The Rally (06-30-2022)

==Pre-Show - Arthur’s Bay, Camelot [06/30/2022]==
The crowd was dense, enough to fill the entire street downtown in Arthur’s Bay. People were tailgating with cold drinks and warm street food. Food trucks were on every corner, peddling their various meals and snacks. In one of the largest gatherings the area has ever known, was a Campaign Rally for the young and impressionable candidate known as Heralda Smith. The stage was clear, save for the security on either end of the platform, with a podium in the middle, decorated and emblazoned with pink and green. Heralda’s face is seen on the front decor for the podium, dolled up and smiling at the camera. The seats were quickly filling up, with eager fans of the new politician and plenty of press, including the country staple Pat McGuire of Camelot’s Voice and Marie Magdalene of the upcoming Malistair News herself. Despite there being little room for vacancy, the front seats were reserved for the big names, including the CACG’s Roundtable Council themselves.
The Roundtable all took their seats, all nestled next to each other due to the low space. “Jeez Strongman, you’re built too big for this,” Thunderbolt complains, as he’s squished between Strongman and Calliope. “Oh my bad let me just shrink up like a French fry for you,” Strongman jokes, while trying to give Thunderbolt more space. Calliope teases, “Not our fault you’re so short bro.” Thunderbolt pouts and slumps in his chair. Royal lays her legs on top of Tsar, much to his annoyance. “Hey, personal space?” Tsar remarks, poking at her legs. Royal sips a slushie she bought from a local street vendor and responds, “Personal space? In this place? That’s like trying to find the fountain of youth, T.” Crown rolls his eyes as the two begin to playfully argue with each other. Malik chuckles as he watches them as well and reassures, “C'mon Crown, loosen up a bit. We’re not on duty.” Crown argues, “Makes us even a bigger target, Doc. I don’t know, I feel like we got a few interesting looks when we got in here.” Malik pats Crown on his back and looks over at the rest of the Roundtable.
Void nervously looked down at his hands and sighed, right as Nikita gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "Don't worry V, you won't be doing any public speaking," Archangel said, picking up on his anxiety. Nikita chuckled and followed up, "This prim and proper bitch is just stick waving us, best we just play along." Archangel nearly chuckled, but kept his composure as he kept his eyes fixed on Heralda, who was talking with her security on stage. Witch and Wizard stared at Heralda, this being their first time seeing her in person. "She's a lot...taller than I thought," Witch says. Wizard adds, "A bit more athletic too. Usually these politicians are very obvious that they like to eat."
"A bit unexpected to be honest."
"I guess it's like that sometimes."
"...is it?"
Music begins to blare from the stage, it's a melodic mix of the Camelotian anthem and a quite strange tune, unfamiliar to the Roundtable. Archangel watches as Heralda walks to the podium and looks at her surroundings. The music fades off as she begins speaking. "Hello everyone!" She says eagerly. Without a hitch, the crowd begins to roar in excitement. Heralda looks down in embarrassment, with a slight flush of red over her face and continues, "Oh my, so many people come out today. I'm so surprised. You know, when I first decided to run for Lady of the Lake, I assumed the worst. No one would listen to what I have to say, no one would even bother even being my manager. But to see so many people here. Today. Is astounding. I even have special guests right here in the front row! Business men, other politicians, and even the Roundtable of the Camelot Anomalous Containment Group themselves." Many of them look the Roundtable's way. A collective amount of awes and sounds of surprise is heard throughout the street. Thunderbolt slumps lower in his seat and covers his head with his hood. Royal puts her hand up to wave. Heralda continues, "It's wonderful to see them here. Now let's talk about why I'm here. Standing before you all today. You know I want to represent you all as Leader of the Lake. I want to make a change in this country. I'm sure you all heard what happened in the Unified Frontier. What seemed to be an alien invasion. Millions. Millions of lives gone. I still hurt for them, and for their families. But it also leaves me curious. Wondering why. Wondering who. Maybe the aliens on our beloved moon? Have they finally begun to make their move? Was it their plan all along? I aim to answer these questions as Leader of the Lake and stop these events from happening."
Witch mumbles in a low voice to Wizard, Void, and the others, "But, that wasn't the Seraphim. It was some weird fanatic snake. That's got nothing to do with them! Is she trying to kick them off of Vela?"
"This racist bitch..." Void muttered, looking at her with contempt in his hidden eyes. Royal scoffs as she sips more of her slushie. Archangel makes a grip in his fist hearing this. He wants to say aomething, but doesn't want to disturb the rally. He calms himself and continues to listen.
"As you know, I'm a Camelotian, first and foremost, and I strive to keep this country safe and be the best it can be. I feel, as Leader of the Lake, I can make Camelot safer, and in extension, all of Grail. As the new lawmaker, I would make sure the people's safety is in best interest. I'm not doing this for myself. No no. Never myself. I'm doing it, for you. For Camelot. And most importantly, I'm doing it...For Humanity." Heralda lifts her right hand up towards the sun. Everyone begins to cheer. Crown rolls his eyes again, unamused and unmoved by her speech. Malik then begins to feel something. That something was off. He then looks at Strongman, who also looks over at Malik. Both of their precognitive abilities fire off. They look behind them and see a projectile reflecting the sun's light moving towards the rally stage, and it was moving fast. In an instant, Malik and Strongman get up and dash towards front of the stage. Malik jumps of top of Strongman, which he reacts by lifting him up and tossing him into the air. Malik splays his body out, ready to take the projectile. The projectile, now seen to be an ice shard, hits Malik directly. Even though he has a Kevlar vest under his clothes, the ice shard pierces it some, making it a few inches into his stomach. He falls on his back at the foot of the podium, with the shard still lodged into his gut. "Malik!" Strongman shouts. Royal, Crown, and Tsar realize what's happening and spring into action. Royal and Tsar both get in front of Malik and become poised. The crowd slowly realizes what's happen and many begin to scream. The security guards on stage run towards Heralda and pull her away. She looks shaken as she looks down at Malik King, basically skewered by an object meant for her. 
== Enter the Hold - Arthur's Bay, Camelot [06/30/2022] ==
"Holy fuck," Strongman says before shouting "Everyone move! Get out of here!" The crowd however, was already in a state of hysteria and panic. The rallygoers all stumble over each other, rushing to leave. Another glint of an object comes towards the stage again. Witch gets up and puts up a ward, barely blocking the second ice shard. "Shit!" Witch says, as she looks at the pointed end of the shard as it pierced the ward, just barely missing her eye. The other Roundtable members get up, ready for the threat. Royal shouts, "We need to get Malik out of here!" Strongman orders, "I'll cover you. Go!" Crown nods and carry Malik with Tsar. Royal stays around and stands behind with Nikita and Tenma. "Fuck! This is why I said we needed to keep our guns! We're sitting fucking ducks."
Everything grows silent. If only for but a moment, until it's broken again by the sound of snow and hail. Coming down the street is a giant storm cloud raining hail. When it reaches the stage, the storm becomes a blizzard in front of them, and emerging out of it comes two people. Strongman shouts, "Who the hell are you?" The one in front, with short bluish hair and a thick jacket, says in an aggressive tone, "Just here to start a party." The man then looks at Archangel. His eyes go wide and his face grows a maniacal smile. "Holy shit. Creed? That you?" He asks, looking intently at Archangel. Archangel looks around and then responds, "What...? Who are you?"
"Don't tell me you forgot me. It hasn't been that long. Plus, how could you forget ol' Coldfront huh?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm not...Creed."
"Now that I look at it, yeah. You aren't him. But you sure as shit remind me of him. And that that makes my blood fucking boil."
Coldfront then holds his hand. A gigantic battle axe forms in the air made entirely out of ice. "Maybe you'll scratch my itch." He lunges at Archangel, to which he reacts by summoning his shield and blocking the strike. Archangel falters however, not expecting the massive force of the blow by the axe. He summons his Halberd and retaliates, clashing with the assailant's axe. Archangel swung again, this time harder, fully expecting the axe to shatter like glass. However, the axe stayed intact. Archangel is thrown off by this and leaves himself open. Coldfront then parries Archangel and kicks him back into the podium, breaking it. Witch and Wizard step in front of Coldfront and ready their magic spells. Coldfront looks down on them and scoffs. "Mages huh. What are you gonna do? Do party tricks?" Wizard responds while throwing a molten fireball, "Yeah, we charge by the fucking hour." The fireball travels towards Coldfront, until it suddenly disappears into thin air. Wizard stands confused and fires another fireball, only for that one to disappear too. Witch joins in and fires an eldritch blast towards Coldfront, but to no avail. "What? How?" Witch asks as she readies another spell. Coldfront smiles and steps aside, revealing a woman behind him. She has pinkish hair with a hot red strand in the front. Her right eye is covered with an eyepatch and on her neck is a strange branding. She locks her eye on the two and licks her lips. "Ooooh mages. I haven't tasted magic from a mage in years...I miss it..." she says as she walks towards them. Wizard shoots another fireball, and it disintegrates once it reaches the woman's vicinity. "What the fuck...?" Wizard says to himself as he begins to back away. The woman then throws a wave of energy at the two, knocking them down. Witch struggles to get up, "What the hell? My magic...I can't use it? Wiz?!" Wizard responds, "I don't know what this is either. I can't feel shit too." Coldfront chimes in, "Mages, meet Anti-Mage. I'm sure you three will hit it off." He then begins to walk towards Archangel again but it blown back by an electrical blast by Thunderbolt. He aims his gauntlet at Anti-Mage and warns, "Don't come any closer." Anti-Mage giggles and says, "Awwww, such a cute little guy. I think that thing's too dangerous for a kid like you." She then fires another anti-magic blast at Witch and Wizard. They brace for the impact, but are protected by Archangel, who recovered and dashed in to protect them. "Are you two all right?" Archangel says, keeping his eyes on Anti-Mage. Wizard answers, "Y-yeah, but we're all out of mana. She sapped it all."
"Fall back then. We can't have you dying now."
"Yes, Director. Come on Witch."
The two scramble away, leaving Archangel and Thunderbolt with the Anti-Mage. She giggles maniacally and then runs at them with her hands covered in anti-magic. She swings at Archangel, to which he dodges some. He gets hit by one punch and staggers. Thunderbolt fires an electric bolt towards Anti-Mage, hitting her. She yelps and focuses on Thunderbolt, lifting him up with telekinesis and throwing him. Archangel quickly flies to his rescue but is intercepted by Coldfront, knocking him down back to the ground. Coldfront pins Archangel down with ice spikes and looks down at him with murderous intent. "I thought you would be tougher than that Angel boy. Guess you're still too young." Coldfront then creates an ice dagger and stabs Archangel in his right shoulder. He cries out, feeling a burning sensation. It wasn't anything like he's felt before. He felt weakened by it. He wondered if it was really ice that pierced him, or something else entirely. Coldfront digs the dagger around Archangel's shoulder while staring directly at him. Archangel yells in pain again. Calliope calls out to Coldfront, "Hey ice fucker. Get off my cousin." He then turns on his speaker and blasts music at Coldfront. The ice spikes pinning Archangel break due to the high frequencies and break the dagger as well. Coldfront looks surprised and then smiles. "Cool little trick, I'll give you that." Calliope then cranks the volume of the speaker and blasts music again. Coldfront covers his ears and falls to the ground. "Fucking shit!" Coldfront says as he covers his ears. 
Royal sees Archangel on the ground and shouts, "The Director is down! I repeat, Archie is fucking down!" She then runs towards Archangel and begins to drag him away. As she does she looks down at Archangel and comfort him, "It's okay, sir, you'll be okay. We'll get you fixed up." Archangel groans and looks at his right shoulder. Despite the ice dagger being out of it, he still feels a searing, almost demonic pain. He loses consciousness and passes out. "Hey hey hey. Sir, stay with me!" Royal shouts as she stop dragging him to check him. She breaks smelling salts and puts it near his nose, but to no success. She checks the wound and sees a darkness spreading inside it, with his veins becoming pure black. "What the fuck did he do to you Archie...?" Royal says to herself as she tries to bandage the wound. She radios for evac and they respond saying they'll be there. She then notices their shadows and one is unaccounted for for a body. She then begins to quickly try and drag Archangel and watches as a being comes out from the shadows. They have almost no color to them and is wielding a scythe. They raise the scythe and swing, clashing with a sword that appears from thin air. The sword is then accompanied by Specter. "Fuck off," Specter says, kicking the shadow person away. They regain their footing, and looks straight at Specter. "Who the fuck are you supposed to be?" they ask, holding their sword ready. The shadow person answers, "The Wraith that wants their revenge. Simple as that."
"What did Archie do to you?"
"Sent me to the Abyss. Along with another. Another of the Voyd."
"I think you got the wrong guy, fucker."
"We'll see. Maybe Gecko will agree with me."
"Fucking who?"
From the blizzard, another person walks out, they walk toward Wraith and Specter and analyze Archangel. Royal looks desperate as she continues to try and drag him away. Gecko looks at them and says without looking away, "This is not the murderer. Thought he looks much like him. Maybe we should fucking kill him for that offense alone." Wraith nods and readies his weapon again. Gecko jumps over Specter and towards Archangel. Reptile shoots a toxic dart at Gecko, making him stumble and fall. "I know you're not jumping at my boss like that," Reptile remarks, shooting multiple darts into Gecko. Wraith hides in the shadows and appears behind Reptile, swiping his scythe at him. Reptile ducks and bites Wraith on the arm, causing them to recoil. Wraith falls to their knees, feeling the venom course through. "No human can survive that dose. See you never fucker." Wraith then stops shivering and stands back up. They comment, "Such a shame I'm not human then, is it?" They hide in the shadows again and seemingly leave. Gecko gets up after convulsing from the injection. He takes the syringes and darts out of his body and looks at Reptile. "Weak fucking poison," Gecko says before spitting his Tongue at Reptile. He grabs it and slices it with his long nails. Gecko pulls back what's left of his tongue glares. The three then stare each other down before fighting again. Royal takes the opportunity to drag Archangel into a nearby vacated Food truck. 
She rushes to find a first aid kit and keeps talking to Archangel, "Sir, evac is coming soon. You just have to stay with me. Arthur's Ghost, what did that ice guy do?" She bandages up the wound as best she can and looks outside. She radio's evac again and asks their status. They respond that they'll be there in around 10 minutes. "We probably don't fucking have 10 minutes, the Director is dying." The evac soldier understands and says they'll try 5 minutes. She begins to tear up, watching as Archangel's veins begin to grow darker.
== A Grudge - Arthur's Bay, Camelot [06/30/2022] ==
Strongman goes to find Thunderbolt, leaving Void, Nikita, and the other doctors alone. They look around to assess the situation, watching as Calliope tries to subdue Coldfront. At that moment, Coldfront punches the ground, making the ground slippery under Calliope's feet. Calliope loses his balance and Coldfront finishes the job by pushing him. Calliope falls on the asphalt directly on his head and falls, gaining a concussion. "F-fuck.." Calliope says, trying to get his bearings. Coldfront then sees Void, Nikita, and the remaining Advisory board. Anti-Mage stands over Witch and Wizard and keeps them out of commission with her anti-magic field. Coldfront looks directly at Void and says, "Hey, mud-face. Special delivery for ya. I'm sure you'll love it. He then steps aside and weakens the blizzard, revealing ever so slightly the silhouette of a woman.
"Fuck no..." Void says, immediately disassociating with the chaos around him.
It was her, he was sure of it. A giggle rang out from the blizzard before the silhouette bounded forward, taking Void to the ground. "Did you miss me?!" she shouts maniacally. She slams down a fist, nearly hitting Void's head if not for him moving it in the nick of time. He struggled against her grip, reaching for his pistol as he tried to make more sense of the situation. "A-046? Is it really you...?"
"I'm not using that stupid ass name anymore, you can call me Nyx," she says with a grin. In a split second, she brought another fist down and smashed Void's right hand, breaking every bone inside of it. He cried out in pain, right as Nikita came in and shoved her off of him. "Ugh, that didn't hurt too much did it? Plus you'll just heal back tomorrow like nothing happened," she said mockingly, looking at Nikita next.
"However, your little human friend here? I think I can do something more permanent with him."
She gets ready to lunge at Nikita, but is stopped in the nick of time by Dr. Tenma putting a pistol to the side of her head and firing. "Sorry lass, you don't fuck with us without fucking with us all." Nikita helped Void up, still wincing from the broken hand as he looked back at Nyx's corpse. "She won't stay down long, we need to get the others and get the fuck out," Void said to Tenma and Nikita. The pain felt unlike any other time he got hurt... this time it just felt all the more real.
Behind Tenma, the shadows move wildly, until Wraith reappears again. They raise their scythe and grab her by the face. The shadow walker begins to try and slit her throat but is stopped by Strongman, who grabs the being and slams them to the ground. Wraith recovers and tries to slice at Strongman, but due to his abilities, he dodges and weaves every advancement while countering with jabs and hooks. Wraith begins to become frustrated and uses the shadows to try and get the upper hand. However, Strongman senses this too and quickly pulls out his flashlight from his pocket. He covers his shadow with light and Wraith reacts with an annoyed grunt. "Piece of shit!" Wraith shouts before coming out of the shadows again and dashing towards Strongman. He readies himself and gives Wraith a mighty uppercut. Wraith reels back and hides again. "Are you guys okay?" Strongman says, checking Tenma. "We're fine, but Void's down," Tenma responds. "A-046 attacked us."
"Shit. Where's Archie?"
"I-I don't know. Agent Royal dragged him away. Saying he was down too."
"A-Archie's down...? Fuck..."
Strongman looks over to see Anti-Mage still holding down Witch and Wizard. She giggles as she continues to sap every drop of mana from them. She looks at Wizard and remarks, "You have it, don't you? Your father's book. I've been looking for it~. You should give it to me, and I'll give you your magic back." Wizard struggles as he insults, "Fuck you, you crazy bitch. It's staying with me."
"Then I guess I'll just have to take it."
Anti-Mage then increases the intensity of her anti-magic, effectively burning the two. They both yell in pain as she increases the intensity. She giggles at the sound of their agony and increases the burning ever so slightly every time they yell, until patches of their robes burn through, showing second-degree burns on parts of their body. Strongman rushes to the scene and tackles Anti-Mage. He gets a few punches in before he's pushed back by a telekinetic wave. "Stay out of this," she says maliciously, before getting up and scowling at Strongman. Coldfront laughs and says, "You're a hardy one. Surprised you lasted this long." He then encases Strongman's legs in ice quicker than he could react. Strongman struggles to break free as Coldfront gets closer, with a frozen blade in hand. "Let's see if you can dodge this one."
Before Coldfront could cut down Strongman, an objects falls straight down from the sky onto the ground, causing a massive shockwave. It was faster than the speed of sound no one could react to it. They felt the pulse and braced themselves, trying to keep their balance. Coldfront looks over and sees the smoke left behind from the impact. He keeps watching, confused, only to see Imperialist standing there, staring straight at him, as the smoke settles. Coldfront groans and shouts, "Guess the fun's over. Okay kids, time to pack it up." Imperialist stays perfectly still, eyes trained on Coldfront, to which he smiles and slowly begins to back away. Anti-Mage stops what she was doing and scurries behind Coldfront. Wraith, however, tries to get a cheap shot in and swings his Scythe while coming out from below in Imperialist's shadow. She catches the scythe and looks down at them. Wraith gasps before they're thrown like a ragdoll towards Coldfront. They lands on the grown before his feet and scrambles next to the two. Coldfront then looks over to see Gecko, Reptile, and Specter still fighting with each other. "Gecko! Get your ass over here. And grab the new kid. We gotta go," he shouts before creating a thick wall of ice. Shortly after Imperialist jettisons out of her landing spot and punches through the ice with ease. She stares down Coldfront as she's inches from his face. Coldfront's face transforms into fear before he jumps back and creates a new thicker ice wall. Imperialist begins to mercilessly punch the ice wall repeatedly, gradually breaking through. Gecko runs over where Nyx is and drags her body towards where the others are, but not before hissing at the Advisors and the catatonic Void. Coldfront says with urgency, "Hurry the fuck up she's breaking thro-" Imperialist bursts through the second wall and her halo shines brightly. Anti-Mage steps in front of Coldfront and tries to push her back with a telekinetic blast. Imperialists shrugs this off and throws another heavy punch. Anti-Mage makes a ward and screams in panic, "Fucking hurry!" Coldfront sees Gecko reach where they are and he creates an icy smokescreen. Anti-Mage jumps in and disappears within the snow. Imperialist claps both her hands together to get rid of the blizzard, only to see them gone. She walks over to Strongman and breaks him free from the ice by raising her body heat. "T-Thank you," Strongman says, defeated that he was close to death. She then walks towards the Advisors and Void and asks, "Status?"
Void stays silent, propped up against a bollard while blood oozes from his battered hand. Nikita wasn't far from him either, and responded to Imperialist for him. "Forgive the lad, he's uh... well that doesn't matter. We've got multiple wounded after that attack, and Archie's badly injured. I'm... not sure where he is." Henry finally hopped back on the stage, rifles in hand before saying, "Shit... I missed all the action getting these huh?" He shot a look back and shouted "YUE! THEY'RE GONE!" Imperialist looks around, assessing the damage. She then goes to find Archangel. She hears distant crying in a food truck and investigates, to see Royal still patching up Archangel. Royal looks up, almost in awe of Imperialist's halo glowing softly behind her. "She looks to see the Seraphim logo on her green jacket and gives a cry of relief. "Archie he's...he's not well," she struggles to say. Imperialist sees the wound and drops to her knees, saying, "Hakim...fuck. Okay, stand back." Imperialist then summons a holy light from her hand. The light touches Archangel's wound and the black veins slowly start to retract back to the origin of the wound. It stops receding after a few and the light leaves no effect anymore. "That's the best I can do for now until we can send a medic," Imperialist says, while picking up Archangel. Where's your evac?" As she asks, the sound of an aircraft is heard and lands in the middle of the street. Royal and Imperialist lead the unconscious Director to the aircraft. She comes back to help Void and the rest of the Council into the aircraft. Crown and Tsar, and a now patched up Malik King, also walk to the aircraft. They take off, heading towards GEO-7 at maximum speed. 
Imperialist follows closely behind, flying next to them and watching Archangel closely as Royal continues to keep his wound clean. Thunderbolt speaks up, "How did you know we were in trouble?" Imperialist flies closer and answers, "I was watching the Rally when it happened." 
"Isn't your guys' ship like, the fastest ever?" 
"I came alone. When I saw the attack. The rest of the Squadron isn't with me." 
"So, you were on Grail?" 
"No, I was still on Jericho. I jumped." 
"....what?" 
"I jumped out of Jericho's atmosphere and into Grail's. I did it as soon as I saw what happened to one of your advisors." 
Strongman then asks, "Who were those guys?" 
"Agents of the Syndicate." 
Thunderbolt's eyes grow wide, "S-Syndicate? You mean those guys you're all fighting?" 
"That's right." 
Strongman inquires, "Why attack us?" Imperialist shakes her head and responds, "That's what I'm now trying to figure out. Now that the Syndicate has made their move, we're involved now. Why they chose to attack now, during a rally, is something we'll have to figure out. But for now, everyone needs to rest. Patch up. Especially Hakim..." 
Tenma chimes in to ask, "What is exactly wrong with Archie? I thought his skin was unbreakable?" 
"Not to Corruption it isn't." 
"Corruption?" 
"An element that is extremely useful against holy beings. You may have read the file, but His Sublimity was also fatally wounded by a corruption attack and technically died. Though I don't understand. Coldfront shouldn't have anything that allows him to create Corruption. Makes me wonder..." Imperialist becomes lost in thought until she comes back to them and says, "We'll figure it out. I'm going back to Jericho to request for Lady Priestess's presence. Please send us a document of your findings for everyone's injuries." Imperialist then flies away and up towards Vela, breaking the sound barrier and leaving a trail behind her. 
"The fucking Syndicate..." Malik groans, remembering the first time he's had a run in with them. He looks at the Roundtable and holds his stomach, making sure to keep pressure on it. Witch and Wizard lay back in their seats, still feeling fatigue from what Anti-Mage did to them. "Those bastards..." Henry said under his breath while Nikita checked up on Void. Yue sat down, looking at her hands before shakily dialing Kana's number. Henry put a hand on Nikita's shoulder, "We can't let this shit go Niki, can we?" 
"You'll only make it worse if you try anything right now," Malik says, as he catches his breath. These are millions of trained people, versus us. You want the entire fleet on us by next week? I think we need to let the Seraphim help us. Right now though, we gotta keep Archie from dying. Never seen him like this." The aircraft makes its way to GEO-7 and medics are already outside waiting for the Council. They put Malik and Archangel into a stretcher and wheel him quickly to the infirmary, hopefully able to get them back to full health. 
== A Close Call - Arthur's Bay, Camelot [6/30/2022] ==
Heralda sits packed in her limousine with a bunch of security detail by her and guarding the windows. She takes a deep breath and relaxes. One of the bodyguards asks, "Are you okay ma'am. You weren't hit were you?" Heralda smiles softly and answers, "No, thank you. I'm fine." She then thinks in her head, "That fucker actually almost hit me. I'll deal with him later." She watches the news and sees multiple headlines talking about the attack at the rally. She also finds out that Archangel and Void survived the encounter. She clenches her fist and then calms herself and says, "This won't stop us. I assure you. We'll continue the campaign." One of the bodyguards protest, "But Madam, you're now a target."
"These were obviously superhuman terrorists that want me gone cause they don't agree with my campaign. This is all the more reason to keep running. The superhumans have shown their true nature. And I'll let all of Camelot know. If anything, this was a blessing..."
== Mordred's Hold - Arthur's Bay, Camelot [6/30/2022] ==
The attackers return to their hideout, with two others waiting for them in the living room. The red-haired woman with two different colored eyes looks up from the TV and says in a scolding tone, "You almost killed her Luci." Coldfront then chuckles and shapeshifts into a blond man with a suit. His horns show and his eyes are bandaged. "I couldn't make it look completely set up," Coldfront who is revealed now as Lucifer says. 
"She'll have your head for that."
"I'll find a way out of it."
"Looked fun. They tough?"
"I...underestimated them. But they're still not much of an issue."
Lucifer then helps carry Nyx's corpse to the living room table. The redhead takes a swig of her water and asks, "Didn't make it huh?" Wraith responds, "She's not dead. Forever. She will revive."
"Really~? That's pretty cool. When does that happen?"
"Not sure Seiren, but I say we keep her on the table until she comes back to."
"She's kinda cute."
"Interesting observation."
"Just sayin'."
Gecko and Anti-Mage walk in and take seats on the couch. A man with dreads takes off their headphones and smiles while saying, "Hey dudes and dudettes, Nice job out here. Got the Director guy pretty good." Anti-Mage then scowls and accuses, "It would've been easier if you were there Earthquake. That electric kid shot me! You shoulda came but you were too busy with your stupid little project."
"Hey man, art is a lifestyle."
"Hopeless."
The real Coldfront walks in from another room and sees Nyx dead on the table. He keeps walking and sits with the rest of the crew and says, "So, do my powers justice Luci?" Lucifer gives a thumbs up and responds, "Added a little flair to your abilities. My style, you know?"
"Nice, fuck up that holy guy good?"
"He's still young, but I can tell he got training from...you know."
"Of fucking course. Fucking Creed..."
Seiren jokes, "For someone who has ice powers, you are extremely hot-headed."
"Ha ha. Listen, you know my history with that guy, you being a Valkyrie alumni just like me."
"Yeah, he was kinda hot too. Somewhat in the literal sense as well."
"Whatever. I just wish he would show his face again. This time it'll be different."
Suddenly, a glowing darkness emanated from the table as Nyx's wound began to close in on itself, eventually popping out a bullet before fully recovering. She slowly rose up and clenched her temple, "One of those fucks got me?" Not letting them respond, she eventually hopped off of the table and sat down on the couch beside Anti-Mage. Lucifer blows out smoke, seemingly created from within him and says, "You should be more careful. I get your excitement but that doctor popped your head open like a balloon. Tch, got a good hit on Void though." Seiren looks at Nyx and asks, "What's death like? I'm assuming you've seen it a lot." 
"Grey and black... far too much of it. I always find myself in that damn forest when I die." 
"Forest?" Seiren responds, looking at Gecko and Wraith. 
"It's not something any of you guys will see... only me and that stupid little Void." 
"So it's something specific to your species?" Gecko asks. 
"Something like that..." 
"So you've never seen the Abyss?" 
"The Abyss?" 
"An afterlife of suffering. Eternal torment. Wraith and I were sent there by the Seraph." 
"Who's the Seraph?" 
Wraith adds in, "Guy from the universe we're from. Extremely powerful one, not going to lie. Some of us know him as the Seraph, others know him by his other name: Creed." 
Coldfront, Seiren, and Earthquake scoff at the mention of the name Creed. Coldfront stabs an icy dagger on the table and curses, "That fucker ruined the Valkyrie. Along with that blue guy." Seiren nods and reveals the sigil of an eye on her forehead. "The Valkyrie was meant to rule the world. Now, it's nothing but a memory because of him," Seiren adds on. Nyx looks at Wraith and Gecko again and asks, "So you both have grudges too?" Coldfront interjects, "We all do, kid. Against someone. Except Lucifer here. He's here on behalf of Levi." Lucifer smiles and breathes out another puff of smoke. Nyx noticed this and asks, "What...are you?" Lucifer turns his head towards Nyx and answers, "I'm a Demon. From Hell." 
"What is...Hell?" 
"A realm of pure evil. Where the most wicked live. A world where people constantly struggle to be on top. I'm one of them. A ruler of Hell. This mission will give me the boost I need to become the ruler." 
Nyx looks around and takes in how most of them, including her, have a common goal: Revenge. 
Category:Parables
Category:Elections Arc Parable
Category:King With Violet Arc Parable