2019.06.05: Return to the Wyrm Gym Pt.1
| Return to the Wyrm Gym Pt.1 | |
|---|---|
| Legend's Guardians, along with Cait, go for a full assault/raid on the Wyrm Gym. Continued at: Return to the Wyrm Gym Pt.2 | |
| Players | Cait O'Connor, Dragomir, Lleutrim, Ryla, and Waziyata as ST. |
| Location | Wyrm Gym, Prospect |
| Spheres | Gaian Garou |
It is midnight, the witching hour, and the city street is quiet, but not too quiet. Thursday is college party night, after all, and the Steele Fitness Academy is only a couple of blocks away from some of the local night life. A couple of young men stagger drunkenly together along the street, moving toward the nearby houses from the direction of the clubs, dressed fashionably for the night life.
In the Umbra, visible only to Dragomir, the street is barren and empty except for the watchful eyes of several twisted creatures hunched in the shadows near the gym, banes with twisted, hulking forms and serrated hides like sharkskin. Warrior banes of some form, watching over their territory while other spirits sleep.
The moon is almost hidden, a waxing crescent in a cloudy sky and the street is otherwise still and silent, all of the shop lights turned off except the convenience store on the corner, open all hours to sell liquor, tobacco, candy, and gas. The night's peace will soon be disturbed.
Dragomir prepares now, taking off his suit jacket and his muscles swell as he grows transfixed with the ideal of war coming to pass. Each sleeve of his fancy silver shirt is rolled up over impossibly large biceps and he grits his overly pronounced incisors and snarls, "Prepare yourself.. tonight we fight for Eagle. We die for Gaia. But we slay all within our path. Forget what has come before, and do not bother dreaming of what is to be the future. We seek the Wyrm's misery and suffering beneath this Crescent moon, and we shall suffer them severely."
The sheen of the Luna's armor takes over him, the faint outline of Eagle's wings flurries behind him. He twists his head back and around, and points towards Cait, "You are my shadow in this battle. You do not leave my side for any reason. You do not die, until I give you permission to do so." Then he points towards Wazi and says, "Full moon leads the battle.. Battle Singer and Twilight's Gleaming, you follow her lead and obey her commands. You will breach the Fire Escape.. Beer Fetcher and I will open the front door and draw their attention." He snarls, "We collect heads for our Totem. Do not disappoint him."
He turns to look towards some cars further down many blocks away. "I will cause a diversion that attracts local authorities.. while you get into position. Then we will breach on Puddle Jumper's command."
Ryla waits with Lleutrim and Wazi. Baseball bat in the hands of the small blonde woman, ready with a grin on her face like she is about to destroy an infernal ink jet printer that just keeps jamming. Damn it feels Good to be a Gangsta. Wait.. no.. well... She is focused and ready to take heads, and follow instructions with that knowing gleam in her eyes.
Quietly about a block away, Lleu preps his gifts before they make their final approach. He keeps to deep shadows and is surprisingly stealthy for a man of his size - when he wants to be. There is the faint glimmer of Luna's armor when activated and it quickly fades from notice. Other gifts are prepared. He remains in homid for the initial advance lest they be seen in the street around back.
Battle Singer turns his scarred face towards his pack alpha as he listens. A nod to his orders, "Wilco." He's quiet and serious, silvery eyes intent in the dimness. A glance over Twilight's Glimmer to see that she's ready, then he looks to Wazi to lead the way for their team when Dragomir gives the signal through the pack link.
Cait doesn't really have much to 'prepare' at this point. She has no gun, or weapon, so she'll just stand there and wait. There is a gleam in her eyes though, that Ahroun gleam, you know the one. The one that looks terribly excited about violence to come. Battle. Suddenly, the always joking around Cait looks rather serious. This is business, and she'll clench her hands into fists as she waits while listening. Giving a curt nod to Dragomir, she'll crack a joke, "I'll be your pretty, petite shadow..." Because pretty and petite are not really two words used for this short, muscle-bound excitable Garou.
For her part, Waziyata is in her disguised breed form, as she often is when visiting the city. A shaggy, white-furred husky dog stands beside Lleutrim and Ryla, silent, strong, serious and alert. She wags her tail a little in reaction to Dragomir's orders, agreement, then turns and pads toward the back of the building. She moves swiftly but stealthily, ears up and on alert, ready to spring into action or throw herself out of the way of any surprise attacks that might come.
As the pack moves into their positions, all remains quiet on the street on both sides of the gauntlet. Someone coughs distantly in the night, a car drives past in a nearby intersection. The two drunks stagger out of sight.
Dragomir points to where he wants Cait to wait in hiding nearby and says, "I will be right back.. don't move till I do." Then he turns and says over the pack link, ~In position?~. Side-stepping backwards through a moon-bridge to a different part of the city.. a good half-dozen blocks away. Enough that will still be the local response team to deal with. He scans to make sure no one can see him, and pops and Flames of Ra into his mouth. The man's half-gloved fist smashes windows as he walk by, and leans his head down into the car to breath a gust of flame inside to set it ablaze like a wandering dragon or something. He is quick about his work, getting as many as he can before someone might notice and then moving swiftly to swash in the front door of a business or something that will have an alarm system. The goal is to draw local authorities.. police/fire and local attention to this area while they work.
Once able, he will step to the best blind-spot he can, and moon bridge back to Cait.
A single eyebrow rises as Dragomir points to a spot and basically orders her to 'stay'. Cait will get over her pride though, and just offer a curt nod and moves to the spot to crouch in, making herself smaller as she hides in that darkness and watches the area while waiting. Her attention seems to be on the Gym, watching to see what is going to happen. She has no idea what Dragomir is planning, but she's pretty sure the stuck-up elitist Garou will do something big, and she's not disappointed as she looks up and sees a red glow in the distance. A slow grin comes to her lips as she remains crouched, and her dark eyes flick back to watch the gym, to see what activity might occur.
~ In position. But, one camera out front, one in back. I can take yours out for you but then I have to move around the back - I can't see them both at the same time. When you are ready, I'll take them out but you'll want to move fast when I do because it won't be down long and we'll be slightly delayed. No /obvious/ alarm system I can detect. ~ Battle Singer sends through the pack link for all of them except Cait to 'hear'. Lleu looks to Wazi and Ryla briefly, then moves where he can see the camera out front.
Waziyata stays in the shadows behind the gym, waiting for others to move into position, waiting for the night's events to develop. She has been silent and serious most of the time, taking a few moments to collect herself and gather her Gifts and wait patiently. At Lleutrim's comment over the link, she shifts her weight a little and looks toward him. ~ Break them. No distraction of hiding from human eyes when we leave. We are here to kill and die, not to skulk. ~ Seems someone is taking the job of "battle leader" seriously.
Ryla is quiet. Deathly quiet. Not a sound from the Ragabash, as she keeps the baseball bat ready in hand, and stays out of view, but not far from Wazi. She awaits the go, since all signs point to Wyrm. She adds over the pack link. ~ I'm ready for your direction. ~
~Be mindful, the place is guarded by banes in sharkskin. So plan for a battle on multiple fronts. On your mark, Puddle Jumper.. we will storm the front.~ He turns to look towards Cait, "May you earn a worthy scar, you little shit." he offers a feral grin and gets ready to linebacker charge the door. Then he adds, "If I fall, you Hurry Home. No hesitation." and he turns his gaze back to look across the street towards the building, preparing and waiting for Wazi's go.
When Wazi gives him indication to start, Battle Singer eases around and walks up to the front as if he were merely going to stroll on by. He sets off his gift to jam technology and once the camera is non-functioning, he leaps up and knocks that fucker clear off the wall with a fist! Pop! One down. Lleu keeps on walking easy as you please and in a minute or two he comes around to the back to do the same to the camera in position by the fire escape. Over the pack link he sends, ~ Both cameras are destroyed. Go for it. ~ Yep, following orders, Wazi! Ready to rock and roll. Now to get that door open...
Seeing Dragomir return, Cait will slowly rise and gives him a grin as well as a little snort. "If you fall, don't worry, I will protect you..", she'll say quietly towards Dragomir. She sounds all cocky but her expression is serious. The little fry is trying to act like a big fry or maybe this is the pride she has. Either way, looks like she's in it to win it! Looking towards the door, she'll grin broadly, "May they all fall before our claws..." She definitely looks eager, and leans forward a bit, preparing to rush after Dragomir and waits for the 'go' since she can't hear it.
Waziyata shifts her weight a little, ears twitching at the distant sounds of fires and alarms, the closer sound of the camera being knocked off the wall. She stirs a little at that, then at the second crash of the nearer camera. Even as it shatters against the pavement she is moving toward the fire escape door. ~ Move now. ~
The night remains silent and still, except for the smashing of those cameras by Lleu. A very distant wail of sirens can be heard as the red firelight grows on the horizon, but all is still and quiet and calm here, in the physical realm. Inside the Umbra, the destruction of the cameras draws attention. One of the warrior banes stands up from its crouch by the building, turning to look toward the camera. Its eyes glow, the telltale sign of something peeking into the material world. The enemy is stirring, even as Wazi gives the order to begin the battle.
Well if the cameras were a taunt to their attention, Dragomir was going to make sure he was the grand fucking finale. He gave his order to Cait, either she follows it, or he comes back from the dead and kicks her ass for it later. "Now." He declares and he sets off like a freight train towards the door. No doubt it is barricaded - probably even better than the windows. Dragomir doesn't care, and he runs so fast, it looks like he takes FLIGHT - activating The Cleaving Hoof at the last minute before he impacts that door. Knock knock mutha fuckas! He has every intention of blowing that door right off its hinges now.
Cait is a pretty fast little wolf herself, but she can't seem to keep up with Dragomir. Talk about feeling inadequate! Cait still bulls through though, trying to put on an extra burst of speed and energy so that she's not too far behind him when he kicks that door open. She's determined to be useful and helpful somehow, ESPECIALLY IN BATTLE! That determination is showing in that extra oomph of effort she's putting in, pushing herself as much as possible to try and keep up with the Elder.
Ryla gets up close to the door, and holds a hand up to the edges and around it. She tries and tries, and finally stomps her little foot a bit, and steps back, ready with the bat, like that is going to fucking help open the heavy door if she just swings it into it to try to open the damn thing up. She's a made little spitfire, having that trick fail. Her senses do come to her as she looks to Lleutrim to see if he can 'move it' maybe?
There is ever expectation that Ryla will have the door open in a heartbeat - and then she doesn't! There is even a little foot stomp of her indignant anger at her failed gift! So cute. Lleu glances at Wazi, then steps up. As he raises his hands they metamorph into big clawed fingers and as before at Siren Cosmetics, he gets those claws into the door seam and ...
You can /hear/ the door being ripped off its hinges by brute strength! Even in his human form, Battle Singer 'Thors' the bitch and steel is bent and ripped free! He bares his teeth ferally, "No more door!" Wazi's clear to lead in the van!
Waziyata sighs quietly as Ryla stomps her foot and steps back with her bat. The lupus doesn't even look to Lleutrim, it's his turn and she trusts her pack mate to do the job. Or maybe she just has a backup plan in mind if he fails, too. Then, the door is open and the shaggy dog throws herself through the opening, teeth bared, snarling silently as she leaps into the unknown ahead of her pack mates.
Inside of Steele Fitness Academy, Dragomir and Cait smash into the front room, where a desk with cosmetic products, paperwork, and a computer sit right up front, cluttered with floral knick-knacks and a few framed pictures, facing away from the door. Behind the desk is row upon row of free weight stands, benches, and mirror and poster-lined walls. The room is silent and empty, the lights turned to low power setting. The posters are variations of the M.E.A.T. advertisement and motivational slogans for the meatheads who frequent this space like, "Cheat on your GIRLFRIEND, not your WORKOUT!" and "Pain is WEAKNESS leaving the BODY!" and the ever popular, "Sweat is fat CRYING!" The only door is opposite the front entry, a pair of solid double-doors leading deeper into the building.
Waziyata leads Ryla and Lleutrim in the charge into a hallway with three doors, two on the right side, one on the left, and an open archway leading into a darkened office ahead. Both groups will hear a man's voice shouting, "Who the fuck is that?" from deeper inside.
Meanwhile, in the umbra, the bane is staring back at Dragomir as the man charges through the front door. It lurches after him, beginning to hoot wildly in a phlegmy voice, calling others of its kind to action. Inside, multiple banes sleep the night away, now disturbed awake by the hooting of warrior spirits.
As Dragomir's body goes through that door, and sends it on its way to wherever it is doors go when they die - he comes into the gym and snarls as he looks around. As those intense blue eyes lock onto the bane that noticed him - even the voice of the man is meaningless to him. The Russian grins feral, and begins his declaration, "We, are Legend's Guardians - and we are here to purge this pit of Wyrm taint from this world!" he intro's the pack. The man really does live a comic book life or something - as though avid readers somewhere will giggle like school children when the pack is announced.
He spreads thick arms out to the side, half-gloved hands becoming long silver claws and he buckles his upper body forward to snarl towards the banes, taunting them to attack. It should buy the others enough time to get inside and do what they need to do.
Lleutrim has been in a lot of gyms over the years and such places are usually associated with /good/ memories and that endorphin high of working your ass out. But not this time. The instant they get through the door and inside, Battle Singer shifts from homid to Hispo in a flash! A leap forward has his hands landing as huge paws upon the floor as they rush in. With Wazi in the lead in the hallway, the huge dire wolf keeps close behind, >> Clear rooms we are passing? We could be flanked. <<
Ryla charges in with Wazi, bat up and at the ready. She waits for direction to which door they should go through, or if they are just charging through the open archway. She remains homid for now until they have a clear plan. Hearing the crash on the inside, she figures that the attention will mostly be there.
It's time for battle! Cait leaps into the open space that was once a door and immediately steps to the side, out of the way of Dragomir. Slowly, she'll scan the room, and seeing no banes, because she can't see into the umbra without intense focus, she'll decide to go into battle form. Hair appears on her short form as she suddenly grows, sprouting in height as vicious claws suddenly appear on her now furry hands. Looks like her battle form has the same color scheme as her wolf, mottled with many colors. A growl escapes her as she turns her attention towards the sound of the man's voice and she takes a single step forward before stopping and looking at Dragomir.
Waziyata grows into her Crinos form as she advances into the hallway, walking calmly along its length now, a pony-sized killing machine. She pauses at the first door, then turns and smashes her head against it with a growl, breaking the door open to reveal a utility room empty of people, bearing cleaning supplies. ~ War forms. Delirium. Check doors before we advance. Meet in the middle when we can. ~
Then she turns to follow her own orders, advancing further into the hallway, attention split between the open archway ahead, and the next door.
Before the Ahroun can reach that door, it is thrown open by a bat-eared Crinos with glowing, green scars praising the Wyrm, a blackened-silver dagger clutched in one massive hand. He doesn't hesitate, snarling out: <<Servants of the World Bitch!>>
The building goes silent except for the sounds of tromping feet and scrambling, muffled voices somewhere inside, distant.
In the front of the house, the Bane hisses wordlessly at Dragomir and flexes its claws, before oozing through the gauntlet. It is weaker inside the building than outside, rotted by the Wyrm's touch, and the warrior bane rapidly materializes into the physical world - an aberrant, monstrous form on all fours. Within moments, other banes are emerging.
To be continued...
