Realistic or Modern A City Named Spite IC

[Gravitational Force]

Shadow Dancer
Marcus Brown made it 5 feet onto Main Street from the alley he'd stepped out of before he found himself face to face with a grinning police officer. That was never a good sign.
The officer pulled out his walkie talkie. "I have a possible 3110 on the corner of Main Street and 69th. Suspect is armed and belligerent."

Marcus didn't have enough time to protest before the officer's grin widened and with a fake tremor in his voice said: "Suspect is resisting arrest. Requesting backup."

The police baton caught Marcus on the side of his head at the same moment realization set in. Stunned, he was unable to act when antimagic handcuffs were slapped on his wrists. As he struggled, the arresting officer reached into his coat and dropped a large bag of Pixie Dust (a potent hallucinogen with random magical side effects, very illegal) and a handgun on Marcus.
"Alright then. You're under arrest for possession of an illegal weapon, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, resisting arrest, assault of an arresting officer," the officer notices that some of Marcus's blood has fallen on his boots. "and destruction of police property. Now don't you worry about your rights, you don't get any."

Marcus passes out as he's loaded into the back of the police van and wakes up in a jail cell with four other people.

LindsMagee
Tempest nursed her swollen knee as she sat in the jail cell. It was the usual con, sell 'drugs' that weren't to somebody she wouldn't meet again and then count on them not being able to protest to the cops. Except in this case her latest buyer had been a cop. A cop who could afford anti-illusion magic and one all too willing to add another arrested drug dealer to his record. Along with several other phony charges (including prostitution, which the officers had made many cruel jokes about), she was unlikely to get out of prison any time this decade if convicted on even one of them.

sox
Joy wasn't sure how she'd ended up in yet another jail cell. Her memory had a huge hole in it. The last thing she remembered was visiting her sister's grave and then she'd woken up here. Apparently the cops didn't know what she'd done to deserve to be there either. That didn't mean they knew she wasn't guilty, it just meant they were being paid to get her locked up for a very, very long time. Going by the name of murder victims they'd read off when they'd been trying to get her to sign a confession (and the fact that she didn't know who any of them where (which made sense, the cops had just pinned every unsolved murder that month on her (and considering their dedication to their jobs vs enjoying their jobs they didn't solve many murders so much as frame someone enough to 'solve them'))), someone had paid very well.

Sadistic Sweetheart
Andrija sat in the cell, still in shock at what had happened. While she'd known the possibility of being caught was there, it was still a shock when the police had burst into her operation. It was an even bigger shock when she learned that they weren't charging her with that. It turned out her drug-operation was profitable enough that the local law enforcement had decided they wanted to be running it instead. She was instead being charged with several dozen minor crimes which amounted to literally nothing.

Unbreakable Patches
It took 6 policemen, 4 tasers, 2 police batons, and a slippery patch on the sidewalk but Arvid ended up knocked out and dragged into the cell with the other four. He slept like a polar bear.

Andrija heard the sound of a phone ringing with a custom ringtone. When she picked it up it switched to speaker phone, none of the cops within earshot.

Fantasy - A City Called Spite Lore

"For all of Human history the magic's always been there, but in the last few decades the masquerade's been broken and it's hit the streets. Before the number of practitioners was always limited and it took years of practice to master even the simplest spells. Then the Hellmouth opened in 1985...

www.rpnation.com

As the spiel ran down, the voice dropped.
"So for you, a group consisting of a brute, a shapechanger, a dealer, a liar, and a real fucking tragedy: I'm giving you the chance to make a difference. To be something big. If you're not doing it for yourself, then do it for Spite. Because let's face it, this city deserves a better class of criminal.

If you don't want in, just sit there and try enjoy what comes next. But if you're in, I'd suggest dialing a number you wouldn't normally associate with emergency services on this phone: 911. Succeed at that and you'll have more than earned your colors. Just escape, I'll take care of the rest. But feel free to raise some Hell on your way out, I hate cops."

 

[Sadistic Sweetheart]

To say Andrija was having a bad day would be an understatement. To say she was having the worst day of her life, well, maybe that was a little bit of a stretch. It had started out like any other, with her making coffee and preparing her usual batches for delivery later in the day. A knock on her door alerted her that one of her delivery boys had arrived. To begin with, her yard was gated with a keypad type of lock and she changed the codes weekly, only giving them to people on a need to know basis. Because of this, she was pretty sure the knock was the delivery boy. When she looked through the peephole, sure enough, he was standing here. Unfortunately for her, he was standing with a whole group of cops. It looked like she had been sold out. Luckily for her, while most people had two locks on their doors, Andrija instead had two full doors, each equipped with four locks. Paranoia was a welcome guest in her home. The cops, not wanting to have to go through the work of breaking down the doors - they were a rather lazy bunch after all - offered to handle things the 'easy way'. All she had to do was unlock the door and come out willingly and they would kindly arrest her and take over her operation. Otherwise, they'd do things the 'hard way' and break in - they had enough manpower and weaponry to do so, after all. The average person who knew Andrija would probably wager that she'd take the easy way out as it would be in her self interest to do so. However, that person would be forgetting that Andrija was a very prideful person and would not give up her life's work without a fight.

So, Andrija shouted some very rude things to them in her native tongue, making it quite clear which option she was choosing. Then, she did something that was very heartbreaking to her: she started destroying her workspace. She lit her workbooks on fire - most of their contents were memorized and had been written down as way to preserve research and record her findings the way most scientists would do if they were going to publish their work. Sure, there was very little academia in the drug making world, but she figured maybe it would be useful in the future. Now, she was sad to see them go up in flames, but happy to keep them out of the wrong hands. Outside, the police began busting the doors down. It made terrible racket for someone trying to focus on destroying their life's work. At the first slam into the door, she heard its hinges groan. At the second, she began smashing glassware and mixing powders so that they would be indistinguishable from one another and unusable - afterall, it was terribly dangerous to take a pinch of a strength supplement with a dash of speed enhancer and a bit of cocaine when they are all mixed together. At the third hit, she heard the loud slam of the door as it broke off the hinges and hit the ground, allowing a dozen cops to fill her poor living room. Guns pointed at her and the stupid oafs spit commands at her. She held her arms up and rolled her eyes before one slapped a pair of cuffs on her.

Now, she was sitting in the corner of a gross cell with four other people. She could hardly remember all the things she was charged with, but she was curious as to what her fellow lowlifes had done to end up here. Of course, she wasn't going to ask. She wasn't the chatty type. Not here, at least. So she sat with her legs crossed and hardly made a sound the entire time. She used time like this to think of solutions - not solutions as in ways to solve problems, but solutions as in solutes dissolved in solvents. Always the chemist, she used any down time to think of concoctions she could create with a big of magic. She knew better than anyone that in times like this, solutions could be solutions. A funny little saying, but true nonetheless. Her train of thought was broken by a ringtone. It was a high energy kind, the type she expected in an action sequence. Her head swiveled in the direction of the noise, blue eyes tracking the source to a little cell phone just an arms reach outside of her cell bars. Had that always been there? She couldn't seem to remember. After checking to make sure no authorities were watching, she reached out and snatched it. It didn't seem fair to keep the device all to herself and she couldn't be so sure it was a call for her, so she hit answer and put it on speakerphone. What came next was something she could have never imagined.

Andrija mulled the offer over in her mind. It was her most beneficial option - the only other one being getting locked up on false charges. She raised her gaze to the group. Some of the little markers the voice - sorry, Leviathan - had used. The huge guy was definitely the brute and she was pretty confident she was the dealer. The shapeshifter could have been any of them, the liar was one she had to look out for - but hey, it also meant that she wasn't considered the liar and neither was this brute guy, so it narrowed the odds a little - and the tragedy, which gave little away about its meaning. "Well," she mused, her voice calm with a hint of leadership in it, probably undeserved, but she was the one holding the phone, so that counted for something, "I don't know about you lot, but I've had enough of this little time out." There was maybe a glimmer of excitement in those glossy blue eyes before she dialed those three little numbers and hit the call button.

 

[Shadow Dancer]

Marcus was walking down the street with a smile having had a rather good evening, A successful break-in that would fetch him a few thousand in goods along with the payout for the main prize and even some information on a couple of shady businesses he could visit later and make even more. Then he had a bit of fun taking the guns and ammo of a few shady cops in the middle of making an arrest. Thankfully he had a habit of stashing his findings in one of many hidden locations soon after a stroll because it all came to an end when a cop cornered him, hit him over the head, handcuffed him and started listing charges while giving him a few gifts. Marcus noticed the man had a few very recent bruises "So you guys weren't happy with losing your guns during an arrest? Tell me did they hit too hard?" Of course Marcus earned another hit to the stomach though he only lost his breath, he was used to worse pain after transforming thousands of times over eleven years. He cringed when he remembered his first full body transformation into a wolf.

The cop took his cringing as a sign of victory and smiled "I've got more for you if you want boy." Of course Marcus would rather die then pass up such a chance that might have convinced him that if there was a god he wanted to thank them for this moment. So in a high pitched voice he shouted. "Hit me harder daddy!" The cop jumped back in surprise and Marcus sweared he learned more then he wanted from a faint blush on the cops cheeks, and in that moment part of him cursed God. The expected club to the stomach interrupted his laughter and even more charges were added to the list before he was thrown into a police car that smelled a bit too musky for his liking. Suffice to say Marcus was badly bruised by the time he arrived in his cell and that he would have to call his current employer about where the item was.

In the jail he shared a cell with four others one male and three females all of whom he had never met before. Marcus stuck to ignoring them for the time being he had to figure out what warden was on patrol tonight if it was his "get out of jail for a price card" he would be set. If not then he would be here a day or two planning an escape. But before he could go about getting that information a phone rang right outside the cell in arms reach of the woman with brown hair and blue eyes who he didn't know, he watched her answer it and put the speaker on. The man on the phone talked about making a difference and becoming something big two things he didn't care about but what caught his attention was the feeling that this man on the phone wanted to shake things up as much as possible and that was something that Marcus would not miss for the world. Once the man was done he nodded in agreement and smile grew on his face, "Seems very interesting I'm all in."

 

[sox]

joy shikha​

Kicking around a couple rocks that had fallen in the way of her weekly visit to Lakshanya's grave, the jaded woman kneeled to the ground and closed her eyes. She'd chosen a patch of land just past the point of uninhabited a couple miles out from her old home, surrounded by the protection of abandoned factories and toppled retaining walls. Carrying the decomposed body of her baby sister without being caught by the same authorities that were hunting her down had been a gruelling task, requiring hours of navigating back roads and layers of changing disguises for both herself and the corpse in her arms. Once she'd found a suitable spot to bury Lakshanya, far from their property but close enough to access regularly, she wasted no time in forging a headstone, instead committing the location to memory for her future visits.

Now, two months after discovering the gruesome sight, weeds had grown back into the patch Joy had uprooted and a layer of rock had toppled over the bottom half, leaving behind only a vacant memory of what life was like before her sister died. Six years felt like the distant past after spending countless days barely surviving in the shadiest parts of town. Had she gotten pretty good at fending for herself? Sure. She was decent. Or, at least that one guy now missing an eye and his left testicle had thought so. The runes she had rarely dared to access throughout her childhood now adorned her arms like a second skin, the dark ink enhancing her body's durability after she had spent several nights learning to tattoo the magical sigils onto herself.

"May we find each other again one day, beautiful," Joy murmured in Hindi, gazing down at the pitiful memorial before her. There was no one else in her life besides her sister, not one person to whom she bared the thoughts ruminating in her skull. Even in death, she trusted no other soul except her own DNA. No one in this world was reliable anymore, and she'd stay at this unmarked pile of rocks until she found it in herself to put those mental defenses back up and hit the road once more.


There was nothing quite like waking up to the stale, metallic taste of someone else's blood coating one's teeth. Joy found that she hated it.

Cement. Humidity. Voices. She registered all of them before her eyes even had the chance to open, her senses going into overdrive as she attempted to piece together her current reality. 'What the hell happened? Am I alive? Fuck, my head hurts.' With a great deal of effort, Joy forced her swollen eyes open, blinking several times as her blurred vision took its time to focus. When they finally achieved a satisfactory level of functionality, her back stiffened in alarm and she jolted back until she was pressed against the wall. It was a prison, without a doubt, and she wasn't alone. Four other inmates in similar states of physical neglect were piled into the cramped cell as well, each of them in their own worlds of confusion. To make it all worse, she couldn't remember a damn thing. One minute she was with her sister, and the next she was here... wherever "here" actually was.

At the sound of an obnoxious ringtone cutting through the musty air, Joy's head snapped in the direction of a young brunette, who swiftly answered the call and put in on speaker. She listened with great concentration, brow furrowing at the cryptic message it had delivered. The offer seemed too good to be true, if she was being honest, but she'd be a fool if she didn't take it. They all had to be brutes and liars of some sort---'I mean, who isn't anymore?'---so she assumed the labels were related to more integral parts of their character than was visible on the surface and shelved the mental analysis for another time.

"So long as that piece-of-shit phone doesn't gas bomb us, we got nothin' to lose," Joy piped up, voice hoarse from disuse. She watched on intently as the brunette dialed the three numbers back in, eyes narrowed just in case everything went downhill without warning. One could never be too distrustful in this day and age, especially when surrounded by a crowd of filthy hoodrats in a locked prison cell with no memory of recent events to rely on. She'd be damned if she let a single one of these kids determine her fate.

 

[LindsMagee]

Checking her watch Tempest found that it was 8:02 pm. Checking it again to make sure she wasn’t missing any numbers, she decidedly found that the clients were late. Tempest didn’t like late. She had many options, she could walk away now and leave the client without their “trip” and throw away the profit to be made as well, or she could stay and provide the client with a bad “trip” as punishment for their tardiness. After all, she could make the experience extremely painful and scarring if she pleased, she controlled her illusions which in turn controlled the experiences of those around her. Tempest believed she was doing the drug community a favor. She gave people fake substances and fake experiences which meant that they weren’t getting addicted to anything harmful, just a feeling. In the middle of writing a text to Jeremy, one of her lackeys who happened to push her to meet this client, to inform him that he was in fact going to be reprimanded, a car pulled up.


When he stepped out of the car something felt wrong, Tempest didn’t know what exactly… maybe the way he carried himself, maybe the too calm look on his face. This wasn’t the usual jittery drug user chasing the next high. However, she went about her usual exchange and began to walk away without another word. Tempest almost reached her car when her body was slammed against the car, a demanding voice defeating her ears with ” you’re under arrest”. She tried to fight with her illusions which had no effect on him, her guess was that he’d ingested an anti-illusion magic and it had to have been a strong one for him to not even flinch. Then she went for violence against the man who was twice her size, and only ended up with one of her knees cracked against the concrete, and her shirt torn. After that, Tempest complied with the cops orders and ended up at the police station. It wasn’t being arrested that made her blood boil, Tempest had been through it before, it was the fact that one of the charges she’d been booked for was prostitution. The way some of the cops eyed her made her skin crawl in disgust, made her want to cower in a corner. However, she made sure to keep her face calm and her posture relaxed as to not show signs of fear.


Next thing she knew she was thrown into a cell with four other people, a rag tag gang of criminals. What she wasn’t expecting was hearing the phone ring and the message that followed. An enticing offer, but there had to be a catch. They couldn’t just get the chance to change the way their city worked without any repercussions, without giving anything in return. But what else could she do? Keep scamming people for their money and then die alone without having done anything with her sorry life? No. That wasn’t the path she’d be choosing for herself today. As others mouthed their affirmations in becoming a part of what the man on the phone described, Tempest nodded. “I’m in” she agreed, waiting patiently for what would happen next. Though she agreed with the others about getting out of this shit hole, Tempest couldn't trust any of them. She had no clue who they were, where they came from, what they could do, or what their motives were for getting out and joining this mysterious man's group. But she was more than willing to find out if it meant she could change her life for the better.

 

[Unbreakable Patches]

It was late at night, but for Arvid that only meant less normal people on the streets. The urban city had a lot of differences to the arboreal landscape back home, but he had learned in his time out here that it had a lot of similarities too. Animals loomed around every corner, snakes peddling their poison, wolves stalking their prey. However, just like back home, none of those animals dared to step in his path. Until the man in blue.
"Whoa, hey there big guy." said the fat cop next to his smug friend.
"Excuse me." replied a voice sounding like grating stone.
"Oh I'm sorry were you going this way? I'm afraid this here's a toll road, mister."
"Toll? I 'ave no money."
"Then I guess you ain't going this way, bud."
- - -
Arvid grumbled as the electrical humming hit his senses, his eyes slowly drifting open. His memory was in a haze, all he could remember of last night was police officers and a lot of pain. That was a current memory, as his whole body ached. However, he took it as no more than a mild hangover and sat up straight in the police cell, looking around angrily. Then the call started, assaulting his ears once more. It took a bit of willpower to stop his fist from slamming into the annoying little phone but he managed to hold himself back when he heard the voice talking about change. The man had his attention with the speech and the call to action, so it managed to lift Arvid's spirits that much.
"You'v my approval." He replied in a heavy northern accent, giving an slight nod.
"Not that I wouldn't leave on me own."
He paid barely any heed to the other prisoners, and laid back down in his original position. He was sure the little people would come up with some sort of plan, and he was prepared to be the brawn. After all, the man on the phone had described him as a brute. Arvid winced a little at that.​

 

[Gravitational Force]

After 911 is dialed into the phone and the call is placed the phone suddenly starts shaking before suddenly exploding in a burst of antimagic and maniacal laughter, drawing the attention of every cop in the station.

Right now the would-be escapees have 6 heavily armed police officers standing between them and freedom, with more on their way.

 

[Shadow Dancer]

Marcus watched the phone burst and the sound of laughter like some cheap cartoon villain and of course the very sound alerted every damn cop in the station, therefore every cop in the city would be on their way. Marcus remembered the last time he ran from the cops, the bastards were crawling from the woodwork like roaches a couple more literally than others. Now he would have to escape with four others and in such a large no way to just slip in and out of places unnoticed. To make things worse they would have plenty of men with rifles and everyone inbred hick and their cousin would more than likely have magic. Though he hoped the real good ones would not waste time on a jailbreak otherwise that would be trouble.

Marcus just sighed and started transforming his arms, sure enough his now clawed hands grew just enough to snap the cheap magicless handcuffs right off. With that problem solved he focused on growing wings, he shifted uncomfortably as he felt his bones shift around and new skin, muscles, nerves, feathers and blood vessels grow, it took all of ten seconds. "Now for my teeth." Marcus focused his magic one last time and his teeth quickly grew sharper. Marcus flexed his clawed hands, mouth and midnight blue wings each nearly five feet in length, not paying attention to see if he hit anyone. "There we are, I'm ready,"

Marcus turned towards his cell mates. "So how do I look?" Not expecting any sort of answer he continued, "Anyway I'm sure we all know any mi-" Hearing footsteps Marcus quickly and quietly ran towards the wall at the mouth of the hallway. With his claws ready waited until one was close enough to the corner and before the poor officer knew it he grabbed him pulled him around the corner and tore out the officers throat with his razor sharp teeth the blood covering his face and staining his teeth. Marcus took a glance at the dying officer and recognized him as the man that arrested him as he picked up his weapons. "What do ya know karma's a bitch." Thus the first kill of the breakout was made.

 

[Unbreakable Patches]

Arvid was in more ways than one a simple man. When he saw an opportunity, he took it at face value and decided right there and then what he would do. However, it was never really a surprise to anyone anyways. Seeing the man using his shape-shifting powers he realized that there was no more magic dampening. No more cell could hold him now. With a hearty chuckle he froze his metal cuffs solid and stood up, the force of his shoulders spreading shattering the weakened metal. He continued his advance to the bars and grabbed a hold of one of the heftier pieces, freezing it solid before forcefully snapping it in half and making an impromptu exit. Before he left, he snapped off a section of the destroyed bar into a improvised club, and a wicked smile spread across his face.

"Let's make haste, the gods won't give us another chance!" he laughed, following in the shape-shifter's footsteps and sprinting past his bloody kill to body check another officer not far off. Before the stunned officer could regain his balance, he felt the splitting pain of a metal bar caving his head in for a split second before he fell unconscious. Arvid sighed, but continued. The only way these people would respond is violence, so he had no choice. Or at least that's what Arvid was telling himself. He could not deny his want for revenge, and that only drove him further into the building. As he walked, he tried his best to use ice and fashion the iron bar into some sort of weapon, but it would not accept the cold ice and would likely shatter if used. Finally, he walked around a corner only to back up quickly.
"Many of them past this corner."

 

[sox]

joy shikha​

As the cell phone burst into a plume of what felt like antimagic, Joy made quick work of checking her jeans. Luckily enough, her hands were handcuffed behind her, just close enough to reach the notepad and pen tucked into her back pocket. It was too awkward of an angle for her to see what she was drawing, but she closed her eyes and forced the muscle memory in her fingers to do the work for her. Just as the scrawny kid to her left transformed into some hellish concoction of an entity, she drew the final circle on the sigil and pressed it against her handcuffs, allowing it to melt into the metal and transform the binds into several keys that clattered to the ground around her. Far too many, if she was being honest, but conservation of matter didn't care about that. Hopping to her feet, she tossed the remaining cellmates each a key for their handcuffs and got to work on her next rune.

The jail cell was no longer fortified by antimagic, but the cops charging in their direction most definitely had some hidden tools in their belt. She'd have to be tactical about her next move. As the burly man with what seemed like ice magic tore a hole through the bars blocking their escape, Joy scribbled down a simple hex sigil and ripped it off the notepad to toss onto the hallway floor. The oncoming officers skidded to a halt as thousands of bullet ants crawled out of the cracks in the cement, hopping onto the nearest men and digging their venomous stingers in. Bellowing cries of pain erupted ahead of the rune mage as she calmly walked through, knowing the insects would only attack those she perceived to be a threat. "No time to waste, kiddos!" she called over her shoulder. "Haul ass and mind your step!"

One by one, officers fell unconscious from the excruciating pain, the venom paralyzing them after several minutes. An officer with a wicked grin, however, locked eyes with her and pulled the trigger on his gun, which supposedly now doubled as a flamethrower. The resulting burst of fire effectively exterminated the colony and any man they had infested, leaving behind a trail of scorched corpses and crispy ant chips. 'Of course that's a weapon they'd have. Why the hell wouldn't they?' With a scowl, Joy opted to save her energy for the rest of this inevitably long process and bolted from the crowd of officers that had begun advancing towards her once more, racing down the hallway at the back of the station in hopes that the other inmates would catch up on their own.

 

[Sadistic Sweetheart]

When Andrija hit that call button, the phone began shaking. Taking it as a bad sign, she set the device on the ground and braced herself. An antimagic burst hit along with some annoying laughter. So much for a quiet getaway, she thought, rolling her eyes. This guy on the phone wasn't gonna make this quick and easy, was he? She looked down at her wrists, which were still very much handcuffed. Sure, she could use magic now, but her magic wasn't really the 'bust out of handcuffs' type of magic like the two guys she shared the cell with. She was more of an assist than a direct combatant, preferring to play her role behind the scenes. She wasn't particularly fond of physical fighting. She heard the clatter of keys falling and whipped her head around to see one of the girls had conjured up some keys. She caught the one tossed to her and quickly fiddled it into the lock and, soon enough, she was free. The brunette noted that the shapeshifter was the guy who wasn't the brute and he was almost funny. That left the liar and the tragedy in the back of her mind - she wondered which one applied to the girl who'd given her the key. She quite appreciated having the men around as they were quick to break through the cell which was something that would have taken her much longer than it took them. So far, they were assets to her and she hardly had to lift a finger. She wondered if she could just ride this wave and not bother expending any energy as her newfound teammates did all the work. As each obstacle came, they were quick to fight them off. The cops hardly stood a chance, it seemed.

Andrija didn't waste any time standing around as the rune magician started running. She broke out into a sprint and, considering she had hardly lifted a finger before, she was pretty fast. However, she made sure to stay a little ways behind the other girl - if something was gonna pop out it was better if it hit the other girl rather than herself. With each step, she was getting closer to freedom, closer to getting back to her work. She didn't quite like being without all her resources. She kept little tools and materials on her person whenever she left the house, but everything she normally had was confiscated by the police. This left with with really only whatever she had on her person or... in her person. Alarms were sounding in the police station and she could hear the cops shouting to each other but this time it wasn't coming from behind them. Soon enough, they were cut off again, but from the front this time.

A cop turned the corner in front of them with his gun out. Like most of them, he was a 'shoot first, ask questions later' type, so he immediately started shooting. Andrija dropped to the floor immediately, only a short distance from the shooter. Then, she did what any charmer with nothing on their person would do: she dug her nails into her palms until she drew blood and then spit into her hands before putting them together in the same fashion someone who was praying would. Sure, it was gross, but saliva and blood gave her a base to work with. She closed her eyes and willed her magic into the strange mix of bodily fluids and started changing the innate properties, breaking chemical bonds and enchanting what had been magic-less before. When she separated her hands, there was only powder. She blew it off her hands, into the direction of the police officer and, as soon as it came into contact with him, he fell to the ground, completely paralyzed. Her muscles would feel very sore later as a repercussion, but that was a problem for the future. The entire motion had taken roughly half a minute: a personal best.

Andrija got back up to her feet and back to running - they had no time to waste, after all. However, she hardly got very before before she once again stopped in her tracks, swearing under her breath. Six or so policemen stood between her (and presumably the rest of her group) and the exit, otherwise known as freedom. They had big guns and some weapons with uses that Andrija herself didn't know, but they looked scary nonetheless. "Someone got a trick up their sleeve for this one?" Andrija asked her group, since so far they had. She knew damn well even if she charmed something that she couldn't take out six armed guards.

 

[LindsMagee]

It didn’t even take a second for the second phone call to end before all hell broke loose. One guy morphed into a creature, another was freezing things, and next thing Tempest knew she was tossed a key to her handcuffs. With no time to waste, Tempest jumped to her feet and scanned the possible exit routes. All of which happened to be swarming with cops. As she scanned the halls, she noticed that a group of cops began to run after the woman who gave her the key to her freedom and the girl who had taken the phone call. Sprinting after the group, Tempest formed the illusion that the world went dark for this group of cops and that they slammed into a dead end in an attempt to chase the girls. Watching the cops tumble over one another and struggle to get up caused a light laugh to escape Tempest. All too soon, the wind was knocked out of her as a cop slammed into her from behind, her head slamming against the concrete floor. Though her vision swam as she stood up, the illusion held to aid her accomplices who had just disappeared down the hall.


Blood ran down the side of Tempest’s face and she prepared for a fight with the officer, a woman just a little bigger than her. As the cop’s fist came barreling towards her, Tempest noticed a gleam coming from the woman’s other hand, a knife. Dodging the punch and the blade, Tempest kicked the cop’s legs out from under her and sprang up again, preparing for another attack. However, gurgling sounds erupted as the woman had ended up falling on her weapon. Oh how ironic. Without a second thought, Tempest sprinted in the direction she saw thee other criminals run towards. After turning a corner she stopped short in her tracks, there were six armed guards with weapons raised and one of the woman asking if anyone had any tricks up their sleeves. Tempest had used illusions on large groups of people before, but with her head already pounding and the other cops preoccupied, she didn’t know if she could do it without blacking out. For freedom it was worth a shot.


It was better to conserve energy, so Tempest asked “Everyone take two?” Under her breath just loud enough for the two women near her to hear, waiting for their acknowledgment. There were probably cops swarming the streets outside too, but for now they had to worry about not getting their brains blown out by the cops just a few yards ahead of them. Knowing what illusion she was going to use on the two cops closest to her, Tempest wondered if the two other women were reliable in this situation. Would they wait until the perfect moment to get away themselves and screw the other two over, or would they all work as a team to get through it? She also wondered what power the two had, Tempest had a glimpse in the initial chaos, but she didn’t know the full extent yet. Mere seconds only separated them from a rain of bullets and a quick death.

 

[Shadow Dancer]

Without a thought Marcus picked up the dead cops gun belt and fastened it around his waist. Taking the nine millimeter from it's holster he checked the gun, satisfied that it was loaded he glanced around the corner and found the reason they could use an ace in the hole many cops with rifles lined the hall while others with melee weapons ran forth. Marcus had a crazy as hell idea in his head he figured running from where they were to the cops with various large weapons would take ten seconds. Next to him was the corpse of the cop he killed and he had a gun 'If I used the cops with melee weapons as shields I could possible stay hole free for long enough to get close and kill them. If we all did it however there would be more targets and the meat shields with vests on would last longer.'

"Guys, grab the body of any cop nearby preferably a chunky one and prepare to charge on my lead. If you can use a gun then grab one and use it, we need to break through before we lose this battle of attrition." Marcus spoke up to any of his impromptu allies listening hoping the gunners would hold off long enough for everyone to ready up. Marcus killed some cop rushing with an axe of all things with two shots one hitting the body armor and the other landing in the man's forehead, the cop fell where he stood. "Well anyone up to it because I will do this with or without you, unless someone has a better plan."

Marcus took a deep breath steadying his nerves and the second he breathed out he took the body of the dead cop next to him smiling at the irony of being 'protected' by the one that arrested him and charged shouting "Now!". The run felt like an eternity as time slowed around him he could almost see the bullets whizzing by as the squad opened fire each impact to his meat shield felt like a truck and threatened to knock him off balance and the recoil off his weapon vibrated his arm. He was halfway down the hall suffering burns and lacerations from near misses as his shield became useless so he pounced on a nearby female cop and used her to continue the journey. The firing squad didn't even hesitate to fire filling the woman with holes as she looked on with horror as bullets from her allies tore her apart splashing blood the ground before Marcus. Marcus was finally close enough to negate the advantage of their weapons, throwing the newly made corpse at his enemies he pounced tearing the weapon from a cops hands and then the cop found himself lacking many of their organs as Marcus's razor sharp claws tor his torso open. Looking at Marcus it was easy to tell he took a bullet or two despite his shield though the adrenaline kept the pain at bay.

 

[Unbreakable Patches]

Arvid listened intently to his plan, but stopped listening after the man suggested human shields. He would not go that low, and instead opted to upend a desk and use it for the same function. Arvid knew it would most likely be slower than the human shield, but he was used to being a part of the clean up crew. As he charged, the whizzing of gunfire was staggering, but he managed to keep his advance solid and thorough. Just before he reached to front lines of the firing squad he threw as much ice into the desk as possibly, causing hefty and sharp icicles to form on the business end, and threw it into the crowd. Two of the officers were simultaneously crushed and impaled.

Arvid looked on in a mixed expression of disgust and awe as the shapeshifter tore through the ranks of the police officers, merciless in his slaughter. He had never seen anything like it, it was just pure, unadulterated blood-lust. He wasn't sure if he had joined up with the wrong people, but he did know that there wasn't much of a choice. Using his iron bar, he swung into the fray, looking to take down as many of them as possible. In this initial adrenaline rush, it took Arvid a couple of seconds to realize he'd been shot multiple times, but to his surprise he couldn't feel it.

On and on the battle raged, and Arvid's breathing was now coming in labored and slow. Still, the proud warrior held his ground against one of the remaining riot officers wielding a baton. Before he could connect the iron rod to the man's helmet, he felt the sharp jolt of electricity and noticed the baton was now thrumming with energy. Arvid felt his muscles seize up as he was forced into a kneel by the man's brutal assault. Not a second before his final blow, Arvid stood up with an enraged expression across his features and grasped the officer by the neck. Standing to his full height, the officer was lifted off of his feet into the air. Pitifully, he swung his electric baton once more into Arvid's forearm, but this only forced Arvid to drop the man to the ground, back first. Once he was out Arvid slumped over, completely exhausted.​

 

[sox]

joy shikha​

As much as Joy would have loved to watch the bloodbath taking place down the hall, she found her attention focused solely on the police officers barring the path in front of her and the other female inmates. They had caught up as she'd hoped and seemed relatively on the same page as her in terms of their dedication to the cause trumping their distrust of others, so she figured it would be alright to work with them. The idea of each of them tackling two of the officers seemed logical to her, seeing as mass extermination wasn't Joy's specialty, and she wracked her brain for the appropriate rune to use. The dagger hidden in her boot wouldn't be of much use against guns, especially if they packed more than meets the eye. A destruction rune would topple the entire station, most likely killing them all in the process. A transformation rune required her to have some object not made of flesh to manipulate in the first place.

The officers didn't seem to be wielding magic rather than their standard weapons, but one could only tell so much from appearances. 'Fuck.' She was running out of time. The only other useful rune she could draw up on the spot relied on bodily enhancement, something she tended to steer clear of after certain horrific events regarding her previous test subjects. At the moment, however, it was the only option left. 'I don't really need all of my fingers, if we're being real,' Joy reasoned, only half joking as she drew the temporary rune directly on her left hand. The mage pointed with her index and middle fingers at the two cops on the left, sticking her hand out just in time as each finger shot forward at lightning speed in the form of a spear.

In an instant, one of the officers let out a morbid gurgling noise as he was effectively kebabed to the wall behind him. The other one, however, dodged with a speed that Joy immediately recognized as magically enabled, ducking her head out of the way as she wrapped a cold hand around the intruding spear. When the stocky female officer locked gazes with her again, the challenge was evident in her wide blown eyes. Her meaty fist began to bend the spear upwards at a ninety degree angle, and Joy cried out in pain at the sensation. Much to her displeasure, the rune was wearing off in record time as the cop broke every single bone in her left ring finger with an inhuman ease.

"Fucking cockhole!" the mage screamed, yanking her now bruised and bloodied phalanges back to her side where they dangled uselessly. Her head swam as the calm, rational part of her brain began to lose its hold over her mindset. All she could do was feel the rage coursing through her body, needing some form of release or she'd go completely insane. "You're dead. You're absolutely fucking dead." Joy bit down on her left wrist, trying her best to ignore the searing pain that throbbed through her damaged finger as blood trickled out of the wound. With one shiny, red sigil painted on her own forehead rendering her invisible to anyone and everyone, she pulled her dagger out of her boot and surged forward. She didn't think, she didn't aim, and she definitely didn't hold back. Cut after cut, she slashed into the woman in front of her with no goal other than obliterating the enemy in front of her.

Before she knew it, Joy had completely dismembered the officer, the previously glaring eyes now rolled back in her head as chunks of her body lay strewn across the blood-soaked cement. It was a grisly sight, one dripping with a barbaric lack of empathy, but the rune mage looked away and assessed the other two female inmates in combat before the realization of her actions could catch up to her. Unfortunately, her invisibility was not eternal. She had no time to waste on waiting for her comrades to finish up. With a new clearing having opened before her, Joy darted through the temporary gap towards the front of the station, where she could catch a glimpse of the exit if she focused hard enough. She had definitely gone overboard and exerted more energy than she should have, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins was enough to keep her going to complete the task at hand.

 

[LindsMagee]

Taking on the two officers closest to her, Tempest made the first officer believe that his partner was the true enemy and watched as he turned and shot him point blank in the face. Mere seconds later, a stray bullet grazed her arm and she quickly felt the warm blood oozing out. Well shit… she was already loosing energy because of the prolonged use of her power on multiple people, she didn’t need to add blood loss to the equation. She needed to get this done and get it done quickly. Closing her eyes, Tempest sought out the minds of a few officers in front of her, not caring if they weren’t hers to deal with. Soon enough, they were ripping their clothes off clawing their own eyes out, believing that spiders were crawling through every available inch of their bodies. It wasn’t typically her style to make her victims suffer deaths this gruesome seeing as she didn't care for unnecessary violence or torture, but she made sure they believed they had no pain. It was an odd sight when Tempest opened her eyes again… seeing multiple officers viciously attacking and killing themselves with not so much as a scream or a whimper.

A sharp pain shooting through her skull snapped Tempest out of her observant stupor. She sprinted after one of her fellow inmates and straight towards the exit. Seeing no visible assailants in sight, Tempest made a beeline for that door knowing it was a dumb decision to not go slowly and check for hidden enemies. She just wanted to make it out before she got sick or possibly blacked out. She realized her mistake all too quickly when she was close-lined by an arm that stuck out from the hallway infront of the exit. Slamming into the ground, Tempest gasped for air as the cop grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to her feet. “That’s a nice grip you have there” she dead-panned, which earned her a back hand to the face. Instead of wincing when his hand hit, she laughed “oh come on I know you can do better than that”. Now that comment earned her a nice slam against the wall, just where she wanted to be. As the man went for another blow, Tempest ripped the fire extinguisher from the wall and knocked the man out cold.

This time she thought things through, going behind the front desk to grab the belongings that were taken from her at the start of her prison stay. Tempest tried to look into the room with the security cameras, but no one was in it and the cameras seemed to have been broken or shut off. Ultimately, Tempest looked around for anymore threats and decided to wait by the exit for other members of her little escapade crew. If there were cops waiting out that door, which was a high probability, then Tempest could make use of all the help she could receive.​

 

[Sadistic Sweetheart]

Two a piece? Andrija glanced at the other two girls. The blonde could surely take two, but she still had no idea what the other girl could do. But, since she had offered the idea, she probably could take two. Andrija on the other hand wasn't so sure. She'd have to get close for most of her attack based concoctions, which meant she'd end up looking like Swiss cheese by the time she got there. On the other hand, she could modify herself, but that'd not only take energy, but also . She could make herself more resistant to injury - bulletproof, even - but what would she do once she got to the cops? She didn't have a weapon on her, which was her greatest problem. A strength enhancer on top of an injury resistor would be tiring and she wasn't sure how much longer of a fight they had in store for them and, on top of that, she wanted to have enough energy to heal whatever wounds they had once they were through with this - what good would allies be if they died from blood loss or infection? Besides that, each had proved valuable and she wanted to keep them around and healing injuries would probably curry some favor her way as she hadn't done a great deal of killing yet. See, that was the problem with Andrija: if she didn't have a weapon on her, she was more of a support than an attacker. She could make the attackers strong and fast and all, but attacking on her own when her enemies were armed and she wasn't was a different story.

Before Andrija could even give an answer, the other guys caught up. Just like that, the shapeshifter was giving orders. Carry the dead body of a cop as a human shield? Please, she'd be lucky if she could pick one up and drag it and even that would be slow. How was she supposed to just carry it like a shield, like it was nothing? Well, she could down some strength enhancer. But, what would really benefit her the most in this situation would be letting them go ahead and eviscerate their enemies while she hung back a little. Andrija saw the dead body of a cop a few feet away and quickly ran for it before the gunshots started, furiously searching the body for a weapon. She found a little handgun and figured it was better than nothing. While she did this, she watched as the others started attacking. One shot her fingers as weapons - resourceful, she'd admit - another... brainwashed them? It was hard to tell, but two of them were definitely being controlled or something. The guys were just absolutely crushing them, literally and figuratively.

Andrija saw the man who was on his back, dropped by the brute, still breathing. Just to finish the job, she fired a bullet into his heart. No loose ends, no matter how close to death they were. She put a hand on Arvid's shoulder. "Can you get up? We can get you into a car and I can help you from there, but there's not a chance I can carry you," she told him, glancing around to take inventory of the others. The rune girl had blood all over her - it was a scary sight, but the type Andrija wouldn't bat an eye at after all they'd gone through. The shapeshifter had taken a few hits too. The last girl was waiting at the exit. "Let's get a car and get out of here!" she yelled out to the group, before running to the exit. She opened the door and ran to the first police car she could find. The sound of police sirens in the distance was unmistakable. She was sure backup would be in the lot in a couple minutes and they had to get out fast and hopefully they'd either outrun the backup or the idiots would assume that they were also cops and not think anything then they sped out. Andrija used the handgun to hit the corner of the front window as hard as she could. There was a breath of relief when the window shattered, allowing her to open the door and get in after brushing away the shattered glass that had landed on the seat.

The charmer gingerly picked up the larger pieces of glass alongside some gravel from the parking lot. She purposely cut her arm to get some blood on the glass, then spat on it and wiped some sweat for good measure. Then she held it in her hand and channeled her magic into it, praying silently. With a good chunk of energy and concentration she opened her eyes to reveal a key that she quickly put into the ignition, channeling more energy and magic to make it fit the car. A bit of jiggling and luck later, the car engine turned and came to life. The brunette thanked God that she had run a little key making business on the side for breaking into places and replacing her own keys. Shape and structure were a property she could manipulate. She looked back to her allies and stepped out of the car. "I got one working!" she called out, then sized up her group. "Shapeshifter, brute, could you get in the back with me so I can look at your injuries?" she asked, but the tone in her voice implied that there wasn't much asking going on here. She didn't need them fighting if they were going on a high speed get away, so it was the perfect and only opportunity for her to work her magic on them. That only left two possible names for the others. "Liar and tragedy - sorry, names later - can one of you drive? And fast."

 

[Gravitational Force]

The gang's stolen van careens out of the lockup's parking lot and around a corner into the street. Behind them the surviving cops are shouting into phones and getting into the remaining cars. The time this takes gives the gang enough time to get a head start, but it's not long before they hear sirens behind them.

The police radio crackles to life, but it's the voice of Leviathan on the line.
"Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else! Let me tell you, I am impressed. I was expecting backstabbing or just plain not being able to work together to have wittled down your numbers, but you've all managed to get out alive! Now it appears not everyone appreciates how well you've done. Namely the police. But let's not let them spoil our celebration just because you committed a whole bunch of very bad crimes a few minutes ago. After all, you can't please everyone.

Now I'm very pleased to tell you that I've gotten you all reservations at Five Flowers, the best Chinese restaurant in the city. Well, that's my opinion and mainly because I am addicted to their dumplings. I'd accuse them of using magic to make them taste better and let you eat more of them, but I know for a fact that they're just that good. It's the soy sauce that's been magicked (Leviathan snickers). It's currently 4:44 and your reservation is for 6:00. I've gotten you an apartment to clean up in across the street but you'll want to err on the side of caution. So I'd suggest you figure out how you're going to get from where you currently are to there in under half an hour while also losing your pursuers."

The van's map screen lights up and two dots appear. One is obviously the van and the other seems to be the apartment across from Five Flowers. There's no route highlighted between them, but the gang (those in the front anyway) can see the various routes they could use to get there.

They could try to keep driving on the main highway and outmaneuver the cops to get away. Very hard to do but fast.
Or pull ahead, slip into an alley and try to escape on foot. Risky and slow but most likely to avoid confrontation if they're smart and lucky.
Or ram the van off the overpass, use magic to try to land safely, then use the fact the cops aren't suicidal to run and find new transportation. As previously mentioned: suicidal but very likely to work if they don't die or suffer crippling injuries.

Leviathan continues speaking.
"So yeah, you've got a goal and options. Let the timed chase sequence commence! Only there's no replays if you fail. Life ain't that much like a video game."

 

[Shadow Dancer]

"If you think you can patch my ugly ass up lady your welcome to try." Marcus climbed into the back of the van as the rune user instructed, liking the idea of getting the new bullet holes he collected looked at. From the pain he was feeling he could tell he took a couple in the back and he could clearly see the hole in his gut and upper arm. As Marcus took his shirt off and rid himself of his wings to give better access to his wounds, he thanked whatever god was out there for his luck as none of the shots he received were fatal if treated.

Marcus let the rune user do as she wished as the vans police radio came to life and the voice of their unknown helper spoke as Marcus listened he kept the information in mind as he built a map in his head and running their choices in his head. With his experience escaping on foot might be the most effective, with some luck they could lose the cops for a moment and then abandon the van he knew the alleyways and back streets well and the helicopters would be less effective, if they were extremely lucky the cops might even think that the group was heading out of town. "So I don't know about everyone else but with the mectric fuckton of cops coming our way going through the back alleys on foot might be the best option. I don't see this many cops losing sight of us on the highways especially when the police helicopters arrive. Just my opinion, at the end of the day it's up to our brave driver."

Marcus looked over his shoulder and out the rear window saw the cops swarm in like angry hornets as a few mages started chanting spells while others shot at the van with rifles and handguns. Marcus looked at his own handgun with a frown and began searching the back of the van for ammo while trying to not move too much as the rune user worked her magic. Fortunately the van had a gun rack with ammo and rifles but he still had to keep still as his wounds were treated. "Well we better make a choice and fast before our admires tell their friends about how great we are for target practice." Marcus inwardly cursed his inability to do much while having the bullets pulled from his flesh.

 

[sox]

joy shikha​

It took Joy all of five seconds to book it out the door and hop into the vehicle behind the bleeding man, jumping in the back with the others as she cradled her injured hand to her chest. The pain was radiating through her entire arm at this point, bringing tears to her eyes with every movement she made. As much as she would have loved to take her life into her own hands by claiming the driver's spot, she knew it wasn't a possibility with her current state. "Fuck, you're gonna have to drive," she hissed to her companion once she was settled, eyes flicking between her purple and blue fingers and the swarm of cops rushing in their direction as the message crackled through the radio. To the rune mage, it didn't seem like the highway should have even been considered. The main freeway was a feasting ground of escapees who thought they could outrun the mass of guns by driving directly into it.

"He's right," Joy seconded the only suggestion on the table. "They've got a whole network of cops stationed out there for exactly this kind of shit. The slums by the industrial sector have a lot of back roads we can take on foot to wherever the hell we're supposed to go. It doesn't look like we're too far, so if we can find out where we are relative to there..." The mage looked back out to the policemen firing at the crew of inmates, rocking the vehicle with each blow. A hail of bullets shattered the window to her left, causing her to duck to the floor for safety from the spray of shards overhead. "We can figure it out on the way. Just press the fucking gas, yeah?"

The parking lot was beginning to fill up as more and more weapons came into view. They couldn't stand idle much longer with how much damage they were taking, especially with how injured they were. Joy reached for her notepad, attempting to flip the page with one hand without jostling the other too much. Her energy was dwindling fast, but she didn't have much of a choice; either she died from exhaustion, or she died at the hands of the enemy. She knew which option she preferred. With shaky fingers and a death grip on her pen, the run mage scribbled a quick protection rune onto the page before ripping it off and pressing it into the side of the van. It was weak compared to the normal manifestation of the rune considering her strength at the moment, but for the time being, it would deflect most magic attacks for the next minute or so. Bullets could still penetrate, but that problem was out of her hands.