Sundown (Lucius vs. Knightfall)

Knightfall had one thing in mind today. Infiltrate Belarus and speak with the leader of Rise: Lucius Alba, by any means necessary. Now you can't just rough him up and leave him be, he needed to be dealt with manually. Knightfall found himself pacing the floor of his apartment, being sure he had enough ammo in his Deagle to do this job. The guy he was after was known for wiping out any opposition within 60 seconds. All he had to do was be sure he dealt with whatever security he may have for him to learn what he knows. He checked his watch, grabbed his galva-knuckles, and went to the border of Belarus.

The border was the most heavily guarded one he'd ever seen and by God it was HUGE. The border had a multitude of outposts with guards stationed at their designated posts. Off to the side there were entrances that lead up to a huge dome-shield covering the surrounding area. That's where he needed to get in. He walked up and slid his gun farther into the pocket of his trench-coat. He walked through the terminal and was approached by two guards. "Hey, I'm going to need to see your-" Was all he could say before Knightfall pulled out his golden Deagle and killed them both. He took the key card off of one of the guard's vests and used it to unlock the checkpoint. Now it was time for the waiting game.

Meanwhile, a pair of guards walked into the surveillance room with masks made of carbon fiber and bulletproof vests. They were all wearing grey and black with red skull designs on their masks. One glanced at the camera feed, and the other began commanding the guards in a gruff, fiery voice through the intercom. "Everyone stay alert. We've got someone trying to infiltrate the border." He sent the other guard to get to his post. He was undeniably shocked to see the two guards lying shot up and dead on the floor, but deduced it to be a meta-human. He sounded the alarm to get a 1,000 volts sent through his body from a devastating right hook. Knightfall was now in the surveillance room, his visor reflecting the light, and Deagle hidden in his coat pocket. Knightfall then heard another guard making his rounds just outside the room's door. He swung the door open with tremendous force sending the unconscious guard flying and breaking the door off it's hinges. He threw the body over the railing outside and began to wipe the camera systems of any previous and further evidence. By now, the alarm is blaring and the guards have the area on lock-down. He left the room and jumped over the railing landing on the unconscious guard below, taking his Deagle out and aiming it in front of him. He got to the entrance to the rest of the country of Belarus, without being seen, which was guarded by four heavily-armed men. He took them all out and lined them up against the wall in the hot noon sun, by the time he'd be done with this job... Well it'd be past sundown. No turning back now.  Not for a while anyways.

There was a knock at the door to Lucius' office. The Prime Minster had taken the day off, deciding to spend some quality time with his oldest son after the whole situation with Blood Tithe and Sven. That said, work never seemed to be far away. His Head of Security, Captain Victus, walked into the room after Lucius gave him permission to come in. Victus gave a bow before speaking.

"So sorry to interrupt, sir, but we have an incident at the Southernmost border." The Captain said through his deep, technological voice filter. Lucius was playing Yahtsee with Lucas, taking about ten seconds before he even acknowledged the other man in the room.

"I swear those dice are more lucky when you roll them....... This is your, what, third full house?" Lucuus said with a smile as he got up from his chair at the game table he had set up. Lucas laughed.

"What can i say? I'm good at board games." The boy said in reply. Lucius shook his head with a slight chuckle, then adjusted his suit.

"Apparently this is urgent. I'll be back in a few moments. The pizza should be here by the time i get back." Lucius said to his son, before walking past Victus and out of the room. The Captain followed, and the two men talked in the hall.


"What is this about? I asked not to be disturbed today." Lucus said, slightly irritated.

"Yes, and i apologize. I just thought you should know. Several of our monitoring systems indicate there was a breach at the cluster of outposts closest to Chernobyl. That said, nobody has made any attempt to communicate with us. Apparently everyone that has any knowledge of this has been incapacitated. Their guns also are indicating not a single shot has gone off in the last forty eight hours. It's likely a metahuman threat, and will require advanced force." Victus said, selling the situation as important as possible so he wouldn't anger Lucius for wasting his time. Red just sneered.

"You're my Head of Security, and Captain of the Peacekeepers. You have authorization to do all you need to to keep this country safe. Now, deal with the problem, and don't bother me again." Lucius said, going back into his office without another word.

Victus knew he would get such a reaction, but he was urged by some officials not to act on his own unless completely necessary. Now that he had gone through the motions, it was time to muster the Peacekeepers.

It only took around twenty minutes, and Captain Victus as well as five elite Peacekeepers were headed to the Capitol's teleportation pad. The Captain seriously doubted whatever was at the border could take this many, but even if it could, this was Belarus. They had plenty of resources to send after this.

Once the teleportation was done, the Peacekeepers stood in the middle of a string of outposts, all with downed guards inside or around them. Whatever did this must have been ridiculously skilled, because the men were all killed with a very loud, high impact weapon. To not alert any of the other garrison while doing that, that was truly a gift.

"I want each building searched. Find any of ours, run them through the facial. I don't need any worms. Kill anyone else." Victus said. From there, his Peacekeepers spread out, checking the area and every outpost. It was only a matter of time.....

In the twenty or so minutes it took for the six heavily-armed men to enter the area, one of them appeared to be of high status, Knightfall had dressed up in one of the incapacitated guards uniforms and now laid still on the ground blood smeared onto the vest and his face. Soon enough Knightfall heard one of the guards getting close to the supposed dead body of him disguised as a guard. The man was now practically standing next to him. Knightfall then jumped up from the ground and attempted to headbutt the guard. Knightfall quickly noticed that these guards weren't going to go down as easy as the others did. He then aimed his Deagle at the man's genital region and fired.

The echo of a loud gun shot rang through the area, and as if on cue each Peacekeeper, including Victus, turned their head toward their fellow soldier. Apparently Knightfall had thought it was a good idea to shoot a Peacekeeper in the dick. The bullet bounced off the man's armor.

"....Big mistake." The Peacekeeper said through his robotic voice filter. He would then step forward, reach down, and attempt to pick the Knightfall up off the ground by his throat, constricting it. As this happened, the other Peacekeepers circled, full auto guns primed to fire if Knightfall slipped out of the super strong Peacekeepers grasp. So the choice was either getting choked, or riddled with bullets by five individuals.

Knightfall backed away from the man's attempt to choke him and manipulated his adrenaline to quickly adjust the voltage on his galva-knuckles to the maximum (950,000 V). He then swung a hard right hook at the Peacekeeper's jaw. Not noticing the other Peacekeeper's that had walked up behind him.

The Peacekeeper that went down to choke Knightfall was hit with a very powerful taser, which penetrated his armor, killing him instantly. Victus narrowed his eyes from underneath his mask, then waved for his soldiers to pull away. They all slowly moved back to where they had first appeared, tactically retreating it seemed.



The Captain talked in Belarusian on his radio, but even if Knightfall was able to understand it he was likely too far away to hear it, as the Peacekeepers would open fire if he tried to follow their retreat. The Captain had something up his sleeve, and it wasn't dealing with this guy in close combat.

Knightfall having successfully dispatched one of the Peacekeeper's, stopped to quickly reload his Deagle so he could be prepared if the other four men showed up. He then rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck relaxing the tension in his body after the close call he just had.

In a few minutes after Victus spoke through his radio, he and the Peacekeepers were teleported back to where they came. This was a fight that really didn't require them to be risking lives up close. The Captain certainly didn't want another elite Peacekeeper falling, and so he would take his men out of harms way.

After the group left, it would be a few moments before the familiar sound of jets in attack altitude could be heard. Yes, the Captain had called in Belarusian air support. One thing you simply do not do, is kill Victus' friends.

Three wicked fast aircrafts, moving at at least mach four, would fly directly over the area Knightfall was in. They all dropped a stream of small but powerful bombs as they flew, even doubling back for another run. There was no running from this. Essentially, after the run was over, the entire area equivalent to about two square city blocks would be blown to smitherings.

Hearing the fighter jets closing in on his location, Knightfall quickly decided he did not want to be there. Looking around the area for something he could possibly use as cover or a bunker of sorts, he saw a sewer drain grate. Manipulating the adrenaline in his system so as to react with quick efficiency, he fired the grappling hooks from his wrists and wrenched the grate off to the side. After a brief moment of disgust Knightfall jumped in through the opening, putting the grate back behind him, and into the sewer water below. He made sure to back a little ways down the tunnel and submerged himself in the water so as to avoid getting burnt.

Belarus was a country that Rozmer had yet to experience in this reality, and that seemed as good reason as any to go there today. In an instant he appeared within its borders, no alarms, no guards no nothing. It was a relatively peaceful and quite day. The skies were blue, the grass was green and Rozmer was all but content to enjoy a nice stroll on the outskirts of the metahuman sanctuary of a country. Reaching into his vest's breast pocket, he would produce a pack of cigarettes and his lighter. Cupping his hand to his mouth to block the wind, he'd light a cigarette before putting the pack and lighter back where they had come from.

As he walked along, taking in the sights and smells and sounds of the Belarusian country side, Rozmer took note of the various military outposts that dotted it. I feel bad for the poor idiot who'd try to invade this place he chuckled out in a thick puff of smoke. Just then he heard a commotion off towards one of the outposts. Curiosity getting the better of him, he approached. What he found was a man in a...motor cycle helmet, taking on a series of heavily armed guards. Wow, that dude's boned he mused to himself, watching as the man actually managed to kill one of the men. Now, intrigued but not wanting to be seen, Rozmer took cover behind a building, watching the remaining guards leave the man after their compatriot had been killed. Well thats sorta odd he thought, watching as they got well out of eyeshot of the man. Looking back towards the location where the fight had occurred he watched in confusion as the man lifted a sewer grate and dove inside. Unsure of what exactly he was watching he moved out from behind the building and began to make his way over to the grate.

However before he could reach it, he heard the thundering noise of fighter jets directly overhead. How the did he hear those?! Rozmer puzzled aloud as he phased out. A hail of explosive ordinance rained hell down around him. In every direction, all he could see were an inferno of red and oranges dotted with debris flying in all directions. It was utter chaos, lasting for what had to be more than a minute. And as the dust finally cleared and Rozmer's vision became more than intense explosions, he realized that he was now floating about three feet off the ground. The building that he had just moments ago been taking cover behind was completely gone, not even a foundation remained. Scanning the area around him, it seemed that everything within a mile had fared no better. The land low lay a whole three feet lower in all directions, not a single landmark or building that had once been there stood. Except for one. To Rozmer's utter astonishment, the sewer tunnel which the helmeted man had taken shelter in was the only defining structure left standing. Even more amazing, it appeared to have been completely untouched as if a supreme being had deigned that none should harm that structure.

I have so many questions... Rozmer sighed aloud as he floated over to the tunnel before phasing through it. Below him, the thick murky water sloshed from the point where the man had dove inside. Hey, hey you! Rozmer called out. Trying to get the man's attention. How the fuck did you survive that? It was a genuine question, he was stunned at the man's ability to pick the single thing that had survived the blast to hide in. Or did you just want to take a swim in sewage without any idea of what was going on up there? I promise, I'm not gonna judge if its the second one.

"Sir, scanners indicate the bombing run didn't dispatch the target." An adviser said, barging into the room where Lucas and Lucius were now playing Black Jack. Lucius dropped his cards.

"Can i have one day!? Just one!?" Red said as he stormed off his chair, face red, the vains in his head throbing. He walked out of the room, motioning for the adviser to follow. Once in the hall, Lucius grabbed him by the throat. Red was without powers or tech yes, but he was not a weak man. He lifted the poor adviser off his feet.

"Send the coordinates to my suit. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, apparently." Lucius said, releasing the man, who choked and held his throat. Red stepped past him, headed to his office to get suited up.

_____________________


Red pulled his longcoat's hood over his mask, it's optics igniting soon after. He sheathed Cora Zen, got all his gadgets, and put his armor pieces in place. Once he was ready, he walked out into the room where Lucas was watching TV.

"Alright. Be back in an hour, i promise." Lucius said. His son just nodded, then turned back to his show.

It would take a few minutes to get situated, come up with a plan of attack, and then teleport to the coordinates, but Lucius was sure this disruption wasn't leaving any time soon.

After the bombs went off and Knightfall had a substantial amount of ringing in his ears, a man phased through the roof of the sewer tunnel. Looking up at the new arrival, he pulled out his Deagle and quickly aimed it at him. "No I don't particularly enjoy swimming in this country's filth as for your other question that's personal." Knightfall climbed out of the sewer water and off to the side of the tunnel, disgusted by the condition of his clothes. "You here to kill me," he said wiping droplets of sewer water off of his helmet. "Or are you just a conversational one."

Rozmer's hand immediately went up in an "I surrender, don't shoot me" sort of pose as the man lifted his pistol from the water, aiming it up at him. Woah hey we don't wanna blow things out of proportion here he jested, floating down to the man so that the gun was now only a foot or so from his face. As he did this he would with no visible change phase out, just in case the man was a bit of a loose canon. Now, I don't wanna be the type of person that tells another man how to threaten someone as he said this he pointed with his right hand to the pistol aimed in his face but you might wanna clear the water from that before deciding to fire it. I mean if you want to risk losing a hand don't let me stop you, it just wouldn't be my first choice. He smiled knowingly at the gun, waiting for the man to do as he had said. Go ahead, I'll wait.

As for the man's responses to his question, well they confused him more than anything. How it was "personal" that he had chosen a sewer as his means of escape was completely beyond him and only posed more questions than answers about the man. Then of course he shot back with a sort of angry sarcasm about Rozmer's talkative nature. I wasn't here to kill you he said earnestly, hands still raised above his head though they had no need to be. But should I be? Clearly somebody wants you super dead and yet by some miracle here you are alive. I'm kind of thinking whoever that is is gonna be pissed when they find out you're ya' know, not dead.

"You're correct. I am 'pissed off'." Said a digitized voice, echoing throughout the sewer. What followed was a deep, unnerving chuckle that spread throughout the small space, making it uncertain as to where it was coming from.

Eventually, Lucius, who had been teleported to this place while the two intruders had been yapping, showed himself. Two burning Red optics lit up in the otherwise shadowy sewer tunnel. He cracked his neck, and drew Cora Zen. Lucius was completely comfortable, casually side stepping until he got to the platform the two other men were on. He was pure confidence, not a glint of fear inside him.

"It isn't customarily for a Prime Minister to defend his own borders, but i thought since you managed to avoid dying this long, i might as well give you a proper greeting." Lucius said to Knightfall. He then looked to Rozmer, who looked so, so out of place next to this helmet wearing mad man. Judging by the fact Knightfall was pointing a gun at him, and what Lucius had overheard of their conversation, Roz wasn't here to do the same thing as the man next to him.

"As for you....... Who are you? And why is it so easy for you people to just walk in here, AND survive a carpet bomhing?" Lucius asked, pointing his sword to each man as he addressed them. This wasn't going to be pretty one way or another.

Knightfall's instinct made him ready into a combat stance, his mind racing with possible ways to handle the situation. "I guess it's just natural for me to piss people off." His voice echoed through the long tunnels. He moved in front of Rozmer shielding him from any preemptive attack Lucius might throw. He didn't want this guy to get hurt because of him. Knightfall aimed his Deagle at Lucius but as he did the gun slipped out of his grip and skidded across the sewer platform stopping right at Lucius's feet. If there was anything Knightfall didn't want to happen right now it was his own weapon ending his life.