeHatter]

Victoria climbs up the rope. About halfway up, her feet slip and she bangs her knees off the wall. She winces at the pain, takes a deep breath, and climbs the rest of the way. She climbs in the window and looks around the room.

 

[Deadly Darkness]

Thinking it would be entertaining to amuse the idea, Aileada stood up and placed the book in the drawer of her night stand, ran a brush through her knotted hair, slipped on her shoes, and exited the house, leaving Hunter's note unseen and untouched. She shoved her hands deep within her coat pockets as she made her way to the shattered door of the bookstore.

 

[OmegaFang232]

Once Victoria had climbed through, he patted her on the shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. The girl's knee didn't look scraped, so they'd just have to hope the noise hadn't disturbed anyone. Taking her hand again, he pointed his pistol and led the way, checking every corner and hiding spot throughly as he proceeded down to the first floor. Once again, nothing had been disturbed, and there was not a soul to be found. He picked out a dark corner by the front desk and pointed for her to hide and watch over him from the shadows. Once this was done, he turned his attention to the false wall and began to search for clues. But it was only more of the same. Tiny disturbances in the dust, a single hair in a not so peculiar place, nothing he hadn't already seen. And yet, despite the reassuring normality of his surroundings, something nagged at him in the back of his mind. Something about this whole thing was entirely too perfect. Three nights of flawless entry and departure. Three nights of not even a single clue. Three nights of not even a single disturbance or new set of fingerprints. There wasn't even an alarm system or any measure of security to be found, and the phone on the deak It was almost as if someone wanted him to break in and snoop around. "Like the wanted to catch....." he froze in place and signaled for Victoria to stay hidden and aim at the door. He pressed himself flat against the corner of the desk, his heart rate skyrocketing like a firework on the fourth of July. How could he have been so bloody stupid?! With fear in his heart and murder on his mind, he waited for the inevitable sound of a door opening somewhere, or a trap being sprung. With a single, deathly silent breath, he forced his heartrate to decrease. He had the distinct feeling that he would need steady hands and lightning reflexes very, very soon.

 

[MissZoeHatter]

Victoria crouches down behind the front desk. She keeps her pistol aimed at the front door, despite the panic she felt overcoming her. She should've known this was going to go bad.

 

[Deadly Darkness]

Aileada had already come up with her excuse as to why she was there and any other questions he mat have, as she pulled open the door frame. The soft sound of a bell ringing was heard from the ajar door. Her greens eyes scanned the room. He hid well at least. Carefully she walked past the shards of broken glass and towards one of the middle row of bookshelves.

 

[OmegaFang232]

The jingle of the front door set off even more alarm bells. Why such an obvious route? He gestured for Victoria to stay behind the desk and keep watch over the door while he struck from behind. Without warning, he mantled over top of the desk and rushed the figure from behind, with his pistol in one hand and a small combat knife in the other. In a single fluid motion, he swept the hand with the knife beneath the arm of the intruder and pressed upward, bringing the edge of the blade against the left jugular vein of the intruder's throat. The hand with the gun moved simultaneously, sweeping the figure's right hand to their lower back. Trapping their wrist with his belt buckle, he pressed the barrel of the suppressor against the back of the shadowy figure's skull, ensuring that his advantage was made clear. With a single step, he drove his right knee forward and spread his target's feet a bit farther apart, and then used his ankle to pull their right foot back roughly eight inches. This unbalancing caused a natural sense of small scale vertigo, forcing the subject to lean backwards and rest their weight against the chest of the attacker, as was the case here. All told, it took less than three seconds to subdue, detain, and leave the intruder physically off balance and at his mercy. He leaned his head forward and whispered so softly that even Victoria could not hear him, with a lethal edge to his words. "Move, and you bleed. Understand?"

 

[Deadly Darkness]

Aileada found herself leaning back on who she could only assume was the white haired boy with a knife to her throat and a gun at the back of her head. His voice was a soft whisper with a deadliness to it that seemed more dangerous than the knife and gun. She felt like making a sarcastic comment, but her mind had gone blank. "Understood." She responded with a playful tone, making sure he knew that she wasn't afraid.

 

[OmegaFang232]

Shinu gritted his teeth behind the thick shemagh that covered his face, but said nothing. With incredible control, he untangled his left arm and sheathed his knife, still pressing the pistol to the back of the figures head. It took a moment before realization set in. It was Aileada. But why was she..... And like a candle being lit in the darkness, his suspicion was confirmed. She was the owner of the book. Her hair, her prints, it had to be her. With a guiding nudge he turned her around, staying behind her as she moved, and spoke in a deep growl. "When I tell you to, you're going to walk over to the desk, turn around, and keep your hands planted where I can see them. Move slowly, Aileada. This isn't worth bloodshed." He had every intention of putting the gun away once he felt she wasn't going to try any funny business. But until then, the gun would stay in his hand and at the ready. With a quick glance, he saw that Victoria had stayed hidden. Good. Better to appear alone than to give away any secrets. "Okay, move." He commanded as he released his grip on Aileada's shoulder, grasping the pistol with both hands in a solid shooting stance.

 

[Deadly Darkness]

Once he had let her go she turned to look at him. Her assumptions were correct. Now knowing she had nothing to fear she placed her hands on her hips "Why should I? I'm not the one who's breaking and entering. I only came to get the dimensions of the door to replace the glass and make sure nothing had been stolen. And besides," She took a step forward letting the end of the gun rest on her chest, "It's not fair that you get to call me by my name when I don't know yours."

 

[OmegaFang232]

He narrowed his eyes and locked his gaze with hers, seeing through the trickery. "Well for starters, I'm the one with the gun. Secondly, there's two of me and only one of you." He said tenaciously, stepping back a bit and raising the gun to the edge of her brow. He had no intentions of shooting anyone yet, but if it came down to life or death, he'd fire without hesitation. With a discreet whistle, he signaled for Victoria to show herself, and hoped the girl wouldn't get trigger happy. "And since we're on the subject of thievery, Aileada, how exactly do you steal a book from yourself? That's what you really came to check on, isn't it? See if anybody noticed?"

 

[The Snowiest Owl]

Zodiac woke groggily again on the sidewalk, face-down. He rose to a stand and steadied a little bit. He shook his head in disbelief when he saw that wolf guy Lycan pushing around Alieada in the bookstore. His maroon glowing eyes surveyed and spotted Victoria as well, with a weapon. Not wanting to draw any attention he shifted into a Zodiac Rat. He scurried along the ground silently and the cloak of night hid his black body against the black asphalt of the road. He ran into the door and crawled into the corner he shifted back and peered from the corner as two silent red rings floating on the dark air.


"Hey Lycan. That's my friend y'know."


He spoke out in a dry, but soft voice.

 

[MissZoeHatter]

Victoria steps out from behind the counter and looks around the dark store.

 

[Deadly Darkness]

Aileada's stare remains unphased as he moves the gun. She then turns to see another figure. A smile cracks along her face as she looked back to the man. "I always thought you were the lone wolf type, never thought you'd actually risk someone else." She listened as he then began about stealing from herself. "Wait, what? What on earth are you talking about?" Her look shifted to one of confusion. She then turned quickly to see Zodiac. 'Great, now it was a party,' she thought sarcastically.

 

[OmegaFang232]

A vicious snarl escaped his lips as he quickly maneuvered behind Aileada, using her as a human shield while he aimed squarely at Zodiac. With one arm around her neck and the other pointing the gun, Shinu retreated towards the desk, dragging Aileada with him. He flicked his gaze to Victoria and spoke hastily. "Tovarich, that little svoloch takes one step, you peg him between the eyes and don't stop until the damn clip's empty, got it?" He turned his gaze back to Zodiac and spoke with a viciousness that clearly indicated his lack of patience. "Here's the skinny, you two. Me, Tovarich, and the lady are going for a stroll. You take one step, and you're gonna start having a really bad day, because first I'll shoot the girl and then I'll kill you as slowly as I can manage. Got it?" He growled as he pressed the suppressor barrel to the side of Aileada's head. "And my name's not Lycan, mushroom brains!"

 

[The Snowiest Owl]

The rings never flinched or wavered.


"What are you doing? I would like to know that."


The maroon glow cascaded onto something shiny on the floor.

 

[MissZoeHatter]

Victoria points her gun in Zodiac's direction. She didn't want to have to kill anyone, but she made a promise.

 

[Deadly Darkness]

Seeing how unstable the man seemed to be getting Aileada diected her attention to Zodiac. "Zodiac, listen to me, I'm alright, bt to stay that way I need you to go. Please trust me, I have this under control." Her gaze flicked over to the barrel of the gun then back to her friend. "Please?" She stared directly into his eyes with a pleading look.

 

[The Snowiest Owl]

Zodiac closed his eyes and opened them once more. He turned towards Victoria and Lycan. He spoke with a a reproachful tone in his voice.


"Fine. But if either of you hurt her, I'll drag either of your souls kicking and screaming to Out myself."


For a second, three rings of red appeared instead of just two. The whole existence of Zodiac seemed to be false. There was no sign of him leaving or even being inside the building.

 

[OmegaFang232]

He let out a quiet sigh as the boy vanished. 'Should've just shot him and been done with it. There'll be other days.' He thought to himself as he released Aileada, still keeping the gun trained on her head. "Now, back to business. Let's compromise here, yes?" He said as he tried to calm his pounding heart.

 

[kenryuko]

Hunter burst through the entrance to the stairwell with the Orthus statue right behind him, running out of the church he thought he was home free, until the statue crashed through the wall "OH COME ON!" He yelled as the chase continued through the town "HOW ABOUT YOU STOP AND I'LL GET YOU A FOSSIL!" He yelled to the statue trying to make it give up the chase