The Crown Besieged

The Empress Crown Casino

THE CROWN BOULEVARD

A young man in a suit and a small, younger looking woman in black and gold robes travelled in a Lexus LS 500, coming up on the Crown Casino’s drop off point. “Can’t believe it’s already been a year since we built this thing.” He remarked, watching large crowds arriving and entering the Casino at its 9 “Spokes”. As was their design, the massive mountain sheltered the building for most of the daytime, reducing A/C requirements, while the giant gold statue of a woman in a flowing dress overlooked the crowds like a silent sentinel.

Sage woke up from her wonderful sleep in the car. She couldn’t remember how she got her, it felt like time had passed so quickly. She knew it was the Crown’s anniversary, and she was eager to see her creation a year on. A valet opened the door for her, and Sage collected herself and stepped out, looking about the Casino’s manicured gardens and was very pleased. Drake tossed the keys to the Valet, who delivered their car off to the VIP parking.

“Hellooo! Welcome to the Crown! I’m Karen, the floor manager!” The many arrivals to the casino were greeted by the Crown’s floor manager. Regular customers, especially the men, were quite in a good mood seeing the young raven haired Asian manager in a short skirted business suit.

The manager spots Drake and Sage, and approached, though her voice drastically changed from a west coast valley girl to a demure, sophisticated formal English. “Greetings, master Drake, mistress Sage. I humbly receive the builders of the crown.” She concluded with a bow. Sage looked at her peculiarly, after returning the bow. “How are things in the Crown?”

“Oyuki?” Drake did a double take. The girl who’d been his daughter’s ninja sister was now employed at the Crown. “Damn. You’re the floor manager?” he asked.

“All is well, lady Sage. A great many visitors marvel at your construction, and all the news makers and gossip mongers what is next for Sage.” She briefly explained to Sage, before turning to Drake. “Lady Vexus recognized our skills as useful to keep an eye on clients of interest.”  

“We are here to observe how the Crown is doing since it was built. Also, I have a gift for lady Vexus.” Sage stepped aside to reveal the metallic leopard that had stealthily disembarked from the car with them. After months of experimentation, Sage had produced a very fine facsimile of a feline, but one intelligent enough to understand speech. The thing locked eyes with Oyuki, before acting like a feline and licking itself… somewhere.

“The Lady Vexus is not present on the premises, unfortunately. However, I shall send a message to notify her.” She whips out a selfie-stick and her phone, the Oyuki switches back to her valley girl voice. “Oh my god! Look who’s here, the designers and builders of our very own Crown Casino! Selfie time!” The phone clicked a few times, and Oyuki slid the picture into Vexus’s priority DMs, a privilege reserved for her managers and higher ranked staff.

SECURITY ROOM

In a large, well-lit, open room lined with monitors and very active security personnel walking to and fro, a bunch of bar graphs and numbers on said monitors were rising, as was the tension in the air.
For much of the day, the Crown’s perimeter sensors were rapidly counting more and more arrivals as the hours go by. A great many of these were first timers to the Crown, as the system tracked covertly tracked its customers, and the personnel in the security center were aware of it too. What they couldn’t immediately grasp was the sheer state terror some of these folks were in, as they fled from the nightmares brewing in the downtown area thanks to the attack of a roided up Mad Jack.

“Chief! Come look at this!” A junior intern manning the CCTV monitors called the attention of the team lead, getting his attention and seeing the situation at the gardens. A haggard man sat on a bench in the gardens, when, from the corner of the screen, a 15 foot tall giant woman in furs emerged to terrorize the man… and many more were seeing the beginnings of an attack originating from the gardens.

GARDENS

The Hydroponic gardens were the main attraction and the drop off point for many arrivals at the Crown. Sadly, there was no time for admiring the various flora flourishing in the desert, nor the moisture towers or the water recycling systems. Few if any were going deeper into the garden but rather, were making a beeline for the casino.

The shadows cast by the gardens seemed to grow deeper and darker as more and more who had witnessed the attacks in the city arrived here. The psychic seeds that were planted in their minds created a gestalt that slowly coalesced and animated the darkness itself. The fears of all the guests, especially those having seen Jack, began take shape. Spiders, snakes, skeletons and more, with an ominous red flame in their eyes betraying their supernatural origin.

One man who’d been awake since 4 in the morning was utterly exhausted fleeing, and stopped in the gardens to sit down. He saw a fountain and tried to wash his face, to wash the fear and fatigue away with the cold water. A silhouette in the water caused a chill to go down his spine.

“No, no… you’re not here…” he turned around, and there above him, was the giant woman clad in fur and carrying a spear. He dived out of the way of her spear thrust.

“It’s the giant cannibal women! She’s gonna kill us all!” He somehow managed to shout, as he saw a hundred more frightening things emerging from the garden and attacking the crowd. Purposeful brisk walking turned into a panicked flight, as monsters emerged from the Crown’s hydroponic orchard, and people in their hundreds broke into a full sprint towards the Casino.

One year.
And what an impressive milestone it was. Profits were soaring, the community was buzzing, members were having fun, people were making money. It was all quite fantastic. The technology she had introduced for her establishment to be carbon negative has inspired other facilities to work on upgrading to her processes. Vexus had never been such a positive influence to the world before, at least not since the 1900s. Despite this, and climbing the ranks of the ultra wealthy of the world, Ms. Elena Vexus was by no means a ‘good person’.
She was currently riding in a private helicopter approaching her Crown Casino, her arrival would kick off the one year festivities. Her work phone phone pinged. One of her floor managers had sent her a photo that Sage had arrived. She smirked at the photo and its very ‘Social Media Influencer’ message. A wonderfully powerful ally that she had acquired. Elena fully intended on keeping them very close in her circle for future projects. Her luxury helicopter was making its final approach as a team of men in suits gathered at the helipad, but the chopper flew right over them leaving them with very confused looks on their face.
The helicopter hovered above an opening in the gardens and spotlights aimed up at the airborne vehicle. The side doors opened to reveal Elena Vexus, but not in her traditional business attire. Sequins glistened and reflected like a bright rainbow in the sky. She stepped onto a platform that began to slowly lower her down onto the grounds. The wind from the blades whisked around her long blonde hair, and she stepped off the platform her heels making a distinctive click against the pavement. A loud voice boomed over the outside intercom systems.
“Ladies, gentlemen, and all other friends of the Crown, please join me in welcoming your host of this evenings One Year Anniversary festivities… Her Majesty, Ms. Elena Vexus!”
”Happy Anniversary everyone!” and the crowds erupted into applause.
Elena Vexus had shown up on brand, in brand new custom made couture gown. Her guards quickly jogged over to her side, and another one of her assistants brought her a side bag to keep some cosmetics and her phones. She continued forward through the gardens stopping and talking with anyone she could, taking selfies, hearing about these experiences so far with her casino. It was funny to Elena, thinking that all so many of her past atrocities were readily available for public knowledge. She had done well with removing a bulk of it from the internet, but it was still out there. And all of these people are just so happy to be here and be around her… Strange…

The feeling lasted all but a moment. Her smiles with the groups faded as a chill cut through the air. There was something wrong in the city off in the distance. She could almost see what appeared to be a massive monster, and despite the distance it could be heard very clearly. Disaster was striking. The moon was replaced with a jack-o-lantern and Elena immediately knew who was behind this. She had never met the individual, but knew tales of the Pumpkin King.
Elena gave a signal and her men began moving. Working to help every citizen into the safe walls of her Casino. She pulled out her phone, it was connected to everyone that worked for her on the grounds.
“Activate the mechanical guards. Top priority is keeping our guests safe. I’m going to-“
She was cut off as a 50 foot woman some how appeared in the gardens. Vexus’ face twisted in disgust as she made eye contact with a man cowering in fear not to far away. Not only that, but monstrosities from every corner of fiction. Vampires, snakes, aliens, massive spiders. As if everyone’s nightmares were being manifested on the spot.
“Sage! I need a pillar of earth out here! And once everyone is inside, can you encase the entire casino in a dome to keep it shielded from outside attacks!? I’m going to keep everything under control out here. I will leave you in command inside the facility. This is a fortress, and we will not be subdued.”

Vexus’ Celestial Eye roared to life as spell circles began to manifest themselves all over the grounds. Fire, lightning, and blades of water danced across the sky eradicating nightmares one by one. Her Technomatter was building in density as the summonings continued to fall. As if on its own, the grey sand like substance moved to protect civilians who were still trying to work their way into the building. The tall woman was winding up to maul Vexus, but a bolt of magical lighting struck the Amazonian nightmare first taking her out. As Elena walked powerfully through her property, off in the distance an army of creatures were barreling towards them. Most of the monsters on the grounds had been dealt with, and now there was just the matter of the approaching doom…
Elena took in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. She placed her hands together and then spaced them apart. Between them was an orb of Technomatter, about the size of a bowling ball. Bronze colored enchantments began to appear and circle the ball as it began to shrink in size. Other spells appeared as flames jumped and electricity sparked, the ever smaller orb beginning to grow to insane temperatures.
Vexus’ hands began to tremble as the orb continued to be condensed further and further. On a platform of Technomatter, she began to float up into the sky to have a clearer view of the incoming army. She out stretched her hands and the now marble sized ball of Technomatter was shot forward to the center of the crowd. On impact, the spell holding all of the matter and energy together was undone causing a devastating explosion. Anything at the epicenter would have been immediately vaporized, and the shockwave that carried out would have decimated anything else in its path. The explosion would have been felt through the casino and the city. It was not large enough to cause any damage to the city though. Some windows on the outskirts of the city may shatter, and a powerful breeze would blow through the streets as remnants of the shockwave. Nothing of the nightmare army would remain. Only scorched earth.

Vexus let herself down back to the ground gently and looked down at her hands. They were burnt and damaged so badly there was exposed bone. A small golden spell circle appeared above them and they began to heal up slowly.
“Goddamn… I really should have stretched first…” she said as she let out a heavy exhale still trying to get the feeling back into her hands. She used some of her Technomatter to gently float herself to the top of the Crown to view the city. Elena deactivated her Celestial Eye to help herself conserve and rebuild stamina and magical power.
It looked like more nightmares were taking shape, ones that would not be able to be taken out so easily. These looked to be very colossal in stature as they formed at the edges of the City of Sin… Elena knew this wouldn’t be over until that pumpkin gets knocked out of the sky…

The first wave of minions to be destroyed by the blast of technomatter caught Jack’s attention, the glowing celestial body that was once the moon glared down at Vexus herself. Behind her, in a puff of smoke and black radiance, the thin pumpkin headed man grinned at the new arrival. “So,” He said spinning his scythe casually. “Number three has come to play in the big leagues?” He left the scythe where it was, standing as if there was still someone holding it, and began to walk in a circle around Vexus. Like a shark smelling blood, Jack seemed to get more erratic as he sensed the fear hidden underneath all of that bravado. Slowly, his body changed. Rippling and bubbling flesh, pumpkin pieces falling away revealing a human face underneath. One that Elena Vexus would know quite well, no modifications needed to be made. Jack could sense that.

Jack lifted his hands, and smiled with his new face. ”Hello Elena, I bet you didn’t expect me to be here.” Suddenly, Jack appeared leaning against his scythe, a pumpkin headed Jack, not the one that was currently transformed into the vigilante. ”Well, I’ll let you two catch up. I’ve got a hotel to slaughter.” Jack cackled as he sunk into the roof of the Crown, as Humanity stood there silently, allowing Elena to take the first step.

Jack found his way to the lobby, and conjured a microphone that he connected to the PA system of the hotel. ”Hello occupants, I am establishing this location as the new official home of Papa Jack’s downhome country cooking’s parking lot. Now, the unfortunate news about this is that you’ll all be slaughtered like cattle to make room for said parking lot. The good news is, of course, your meat and bones won’t go to waste. I’ve got a question for you, stone mage. What do you do, when the killer is already in the house?”

Vex’s Arrival, Nightmare Attack
Sage stood there with a blank expression as Drake indulged this small diversion with a strange hand gesture, making her the odd duck in the picture. Still, things were picking up when Vexus’s helicopter came into view, the flying machine landing nearby to much fanfare.

The festivities however, soon started to change in tone as large, inky black figures began to form in the shade of the gardens. Giant of a woman, reaching the height of one of the moisture towers. Vexus wasted no time and sounded the alert, then blasted the giant woman, causing her to fall to her knees and slowly discorporate back into shadow stuff. The call for earth pillars was unnecessary, as the gardens contained many stone cooling stacks and statuaries that would meet her material needs.

Once the alarm had sounded, the defenses had begun to activate. Sage’s edifice was no conventional casino, for modern technology was merged with true fortress architecture. Rather than roll up doors, large stone slabs further reinforced with metal plating had moved began to slide close upon the Casino’s main access points, just staying slightly ajar to allow guests inside. Heavily armed Security teams quickly establish barricades and reality anchoring devices at the entrances, gesturing the people to get in. Small, fast flying creatures acting as vanguards attempted to harry the defenders, but Sage would have none of it – a metallic flower bed provided her flechette petals to rip them from the air, leaving the guards to deal with the ground nightmares.

A lady from California was being chased down by a pack of black hounds, yelling hysterically. The hounds leapt, catching her by the shoulder and ankle, biting deep and drawing blood. “GYAAAH!” She fought back, but feebly. More of the hounds came to tear into her, but the paver bricks beneath began to burst out and knock the hounds back. A wave of energy carries the wounded woman towards Sage and the casino.

“This fortress was built by my hands, and it will not fall while I stand!” Sage proclaimed with conviction, watching the monstrosities assail Vexus’s guests here, at the Casino she built. And now she must defend it and protect its guests. A giant spider reared its ugly head towards Sage, but with a few graceful gestures with her focus fan, a nearby metal sculpture was readily transformed into whip blades that seemed to come to life, dancing about in helical patterns around the spider. The arachnid leapt back twice, before the blades advanced a third time, entered its space and tore it asunder. Rather than leaving a corpse, the nightmare spawn dissolved into a black goo, then nothingness. The animated whip blades danced about and launched themselves at incoming nightmares, ripping them apart as the ground itself betrayed them, pinning them in place for a death blow.

Sage kept herself between the nightmares and the guests, steadily falling back towards the Casino, Drake and Oyuki standing guard at the door with their 1911 and kunais, respectively. Once all the guests had made their way into the Casino, Sage went inside, the mighty blast doors fully closing. The last thing the master of metal saw was Vexus unleashing her might upon the many monsters still in the garden, and that she was preparing for a most devastating spell.
Then the blast doors fully closed.
Inside the Casino
Even with the security doors closed she could feel the impact of the blast, as the massive stone and metal Casino shook, the vibrations moving through the earth and shaking Sage to the core. Many folks lost their footing at the shockwave hit, while the windows and frames rattled violently, the lights blinking.

“Aya, that was excessive.” Sage said, resigning herself to the real possibility part of or the entire garden was now gone. With the might of the Great Doors behind her, Sage’s attention now turned to matters within the Casino; medical teams were tending to the wounded, while people were in general panic. Drake was busy helping the manager elsewhere.

The temporary calm of the moment was taken when the overhead speakers spread a message of terror and woe. Jack had deigned to come down through the higher floors, a malign revenant of ill portent. And then he challenged Niao in her home.
Sage, defiant, took a step towards him, sheer force of will barely holding back the ectoplasmic abomination. “I do not know who you are, but know that you have come uninvited into a place of my making.” Sage manipulated the ground beneath her, the stones familiar being of her make. She raised a ring of hexagonal pillars to separate Jack and herself from the rest of the crowd, a makeshift arena, the abundant material beneath ready to use. It also served to shield the crowd from the sight of the nightmare creature.

“Know that I am not trapped with you. You are trapped here with me.” Sage proclaimed, pointing her war fan at Jack. Even while on her home turf, she was defensive, fortified in her aspect, wondering what he had up his sleeve.

And here he was. The man of the hour. The ultra powerful and the unmistakable Jack.
Vexus met eyes with the twisted looking moon, and soon after she felt a presence appear behind her.
“Big leagues? Power recognizes power. I would have expected someone of your caliber to understand what that means…”
Vexus crossed her arms as this nightmare king circled her lie a child looking for permission from an adult. Vexus’ Celestial Eye came back to life, she did not have as much time as she wanted to recover from her last attack, but it would have to do. Jack’s body began to ripple and change. Elena knew something was coming so she began to gear up, a weapon made of Technomatter taking shape in her hand. As the shards of pumpkin began to fall atop the roof of her casino. The face that was being revealed has Vexus’ eyes wide with pure terror.
Being afraid was the worst case scenario when facing someone like this. Her fear only blinded her to the situation at hand. This individual before her had been her greatest failure. A mere human that she could not best. Someone who’s own mental fortitude exceeded her own. Being outclassed to such a degree filled her with absolute fear. So much that she did not even pay any attention to the other Jack who phased through the floor to meet with her guests and counterpart Sage.
It was written all over her face, her fright. She tried to mask it with rage, but it was a futile effort. She tossed the weapon at Humanity, but it passed right through him. She saw his mouth move, but heard nothing. The terror Elena was experiencing was all but paralyzing. Every element she had in her arsenal began to spark into existence. Her Technomatter whipped through, lightning struck, flames erupted, every action she had but it was all to no avail.

Her breathing was getting heavy. Her attacks were unregulated, she was utilizing too much magical energy would and would exhaust herself quickly. She felt it beginning to weigh on her and she needed this man erased from existence.
“You.. YOU shouldn’t even be here.. You Can’t be here!” She said, starting to back away. Her Technomatter flowing around her and beginning to lift her up into the air.
“If I can’t kill you by ripping you apart molecule by molecule, I’ll just destroy everything… HahaHA! The laws of nature mean nothing. I’ll destroy matter, I’ll make sure you are so far gone from this reality no one even remembers who you were!” She was becoming more unstable as she brought herself higher into the sky. She raised her arms above her head as different spell circles manifested themselves. Technomatter and massive amounts of energy swirled together as she worked to create a far more devastating version of her previous attack.

“It’s been too long, child. I’ll make sure there are no witnesses this time!” she said with a crooked smile. Elena’s eyes began to glow green and take on a reptilian iris. Her hands grew into claws and scales formed all along her body. A form that many have never seen that raises her magical prowess to unbelievable heights. In such a state of fright however, this would be detrimental to almost everyone in the state of Nevada. An orb of Technomatter about the size of a hot air ballon had been crafted, and through tremendous amounts of magic, it was condensed down to the size of a golf ball. Such intense power was altering the weather and causing the roofing and ground below to splinter and buckle. Lightning was striking off in the distance, and the wind was gusting towards the Crown Casino. Her eyes glowed with malice and unrivaled destructive intent. Vexus has become the epicenter of this nearing catastrophe, the clouds swirled around high above creating a picturesque scene with Elena hailing as the eye of the storm. If she launched this at point blank, she wouldn’t survive. No one in the casino would survive. The city of Vegas wouldn’t survive. Something of this mass may even shake the Earth’s very orbit. The entire country would feel the shockwave of this kind of blast and would cost millions of lives. With fear and anger leading Elena’s unbridled magical power in this moment, countries could be blown off the map.
“More…. MORE, nothing will see through to the end of this.. THIS IS-….This… Is… Um…” A moment of clarity struck. Like a strange haze over her mind was clearing up. The elevated form she had taken was beginning to slightly neutralize the effects of Jack’s brainwashing. Realizing what she was currently in the middle of, she delicately began to redirect this insane amount of magical energy that had been created.

It was beginning to come back to her. Sage was in trouble. Her guests were in danger. People had been hurt and her reputation has a hostess was on the line. Jack was launching nightmares all over the place. This was quite possibly all an illusion. She was hard pressed to fully get herself out of the fearful hold that had been placed over her, but she had enough clarity no to blast herself and all the residents of Nevada into nothing. She repurposed the energy she had expended for this attack and gently undid the condensed Technomatter. This flowed around and she was brought back down to the roof of the casino. A decent amount remained around her while the rest flowed through the cracks that had been previously created. Elena was confident in Sage’s construction that nothing would collapse, so the matter continued through to locate every individual within the casino. Acting as feelers, she pinpointed everyone and a small golden spell circle appeared on them. This helped to lessen the effects of the nightmares while also healing any wounds they would have suffered. As soon as the Technomatter came across Sage, a multi layered spell appeared on her body. If she was facing off against Jack like Elena thought she was, this would ensure she could fight without restraint. The guests were protected. Sage was granted rapid regeneration and pain reduction. And Vexus had a clearer mind to face the threats in front of her.

“I do not know what you are… But I will see to it that you are stopped. I have a reputation to uphold, you know…”
She quickly extended her arm to cast a multitude of bronze spell circles. There would exert an otherworldly amount of pressure. The same magic that was used to condense her Technomatter into impossible forms was being sued to crush this apparition of Humanity. He had phased through her attacks previously, but if he was being constrained by a magical force from all directions there might be a different result.
Vexus was aiming to kill. The amount of force she exerted form these spells would crunch a car down to toy size. She was still incredibly on edge from this man having her worst nightmare’s face, and it showed. Elena had other elemental spell circles generating all around ready to counter any move that this form of Jack wanted to make. Magical energy was charging to levels that would incinerate on contact. She would ensure victory over this self crowned Halloween King.