[IC] Target Acquired: Jeff the Killer

[Lady Warlock]

A Female Stranger
Her eyebrows raised as they asked about the screaming because she would’ve thought such a thing had been obvious although apparently that thought had been inaccurate. Then she chuckled just a bit as she slowly started shaking her head. “No dear, the screaming wasn’t me.” She then turned to gesture in to the room she was still sitting in the open window of, pointing to the child in bed. “She was screaming if I do recall correctly. Now she’s sleeping as peaceful as a babe. Wouldn’t you say?” The woman almost seemed glad for that.

“As to why she was screaming, I’m not entirely sure to be honest with you although there seems to be a pattern to it. My friend could probably explain better. Well, he might not want to, actually.” Her voice was oddly contemplative and seemingly trance-like, if that was possible or logical.

Suddenly, though, the woman wasn’t the only person commanding attention anymore because there was the sound of someone approaching and it sounded like the wind came with them. It was such a weird thing, but it was very real. Dark hair shadowed their eyes and face, and a smile decorated what parts of their face was visible, but his hoodie concealed everything else about him.

“You’re here!” The woman proclaimed and she pushed herself off the window sill and practically pranced up to the new stranger. The moment she was free of the window sill, the window eerily slammed shut as though it had been her presence itself that had been keeping it open in the first place.

What Kalin and Ravyn couldn’t hear was that she whispered something to the stranger as soon as she got to him and wrapped him in her arms. And it was what she whispered that would change everything.

KageYuuki Kalin Scarlet

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
Amber eyes narrowed at the woman as she mentioned it was the young girl in the room had been the one they heard screaming. That raised all sorts of questions on its own and the weapon had a feeling she wasn't going to like any of the answers. The woman's soul was still human, but now she started to wonder for how long it would remain that way...

Ravyn was broken from her thoughts by the arrival of the hooded figure. Her entire form tensed the moment she got a look at him. A Kishin Egg... Chances were good this was their target. Even if he wasn't, they couldn't exactly just let him go.

Slowly, Ravyn moved her hand back towards Luxe, holding it out to him. The slightest shimmer across her skin showing she could shift at any moment. "Time to see how accurate you are I guess..." She murmured.

Kalin Scarlet

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Luxe Rosenfield​

"Right. Let's get this show on the road, then!" Luxe said as he grasped Ravyn's hand in his own, feeling her physical form shift as he twirled her around in his arms. His soul energy started to bubble over the surface as his partner became the rifle he'd handled before, aiming down the sights directly at the newcomer to this increasingly creepy conversation.

"Back up, lady! This guy isn't human. Not anymore, at least. And if you don't mind, how about you share your thoughts with the whole class? Sharing is caring, after all..."

Luxe took a deep breath as he examined the guy in the hoody, unnerved by his presence in general, but worried about his own ability to handle the situation, as well.

Rae...Rae, can you hear me?

He thought, attempting to communicate with his current partner. He slowly stepped back, keeping her trained on what was most likely their target.

Rae...We've got this, don't we? If you believe we can handle this, then so will I.

KageYuuki
Lady Warlock

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
The transformation happened in a split second, Ravyn's point of view becoming the scope on the rifle. She could feel the wavelength of Luxe's soul mingling with her own. They might not have been perfectly amplifying one another, not yet at least, but considering it was only the second time he'd handled her weapon form it was pretty damn good.

Yeah, I can hear you. Ravyn's spiritual energy flared with her Meister's, already a shot was loaded and ready to fire. A chuckle escaped her, sounding hollow and metallic in Luxe's mind. Already forget you're the one that put holes in the school walls earlier today? If you can use me to punch holes through solid brick, you can put this creep down. It felt weird for her to be the one reassuring him. But if the Meister was uncertain, then the weapon would falter too.

Kalin Scarlet Lady Warlock

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Luxe Rosenfield
​

"Yeah...Right!" Luxe exclaimed, pressing his finger firmly against the trigger. His demeanor lightened up, and the young meister smirked for a moment before returning his expression to one of seriousness.

"You who has given up your humanity in the quest for power. In the name of lord death, we shall bring judgment down upon you. Jeff the Killer! We've come for your soul!

Lady Warlock
KageYuuki

 

[Lady Warlock]

A Woman Stranger and Her Companion

By the time the two of them started acting in regards to what their soul eyes observed, the woman had a look of mock confusion on her face because they were clearly two smart kids and there was nothing she could do to change that now. Instead, she allowed the confusion to wash into a smirk as Ravyn transformed and as Luxe prepared to strike. She took the moment to take in what the two of them were and that was enough.

Walking up to her companion - Jeff the Killer - she put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear through the hood. What she said wasn’t audible and chances were, they would never learn her words. They would hear what came afterwards, though, and they would definitely feel it too. The woman’s soul suddenly expanded beyond anything the two of them would be capable of comprehending, but one thing was clear. She was a witch… and a powerful one at that. New words echoed from her. “You two can’t even comprehend how much is at stake here. Muse away but you’ll never know!” Her words were almost like music. “This isn’t even the beginning of our story.” Before either could move much, she transformed into the sillouhette of an owl and flew off into the sky.

Regardless of whether they were paying attention to the owl or the man still in front of them, a haunting voice would echo from the man’s lips and wrap around Luxe’s ears, seeping through his pores and leaving goosebumps upon his skin. “Go to sleep…” It almost seemed like a lullaby, but not the kind you wanted to succumb to.

And then Jeff the Killer’s hood fell down as he charged forward towards the weapon and meister pair. His hood fell down revealing lips that were carved into an eternal smile painted red and skin paler than the moon itself, the moon which smiled down on them as only laughed along with the scene.

KageYuuki Kalin Scarlet

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
If it wasn't for the fact she'd already transformed, Ravyn would have tensed at the woman's sudden change in demeanor. Then her soul changed with it. "...Oh, fuck no..." Her metallic voice echoed in Luxe's mind. She knew something was off about the woman, but for her to end up being a witch? A witch, in the heart of Death City. This was bad, very bad...

They needed to report this to Lord Death right away.

But first, there was a crazed killer they needed to take down. "Keep your guard up, no telling if that witch did something to him before she left."

Kalin Scarlet Lady Warlock

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Luxe Rosenfield​

"O-oh...thats not good."

Luxe could barely utter the words as he watched the woman, a witch, take flight. He only realized that he'd stopped breathing when his partner spoke up.

"Keep your guard up, no telling if that witch did something to him before she left."

Her voice in his ear caused Luxe to refocus his attention on Jeff, only to feel the gentle suggestion of the former human drag his mind into a horrific sense of peace. For an instant, luxe couldn't care less about the figure charging at him. A calm you might see in a person succumbing to blood loss.

Luxe's eyes snapped back to reality, as he gripped the rifle firmly and pulled the trigger, a bullet of soul energy flying free to pierce the mad smiling monster before him.

KageYuuki
Lady Warlock

 

[Lady Warlock]

Because why not… xD​

Jeff the Killer

Even after the witch had vanished from sight, the witch’s laughter had seemed to surround them, consume them, dwell within them. It seemed like the sound was meant to haunt them, to remind them over and over again that they’d just encountered a being far more powerful than they could ever hope to beat. Even though she was gone now, signs of her presence still remained.

And… Jeff the Killer still remained.

The trigger on Ravyn’s weapon form was pulled. A blast of soul energy surged forward, straight at creepy Jeff who still kept charging. Jeff and the soul energy collided.

SPLAT!

The smoke cleared and Jeff was gone. On the ground, there was just a puddle where he had been and the puddle was swirling around, creating a spiral of black and red. It was a mix of blood and shadow, blood and black, blood and… it was something, but it was hard to tell what.

“Go to sleep.” That same saying seemed to resonate from the puddle on the ground and then the puddle on the ground started moving towards Ravyn and Luxe and an arm reached out of it, pulling itself up on the cobblestone and within a few moments, Jeff was back on his feet again, charging towards them yet again. “WHY WON’T YOU GO TO SLEEP!!?” And this scream wasn’t nearly as pleasant, it wasn’t nearly as haunting. It was a high pitched screech and as he yelled, it seemed that all the other voices of those sleeping in the area joined him.

All of a sudden, the entire sleeping town was screaming as he charged them.

KageYuuki Kalin Scarlet

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
Firing a blast of soul energy was... exhilarating. Literally pouring a part of yourself and your meister into an attack that could tear through flesh and muscle like they were paper, snap bones like dead twigs, destroy whatever lay in her sights. She had yet to find anything else like it. Maybe it was because of her nature as a Demon Weapon, she was literally born to be a tool for Death.

Regardless, there was no denying the rush that came with diving into combat. At least not for her. A small plume of smoke slipped from her mouth and the muzzle of the rifle. Ravyn's eyes narrowed as the smoke cleared to reveal a puddle. "I don't like this..."

It wasn't long after that a voice seemed to escape the puddle, the pool of blood and something else moving towards them. "Shit." Piercing screams soon joined in with the crazed killer's as he reappeared and resumed his charge. The sound didn't hurt her like it would have if she was in her human form. But Luxe... the Meister didn't have the same luxury.

Ravyn fired a second shot. Even if it didn't kill him, it would at least buy them an extra moment.

Kalin Scarlet Lady Warlock

 

[Lady Warlock]

Jeff the Killer

The screams continued to echo through the air as Jeff charged and as Ravyn and Luxe seemed to stand their ground despite all the chaos of the moment. The very sounds seemed to warp around the two in such a massive manner that it would require a near full retreat into their soul space to escape its grasp. And it wasn’t quite clear whether that was something that Jeff the Killer was doing or if it had some connection to something else entirely.

Regardless, Ravyn fired again.

This time, the blast hit Jeff’s shoulder, seeming to blow it clean off as it seemed to turn to a puddle of black. The rest of his body remained though, and his shoulder seemed to be swaying a bit, starting to grow back even though for a split second, it hadn’t existed at all.

Apparently his legs didn’t care what happened to his shoulder because they kept moving despite everything else. His arm was growing back slow, so that was one positive sign they had access to.

Within a single moment, Jeff was upon them and he swung the arm he still had left forward, a knife growing out of his hand made of the same black puddle goo that he had materialized out of in the first instance that they had shot him. “If you’re not going to sleep, then AT LEAST YOU CAN SMILE!!!!!” He swung for Luxe’s head with a sharpness that would cut skin like butter if Luxe didn’t move.

Kalin Scarlet KageYuuki

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Luxe Rosenfield
​

As the creature fell apart, Luxe was initially unsure if he could relax. He had expected things to be much harder than that, only to watch Jeff, or the thing that had once been a human...that might have been named Jeff...wait, what exactly was his-

"I don't like this..."

Luxe smiled half-heartedly, attempting to replace his rising worry with levity.

"Yeah, you're not kidding. Definitely won't be jumping around in that, anytime soon..."

The puddle on the ground shifted, and it was only then that the Meister realized that his target hadn't produced a soul for them to collect. Which meant that it was either human -unlikely considering the way he was pulling himself together from nothing more than a puddle of sludge- or the job was, indeed, requiring more from the pair than a single shot.

“WHY WON’T YOU GO TO SLEEP!!?”

With the world shaking shriek, Luxe found himself unable to move, unable to think. His entire being was rocked by this...thing's terrible voice, and he was helpless as it continued its charge, a knife made of the same mysterious substance forming in Jeff's grasp.

"C-crap! What is this guy e-even.."

As his partner fired a blast of her own, Luxe realized that shooting didn't seem to be doing much at all. Jeff's arm seemed to already be on the mend, and there was no time left for the pair to run. For an instant, a thought crossed his mind, only to be taken by another a moment later. Luxe only just had time to guard himself with his partner's rifle form, raising it to cover as much of as body as he was able.

"B-bring i-it, you-!"

Lady Warlock
KageYuuki

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
Ravyn couldn't help but feel a sense of panic rising in her chest as the second shot did little to deter their attacker. At least the first time it had bought the pair a few seconds. Granted, those precious few seconds were wasted as they watched the killer-turned-puddle reform and charge them.

As Luxe held her weapon form up in an attempt to defend himself, she vaguely recalled that barring an out of sync pair, it was next to impossible to injure a transformed Demon Weapon. But this guy, this... thing, was friends with a witch. There was no telling what she'd done to him. Reflexively, despite knowing it would do nothing, Ravyn found herself holding her arms up in her soul space.

CLANG!

Kalin Scarlet Lady Warlock

 

[Lady Warlock]

Jeff the Killer

In the last few seconds of movement before Jeff connected with Ravyn’s weapon form, one thing became apparent if the pair looked close enough. It was taking the mysterious being longer to reform the second time around than it had the first time. Even in the instant of connection, Jeff was still short an arm and it looked like his body was struggling to pull itself back together.

However, that didn’t lessen the force of the blow at all. Jeff’s makeshift knife smashed into the rifle that was held up, but the rifle held. There wasn’t enough force to push through - especially not through a demon weapon. It was strong, though… enough to make Luxe’s footing waver although whether that was enough to change the outcome or not remained to be seen.

Jeff, after contact, continued to push as though he thought he could move Luxe enough. He was strong, too… stronger than one would expect of a thin and bony figure.

The creature… killer… thing… made one mistake, though. His head hovered right over the barrel of Ravyn’s weapon form.

Kalin Scarlet KageYuuki

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Luxe Rosenfield
​

Luxe felt the blow in his bones, gritting his teeth as his feet brushed across the ground, but he held his ground against the creature for the most part. In spite of the numb feeling in his arms, as Jeff's head hovered over the muzzle of Ravyn's rifle form, Luxe wasted no time in pulling the trigger and retreating. He leaped back further, creating a bit more distance between them and their opponent, and aimed down the sights.

"I guess we'll just keep filling you with lead and see how much you can take!" Luxe exclaimed, firing off two more shots at Jeff in rapid succession, emptying the chamber, reloading and firing in a manner that one might think he was an expert rifleman.

This guy's ridiculous! I've never seen anything like him before. Luxe thought, tuning into his connection to his partner.

We can't let him get away. Not like earlier. We're not failing this mission, Ravyn.

KageYuuki
Lady Warlock

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
Ravyn would be lying if she said she wasn't surprised the . . . thing's weapon didn't cause her any harm. Shock aside, she still quickly noticed his one fatal error. His face hovered so close to the muzzle of her rifle form. Even if he could reform after attacks, having his face literally blown off would buy them a couple seconds to regroup.

So she fired.

A split second after, Luxe jumped back and fired several more shots at their target. I haven't either... Willing to bet that witch that was hanging out with him has something to do with it. Ravyn nodded despite being in her soul space, No, he's not getting away from us here.

Kalin Scarlet Lady Warlock

 

[Lady Warlock]

Jeff the Killer

A single trigger pull was all that had really been needed. A blob of black goo seemed to fly off of his head, leaving no head left on the body he’d been attached too. Some pieces of the body continued to move for a few moments longer although the strength was gone like that. There simply was nothing left. The puddle of what had become of the head was completely separate from the body which melted into goo as well after taking two more shots head on and there was no movement at all from it after that.

The witch had had something to do with it. But she could only put so much magic into a single being. Once that had been used up, it was just a pile of goo.

Or rather, a pile of ink. The black mess that it left behind was ink… plain and simple.

Silence surrounded them and then a single owl could be heard filling that emptiness in the air.

Kalin Scarlet KageYuuki

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
Ravyn held her breath as Jeff fell apart into another puddle of black liquid. Given the fact he'd reformed twice now from their attacks, it wasn't all that far-fetched for it to happen again. At least this time they'd put some distance between them. So they waited, her sights trained on the puddle.

Instead of him reforming, a dark red orb emerged from the ink. A Kishin egg. A corrupted soul.

It's... is it really over? The weapon found herself asking out loud before slipping from Luxe's grasp and shifting back into her human form. "Well, that was..." A dry laugh escaped her, "Holy shit..." Ravyn slowly moved over to the soul, finally collecting their mark. Her mind was still racing from the whole ordeal. At the forefront of it all was that woman from before.

The witch that had managed to sneak into the heart of their city...

"We need to go see Lord Death." Ravyn's voice still shook slightly, "He needs to know about the witch..."

Lady Warlock Kalin Scarlet

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Luxe Rosenfield
​

"Phew! Yeah, that whole thing was just...Yeah. Crazy. Y-you holding up okay?"

Luxe loosened his grip as Ravyn's form started to shift until the young woman was standing in front of him once again. He took a seat on the ground, letting out a deep breath as she stepped forward to make her collection.

I can't believe it...We actually did it. No real screw ups, nobody got in the way...I did it, mom.

Luxe raised his hands up and found them shaking slightly, still wondering if he'd wake up in bed any second now. He squeezed them together hard, taking another deep breath as he tried to calm himself. He hopped back to his feet quickly as Ravyn spoke to him again, giving her the biggest smile he could manage.

"Yeah, you're right. Um...well, we're in no rush, I figure. It's late and all. You can take a break if you want," He offered, shaking out his hands.

Lady Warlock KageYuuki

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
Ravyn hesitated at Luxe's words, stopping to study the Meister for a moment. "You sure you're okay?" Her voice lowered as she moved closer to him. It was easy for her keen eyes to spot his still trembling hands. "You're shaking..." Stopping in front of her newfound partner, Ravyn lightly gripped his shoulders. "Take it easy, the fight's over. We even made it out unharmed," Unless you counted their pride following the ice cream mishap.

"I'll handle reporting to Lord Death and then maybe we could get some tea?" Ravyn offered a slight smile, [color=-darkcyan]"Or dinner. I'm actually starving all of a sudden..."[/color] Now that she thought about, she really hadn't eaten anything that day...

Moving to a nearby window, the weapon let out a slow breath to fog up the glass and quickly wrote a number across the window.

42-42-564

"Lord Death, are you there?"

Kalin Scarlet Lady Warlock

 

[Lady Warlock]

Lord Death

Whatever he’d been doing in the Death Room on his own wasn’t enough to keep him from answering the incoming call; however, he didn’t exactly look to see who it was beforehand when he answered it. Very rarely did he ever get a call from someone who wasn’t willing to talk to, though, so it didn’t bother him that he didn’t know who it was. Showing up on the glass that they’d dialed upon, Lord Death was smiling and even bouncing back and forth a little as though something exciting had just happened that he wanted to share. Of course, that wasn’t exactly the case, though.

“Hey, hey, hey!” the Grim Reaper greeted them with an unusual amount of cheer. “How’s it goin’, you two? Is the night still young?” For a moment, it seemed that he had almost forgotten that he’d sent the two of them after a serial killer. Granted, Lord Death seemed to know how to pull that act off correctly almost every time. Most of his students had seen it more than once.

It wasn’t an act he would sustain indefinitely, though.

“Any luck on finding our strange friend Jeff?”

KageYuuki Kalin Scarlet

 

[KageYuuki]

Ravyn Cooper
Ravyn shifted slightly as she waited for the shinigami to answer her call. The silence that had fallen over the city following the killer's death was... unsettling to say the least. It wasn't that late, usually the commotion of downtown could be heard from where they were. Maybe the fight had left her a little more anxious than she thought. Their mark's friend had certainly thrown a rather large wrench in their plan. Not to mention the trouble it spelled for down the road.

Lord Death's usual chipper voice snapped the weapon out of her thoughts. She'd been with the DWMA long enough to not be too surprised by his little act. Even if it continued to baffle her. "Ah, yes actually. Mission complete." She cast a glance over her shoulder towards Luxe. "Though we had a bit of an unwelcome surprise during the mission." Ravyn shifted slightly, lowering her voice as if worried something in the deserted street would overhear her. "Jeff was apparently working with a witch... She was even here in the city."

Lady Warlock Kalin Scarlet

 

[Lady Warlock]

Lord Death
“Good job!” was Lord Death’s initial reaction to hearing that they’d successfully completed the mission. If he could smile in any visible way, he would have and he also started clapping just a bit for the two of them. They’d managed quite quickly and they both seemed to be in one piece. For Lord Death, that was a reason to celebrate.

However, then the grim reaper let the rest of their news sink in and his entire being became far more somber. “Oh,” he remarked. “Well, that is something I will have to look into further, most definitely. A witch in the city doesn’t bode well, particularly after the concert over the summer. You will have to tell me everything you saw.” He knew it would be important for him to know all the details. Then, though, as he looked the two students over more, he realized that now might not be the best time.

Then he added, “You can tell me later, though. I’m sure the mission has left you both tired and with much to think about. Consider your mission complete. You may retire for the evening. Come find me soon tomorrow, though, and be prepared to debrief in full. I’ll start doing some of my own investigation in the meantime.”

For now, the world had one less killer and that was good enough.

You may consider Target Acquired: Jeff the Killer completed or you may write your own epilogues from here. Congrats on a successful mission!

KageYuuki Kalin Scarlet