Future-Shock: The world to the waves (Nu and The Grey)

Before the touch had even come, Jardin turned. The girl seemed worried by something...She held out a cellphone. A text gave silent voice to her concerns. It seemed the makeshift trio had a tail.

Jardin scanned about. Everyone seemed to be staring. He expected that. But whoever was following them was hidden in the crowd. So...who was their stalker?

Jardin did not like to be in the open when danger was about. Grasping the silent girl's arm. He realized he needed a better possition, a way to force the the pursuer into view. He headed down into the subway, the mute and the toon both.

At the base of the stairs, Jardin stepped aside. "Keep walking," he whispered. Looking to the peculiar character, he added, "Stay with her. I'll catch up."

Jardin was setting a trap. It would be better to be behind the tail, without the tail knowing. And if she was wrong...well, "better safe than sorry."

Before Nu could do anything further, Jardin had firmly grasped her arm and began to head down into the subway. Upon reaching the bottom, the man told Nu to keep moving, as he took up an ambush position. Nu however, did not listen to the man, instead she stood her ground and stared angrily at the top of the stairs. To be honest she wasn’t even a hundred percent sure they were being followed, it could have just been her being paranoid, but never the less Nu wasn’t going to be bossed around either.

Rushed footsteps could be heard approaching the stations entrance, and with that, Nu took cover behind a nearby pillar. The cartoon character, quickly followed her to the same pillar, and peered over the side with anticipation. Nu gave the creature a small pat on the head before her attention shifted back to the stairs and the footsteps began to echo throughout the hollow tunnels. Seconds later two small children came into view, They reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around for a moment, before rushing over and picking up a small blue bouncy ball.

After retrieving their ball, the children ran back up the stairs. With all signs pointing towards the coast being clear, Nu stepped out from behind the pillar and approached Jardin. She whipped out her phone and tapped away at the screen |- Looks like I was just being paranoid. Sorry for startling you. T_T -| the little emoji hinting at Nu’s embarrassment for being too jumpy.  She showed the message to the man before placing the phone back in her coat pocket.

on the plus side, Nu's paranoia did get them into the subway quicker, but it was still uncertain as to why the little Toon wanted them to come down here in the first place, either way Nu was pretty sure they'd find out soon.

Once in the Subway there was most certainly something about it that was "homey" to say the least. It would seem as though the entire place had been renovated, parts of the sides dug out and entire make-shift houses carved out of the sides, some areas breaking into even bigger recently dug places where "construction" was under progress. The entire atmosphere of the place was nice as Christmas lights and makeshift lights were beside decorations of all kinds were strung about the large ceiling and down the entire length of the subway tube, each one having stalls and bed mats and even businesses and houses. Whatever happened to the world apparently made adapting and living in subway tubes more preferable. Though the cartoon character's primary point of focus was to point down the tunnel, trying to lead them down the west end of the tunnel where there was a large graffiti word-art that said "ASYLUM" really large on the back panel.

Making little noises, the character began to point at the back wall, though the more noise he made the more the surrounding populous looked to the animated lifeform, and the look on their face made it quite clear that there were very few people that found this creature well. The look on their faces were of apprehension, some even of fear. So much fear in fact that mothers didn't even dare to protest as their happy and eager children ran out to tackle and wrestle around with the living cartoon character. Of course once he was dog-piled by the children the character's arm weakly popped out of the pile and his hand disconnected before standing on his index and middle finger, using it's thumb to balance; much akin to that little Thing on the Adam's family. After floating there for a moment and pointing to the Asylum sign again the hand reached back into the pile and slowly began to dismember the remainder of the cartoon character from under the children. Once free it then reassembled itself, though it's leg were attached to it's head and its hands were where it's legs should have been. The deformed creature began to walk before stumbling over, the children all laughing and seemingly enjoying the things company.

Then opened it's mouth and a small chain-chomp like creature popped out of it's mouth, opening backwards before it literally devoured the character whole before imploding on itself and making a loud popping noise, where it was immediately reoriented and aligned to it's proper anatomical placement. Quickly the cartoon character seemed to pull out a violin from seemingly nowhere and started playing music, the kids all around began to dance while the adults seemed cautious, watching the creature while a few others attempted to return to everyday life.

Jardin took a glance at the phone, quickly catching on to the girl's embarrassment.  "Don't feel bad.  You know what they say...'better safe than sorry,' right?"  He gave the mute girl a slight smile.  "Keep those eyes open.  It's only paranoia until someone tries to kill you."

Turning away from his companion Jardin studied the makeshift town, piecing another clue into the puzzle that had found themselves in.  "Graffiti is in English..." he muttered.  "Add that to the car out front, a right laner, and I'd say it's U. S. or Canada."  Jardin glanced to the girl, adding, "Definitely a city considering the subway."

Returning to the subject of the Toon's attention, Jardin began stride toward the building marked "Asylum."  "This building is one of two things: a place for crazy, or a place to accept people running from somewhere.  Considering the Mad Max scene topside, it could go either way."

Glancing at the giddy toon character, Jardin smiled a little. "Our friend was convinced this is where we had to be..."

"What do you say I go first, make sure there isn't an ambush, then you just stay behind for bit." Without waiting for an answer, Jardin moved to enter the "Asylum...

Nu wasn’t quite sure what to make of the scene before them, much like everything else they had seen up to this point, the subway shanty town definitely seemed like something out a post-apocalyptic movie or something. Listening to the man’s assumption, Nu could only agree, all the clues that they had been given about their location pointed to North America. Nothing was adding up, there were no regions in North America that looked this run down, could it be that the answer to where they were, wasn’t really a matter of where, but more of a matter of when?

Nu pondered on the thought for a moment, as time travel seemed completely impossible to her, but the evidence was definitely very convincing. When her companion suggested that he go on ahead, while she wait behind, she shook her head and walked to his side. She figitied with her phone a bit before flashing the screen at him |- We go together -| it said. Given the circumstances and Nu’s utter lack of knowledge of her mysterious party member, it was probably a better idea if they stuck together.

Nu put the phone away after she was certain that the man had read the message, and then proceeded to lead the way down the subway, waving her hand and motioning for the man and the cartoon character to follow her. The young artificial girls cat like eyes, continued to shift side to side looking at each of the makeshift shacks and shops as they moved further into the tube.

Moving towards Asylum filled the mysterious little cartoon with glee as it began to bounce around, ricocheting himself off of walls and the ceiling of the tunnel while still having enough accuracy to not hit any of his newfound friends. With one final bounce off the ground the cartoon followed behind Nu, it's tongue lolling out of the side of it's mouth like that of a dog. Moving further down the tunnel there would be a sheer slab of solid metal, a metal unlike any either of these people had ever seen before. This metal was not only a slightly deep greenish serpentine color but it had a density unlike anything they'd encountered before. In addition to this, if powers were attempted upon it then it would prove to be futile.

Approaching the large slab that blocked off the entire tunnel, Toon let out a loud whistle, his face turning into that of a wolf when he did so and immediately morphing back to it's original contour. At the whistle, the door began to move, rising up above with the clicking and clacking of a medieval gate system. With the door entirely risen there would be a rather obscure sight to be seen, something that was perhaps a little intimidating.

A large, dark room with the occasional flickering light was within as dried blood was smeared across the walls, some hand prints seeming to indicate someone trying to climb or get away from something. The linoleum floors were dusty, bloody or chipped in some way as the entire area reeked. Whatever this place was, it was not friendly, it was not inviting and it was most certainly creepy. Toon pointed inside, but quickly he took off, running to the far side of the room before returning with a sign that was crudely written in a dark colored paint...or hopefully it was paint.

The Law of Asylum... Don't die. Get to the 20th floor and meet The King. Omniscient. Omnipotent. Toon quickly began trying to make hand motions as if to ask a question, but then he realized that he was not succeeding. Quickly Toon took out a marker and wrote the question on his hand.

"Very tough! Much worth it!"

Jardin approached the gateway but did not pass through.  Instead, he leaned his shoulder against the wall, studying the chamber.  Even in the weak torchlight, the thief could see the gore stained interior.  It was not a pleasant sight to be sure.

Giving the mute a sideways glance, Jardin begins to recite his thoughts out loud.  It was more for the girl's benefit.  "So, on the one hand, we need answers and this...'King,'" he said the title in a way that said he had little patience for such things.  "This King may be able to tell us morebabout where we are and such."

"On the other hand," he continued, turning fully to face the woman.  "we can always go elsewhere for answers without having to run a stupid gauntlet..."

Pushing away from the wall, Jardin walked closer to the mute.  "I'll go with you on this," he wispered.  "Either into the blood soaked battlefield or back up to the village to ask around..."

If she chose to step into the gauntlet, Jardin knew he would tell her his name.  Not an alias like he did for most but his true name, the one given to him by his family.  He had no worries about dying, himself...The psychic though...They could trade names and if the worst should come...better not to think about it.

The trio moved deeper into the tunnel, the toon seemed to be in a rather chipper mood, as he bounced off nearly every surface possible before the three came upon a large odd colored slab of metal. Nu marveled at its size, and unique color, as she had never seen anything like it before. Nu’s apprehensive nature told her that whatever was behind this door was most likely bad news, and she wasn’t wrong.

After the little cartoon let out a loud whistle, the door began to move, as it raised up to reveal a very grim scene. The room was covered in dried blood, and the smell that immediately followed the opening of the door, made Nu rather sick, as she quickly covered her mouth and nose to avoid breathing in any more of the awful smelling air. The little cartoon character rushed into the room, narrowly avoiding Nu’s attempt to restrain him from entering, but several seconds later he returned holding a sign that was crudely made, no doubt with some unfortunate souls blood.

The toon then raised his hand as if he had a question, before turning the board over and writing on the back side with a marker. Nu raised a confused brow at the statement, before turning her attention to her companion who made a good point. What was so special about this “king” that people had to go through some horrible challenge just to meet, and what did he know that the citizens of the shanty town topside didn’t know?

Nu pondered for a moment, hand still covering her mouth and nose. The safest and easiest thing to do would be to ask the townsfolk, but from the way they all seemed to avoid approaching, yet alone looking at the trio, made Nu skeptical that they would get the answers they were after. Up to this point they had been following the toon’s lead, and they hadn’t had an issues till now, as they faced the bloody room. Nu continued to think in silence, before psyching herself up and pointing nervously into the room.

She began to walk forward, unsure if she was making the right choice, but when it ever came down to making up her mind, she would often think about what Sionas would do in a situation like this, and all signs were pointing to taking the dangerous challenge, and so with that Nu would put her fear behind her and face whatever awaited the small group head on.

Toon was elated to see that the other two would be happy to join him in the gauntlet, however there was in fact a small fact that he didn't tell them. That was the fact that their opponents were perhaps some of the more difficult creatures left in existence for this particular timeline. For instance there was nothing to be heard or seen in this area. Of course that was until they were in the room, when the gauntlet closed with them inside.

  From inside there was silence. But it was broken when there were growls followed by insnae cackles from what sounded like a hyena laughing while it was trapped in a blender. There was a loud clamour, the sound of a light dropping and the noise of stone grinding as claw marks appeared at random on the walls. With crack the ground beneath the end of the claw-line fractured and cratered inwards a small bit. The next thing to be seen would actually only be seen by one of them. Corey would be able to make note of a large furred and bloody figure, horns atop it's head and nothing but malice in it's eyes. The creature was walking towards them...just walking, though as it's large maw opened the horrific apperance of bone and sinew made it quite clear what this creature was going to do to them.

  Toon looked about, entirely lost while Nu remained entirely oblivious to the incoming threat.

Poltergeist:

Jardin studied the giant monstrosity for a moment, sizing it up.  It was a creature of bone, skin and hair, claws and fangs.  It reminded Jardin of old American legends regarding the Wendigo...not entirely sure why that one came to mind.

"So, we're fighting demons now..." he commented glancing towards his silent ally.  "Sounds like Tuesday."  He had a bit of a cocky smirk as he finished.

Jardin quickly noticed that the silent woman had not actually fixed her gaze on the monster.  A glance to the Toon proved that it too was unaware.  So Jardin was the only one seeing it.

Muttering an expletive to himself, Jardin stepped forward.  He knew he lacked the reach to really fight this thing.  But he knew his fellow meta could not target what she could not see.

Feinting forward, the thief held position just outside of the giant's reach.  "Quiet?" he had decided to call her.  "I hope you got more tricks up your sleave than just a flashy barrier."  He intended to keep it distracted while the she hammered it with whatever she had.

And if that did not work, there was always Plan B...whatever that turned out to be.

ooc:

Nu walked into the grim looking arena, with determination in her eyes. She was going to prove that she was more than capable of looking out for herself. That was till the unholy noises began to ring throughout the hollow room. Mad cackling and something scraping against the cold concrete were enough to change Nu’s demeanor real fast. The noises drew closer and closer, and by most accounts, whatever was making these noises should have been visible right now, even with the dim lighting in this place.

Just then Madeline heard her companion make a comment about them fighting a demon, to which Madeline raised a brow in confusion. She even looked down to their cartoonish friend, to see if he was on the same page as her. To her surprise and fear, the toon was entirely as lost as she was. The stranger she was with leapt into action immediately, as if he was trying to draw something’s attention.

Nu puffed up in a bit of anger at being called “quiet” but the feeling passed in a flash, as she realized she hadn’t actually told the stranger her name, and the fact that there was something in the room with them, that only he could see. This prompted Nu to look around the room, there had to be something that she could use or do, that would allow her attack something she could not see. She took a quick moment to study the floor, which was a pain with the severe lack of much light, but she could see four distinct indentations on the ground a few feet away from her.

Thinking that that had to be where the creature was, Nu raised her hand to the sky, causing the area around the four indentations to crack and shift, until it formed a perfect oval shaped ring around them. The large segment of land began to lift up out of the ground, whatever was on it, was heavy, and it was taking an enormous amount of concentration from Nu to just lift up out of the ground. The young girl then thrusted her hand downwards, sending the huge chuck of land plummeting towards the ground.

The poltergeist missed it's initial attacks, it's beady white eyes following the thief's movements before letting out a little purring like noise. With an overarching claw it swept while the skillful evasion pressed the feral beast to continue it's enraged bloodlust. Toon observed what was happening as it stood there, awestruck by what it was encountering. Believing that it was a type of strange synchronized dancing, Toon shrugged before leaning forward a small bit and twisting his torso a little while lifting one leg then marching in place, twisting his torso to another angle as he clapped his hands.

   The Poltergeist's momentum carried him forth and he landed on the ground, planting his claws within as its agile body contorted, bones snapping and joints popping as it landed, making small indentations in the ground with it's claws. With narrowing eyes and a snarl the beast attempted to process what Jardin was trying to say before squeaking and taking a step forward. Ultimately, the creature's head turned and it attempted to leap aside from Nu's blasts, though not entirely successful. The creature was lifted into the air but as it tried to push off the rock it was overturned and sent hurdling for the earth. The creatures movements managed to save half of it's body from punishment as it collided and let out an ear piercing roar that was strong enough to cause the cartoon character to stop his dance to immediately cover his ears. Right arm and leg pined the creature let the left arm go limp before throwing all the momentum it could generate into the fragment of land, shattering it almost instantly as it grumbled and let out it's signature cackling. Dropping to all fours the creature pushed off the ground and raised to the ceiling, grappling onto it.

 On the ceiling small little dimples appeared as they made their way to the center of the room's ceiling, leaving them shrouded in darkness to even the one that could see him. Toon bounced away batting it's head between it's ears and quickly going to hide itself inside of a desk, forcibly stuffing himself inside with a cartoon plunger that he pulled from thin air. The poltergeist could be heard, stalking the vicinity above them, purposefully sticking to the shadows, similar to a predator. It began to change up the noise of it's movements as well, trying to generate some form of confusion, using it's yelps and laughter to echo off the walls, assisting in the masking of its movements.

  The room remained mostly darkened, though the Poltergeist seemed to be sitting back, waiting for them to make the next move, if not simply to observe its prey.

When the ground itself had heaved up into the air, Jardin had backpedalled, shutting his eyes against the sudden storm of risen dirt. Then when the slab came back down, he elected to shield his face from a much greater storm of debris. Looking back to the mess, one word came to mind. "Wow."

His awe was short lived as the creature liberated itself, then latched itself to the ceiling. "Oh, come on!" How much would it take to kill this thing?

The thing moved quickly, clinging to the ceiling near the center of the room. It began making quite a ruckus, like it was hoping the echoes would throw the theif and the mute off. It seemed as though the creature had not realize Jardin was seeing it. However the cacophony did manage to give Jardin a dull headache...

Taking the lul in activity as a chance to arm himself, Jardin jumped towards one of the sconces, prizing a torch free. Maybe setting the beast's fur alight woupd do something.

Armed, Jardin began shouting. "Center of the room!" he told the mute. Bring down the whole damned ceiling if you have to!" This time, it was an order.

Nu sat in silence for a few moments with one hand pointed at the ground, unaware her attack had any sort of success, or at least that was the case until the invisible beast let out a blood curdling scream. Nu immediately covered her ears from the noise, which was short lived as it quickly stopped. Nu’s attention quickly shifted to the crater in time to see the large slab of ground shatter, followed by a rush of air. Nu’s attention shifted upward, her eyes followed the dust trail left behind by the monsters leap, so she just assumed that’s where the beast had gone.

Despite know which direction the beast moved in, Nu had no idea where it had actually stopped. The creature began to make all kinds of noises, making it hard for her to track. Just then she heard her companion shout out that the creature was on the roof. His next sentence seemed almost wasted as Nu had already raised her hands towards the roof, in an attempt to bring it down. The two were definitely on the same page.

Nu began to concentrate on the roof and realized quite quickly that only parts of the roof were resonating, while the structural components seemed not to budge. This caused Nu to think of a different approach. She quickly moved next to her mysterious partner, before shooting a glance at the ceiling of the arena. Just then a very thin bright pink line extended from the center of her forehead upwards, and was then quickly followed by a series of mini kinetic explosions that occurred along the beam, until it finally collided with the roof causing a loud boom and a sizable explosion.

Knowing all too well that they were about to be bombarded by debris, Nu immediately followed up her attack by forming a barrier around the trio, in an attempt to shield them.

The creature let out a shrill, blood chilling shriek as the building's roof began to collapse. As the debris fell, Nu would place a barrier over herself and her ally, while revealing a thin layer of metal, one that seemed to be the exact same make as the door. Meanwhile the creature itself was nowhere to be seen. Of course there were no signs that the creature wasn't crushed to death. Flip side of that argument remained equally valid, however. Before the barrier dispersed however the only thing Cory would hear was a snarl from behind him before a powerful hand attempted to swipe him to the side. Being a surprise attack and having only similar reflexes it was likely going to hit him and bash him against the barrier.

Following that attack the creature turned and lunged the few inches right at Nu, once again popping up as if it were just randomly there. Somehow this creature managed to bypass the barrier, despite it not being "biotic" or sentient. It's aim was to full out pin her down and draw back it's claws to start slashing away. If successful in that endeavor then Nu had better hoped that Grey had a good aim... and a means to kill the beast.

Jardin had planned to rush out and attack the monster, but with the barrier up and the thing lost amidst the debris, he hesitated. He reacted to the sounds of snarling behind him, turning to defend himself. He only managed to take the blow head on...

The next thing he knew, his back was against the pink barrier and his head was swimming. He fell to all fours, vision blurring and ringing in the ears. He also felt like throwing up. Concussions were fun.

The young thief staggered to his feet. He saw a creature-shaped blob turning its attention toward a small girl-shaped mass. He also noticed his hands were empty. Where the hell was the torch?

His vision was gradually coming into focus and he spotted the flickering brand close by. As soon as he saw it, he was moving. He scooped up the torch and pitched at the creature. Hopefully, the fire would take to the things long fur.

If it took, good. If not, a good full-body tackle would be his best contingency plan.

I am really starting to not like you, he thougt at the creature.