I Want To Play a Game

**Users Involved:** User:HoloArc, User:Blackdagger01
**Setting:** Berlin, Germany
**Characters Involved**: IzarCarwen Noct.

## The Announcement

The office of the Berlin Enforcers was ablaze with enthusiasm, the officers most of all, as it seemed like they were about to have a permanent and long-lasting lead on the "Cannibal Bitch" herself. "Madam Armata", the nightmare of Berlin, the new and fully realized bogeyman. She has been financed by and aided the criminal bosses and families of Germany for nearly a year now, but now the city lives in fear of one thing more than anything, and that is the Madam.

A note had been placed on the desk of the attorney who would represent the criminal about to reveal the Madam's identity, and another on the desk of papers of great import, but in the cheers and excitement, no one had seen it, for no one would even have been able to know where it came from. The heroes gathered were in a celebratory mood as well. As soon as the name and face was revealed, they would all spring into action to find her. Now they were just waiting for the one who stood above all of them. Germany's Number.1 Hero: The Indomitable Hero: Aura.

Izar was unfortunately one of the last to arrive among the heroes who had been called, having been on the complete opposite side of the city when he'd been summoned. Stepping down from the transparent blue circle that he had flown in on, it flew into his body seemingly absorbed into it. His feet had not even hit the ground before all cameras were on him, as though they had expected him to arrive with the Madam already in cuffs. But alas, if that were the case, they would be sorely disappointed. Even so the cheers of civilians who had gathered behind police barricades cheered his name, yelling all manner of praise and though his mind was preoccupied he could make out some familiar faces among the sea of people. He had no time to chit-chat or sigh autographs now, however, the officers lead him inside and to the elevator that brought him up to the floor where they were all to be meeting.

The number 1 Hero walked into the meeting room, though there were no cameras in there his charming smile never faded. "I apologize for the wait. Would you be so kind as to update me on the situation?" His voice cool like a soft summer breeze, thick and sweet as honey. Were it not public knowledge, one might assume his quirk were the ability to charm anyone he faced.

With a click of a button, the television in the office flickered to life, muted, but visible. The name and image would be shown on the screen soon enough. As this happened, the commissioner spoke up: "In about ten minutes, after that youth has delegated his tale of Madam Armata and the underbelly, he will reveal the visual and identity. Until then, we are sitting in darkness. But once we have the details, we are gonna storm her common sites with force. We have been a thorn in her side up until now. But with the greatest hero in Germany at our side, her days are numbered.

"Now, she has an army of 'strigoi' at her beck and call. We have estimated a rough count of two thousand strigoi that serve her that she can summon. Luckily she cannot give new orders if they can't hear her words. If they get widespread, we have an opening. Sound nullifiers have been a great help to discombobulate the creatures and make them easier pickings. "Now we just sit and wait. But be ready at all times, comrades. We cannot miss as much as a second-"

"Sir? When did the note arrive?"

"What note?"

A hero sidekick walked up to the commissioner and handed him the note. "To my beloved pigs and wannabe's." Read the front of the envelope. The Commissioner sighed and opened it up. A card fell out of the note. The card depicted zombies in police uniforms pointing and staring blankly at a TV. And in the envelope he read aloud: "Look Ma! I am famous!"

The commissioner immediately turned up the volume, to which they soon heard a voice over the speakers in the studio. The blur over the kid's face disappeared steadily and the voice modifiers stopped. And then came a familiar and haunting voice. "Eveniiiiing theydies and gentlethems! I would like to think that I have been fair to this community since my inception. I would like to think that I have played fair and by the book. But maybe that should change." The voice of Madam Armata spoke up with a twisted giggle. "I have envisioned a city free of heroes, police, and criminals alike. Each of them without work to do and only their own free time to make something worthwhile off of. And I've realized that that sounds, so, so boring. I want a change of pace with the status quo, but why should all that just belong to me? I want someone else to have a chance at this! Join the crowd! If Adam Schnee is not dead and delivered to me within two hours at these set locations, then I will invade my local hospital and eat six babies in their maternity ward cribs. One for each child violation committed by mister Adam Schnee. Time staaaarts... now!" She shouted as three destinations on the Berlin map showed up where she would want him delivered. But Adam had frozen in place out of sheer terror. After a minute, the speakers screamed yet again: "WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING THERE!? RUN, ADAM, RUN! FLEE EDEN! SAVE YOUR SKIN. SAVE IT FOR ME!" she exclaimed as the kid rushed out of the studio.

Izar's face remained cool and collected but inside he felt his heart rate quickening, he'd only just arrived and things were going to hell. "Hey! That feeds not live is it? Cut the feed if- no, cut it no matter what!" He told them, unsure of whether or not it was too late to keep the events from being displayed to the public. But frankly, it didn't matter. The crazy woman had already started her ticking clock, even if they saved their informant they'd still be in the midst of a crisis in the making.

He then turned toward the other heroes, "We'll need the best of the best of you headed to those locations. The rest of you need to start heading to hospitals alongside the police to evacuate them, and for Godsake someone catch that kid before he runs out into the crowd and gets himself hurt if not worse!" He made his orders clear and though by law he didn't technically have the authority to make such demands, he knew well he had the respect to see those orders carried out.

And just as he'd made the demand, they responded to them as he'd expected, everyone moving as quickly as possible.

Izar knew that they were spreading their forces thin, beyond thin. There were more hospitals with maternity wards in Berlin than there were heroes to guard them. He doubted she'd be at one of the locations she'd specified, knowing they would be sending heroes there immediately. *"It's about time I see to the Bad Bitch of Berlin myself, huh?"* He thought to himself, having left the relatively new villian to the police and other heroes up until now. But as her reign of terror had spread part of him knew they'd cross paths sooner rather than later.

More than just police and heroes, there was now civilians on the look out. Some of them assisting the police and heroes willingly, some had to be coerced, others remained quiet as they knew the officers were not going to kill him for anything. Every reluctant civilian would be under risk of arrest under normal circumstances, but they could not spare the cops to make that happen. And with every civilian left behind it stood to reason that they might take the law into their own hands.

The officers had provided the heroes a shell each, allowing them all to send status updates to all parties in case of a development. Soon enough had twenty minutes passed, and with no signs of the man, the Madam, or even her strigoi. But the people were up in arms. perhaps that was all part of the plan. To just tear this city apart with its own people.

Soon there were shouts over the shells on the general signal: "Reports of Adam Schnee having been seen near the Berlin Wall Memorial. People are flocking towards that location in droves."

"Aura, keep a watch for any developments for the real target. We'll handle the kid-"

"First route has been surrounded and put under watch, sir!

"Excellent! Squad T-4-0-O, report about the second route?" Silence is what followed the request. "Squad T-4-0-O! Report, immediately, over!"

"H-Hello? Is this working now? Echo Echo, do you read me?"

To hear the voice of the Madam Armata right next to their ears was a terrifying prospect. As if she was already right next to them. "Where are you!? What have you done to my men!?"

"At the Second Route. Moving now."

"MY MEN!?" The Commissioner demanded to know.

"Digesting. Don't call me fat, but I might look a bit bloated."

Izar raised the shell to his mouth, "Comissioner, this is Aura. I'm in route to the last known location of your men. Don't send any one else there, I'll report of the status of your men and continue pursuit. Aura out." He didn't wait for confirmation from either party, changing his direction and heading toward where the Madam had last been.

Another fifteen minutes had passed by the time he had reached the location, the shells had been abuzz so much that it had made it hard to think. So much so that he had considered shutting it off. But he knew information would be key and having it handy might make the ultimate difference at the end and so he kept it on. Once his feet were on the ground he entered the building to find it a blood bath. He covered his mouth and nose, having seen plenty of nightmare inducing sights during his time as a hero, some he'll never forget but even among those this was something else.

The bodies of the officers had been brutalized, missing parts, bite marks, all as if they'd been mauled by some massive animal. But he knew better and moreover he started to get a good idea of what sort of person this Madam might be. She was a monster, barely even human if this mess was her doing by hand or by minion.

He grabbed the shell but couldn't bring himself to raise it to his lips. Instead he decided to leave the reporting for later, sitting the shell back down and pulling out his phone. With it he searched all of the hospitals with maternity wards within the local area. There were still too many for him to go searching one by one.

Glancing back at the bodies he'd wished he hadn't, stepping back outside and trying to think over the evidence that he had to work with. Time was running out even with just a little more than an hour left he tried to think and formulate a plan of action. The police, civilains, heroes were all swarming the city checking all the major hospitals...

"All the major hospitals..." He looked at the ones one his phone before filtering out the larger ones that heroes had already been sent to and then ones within a short distance from those ones. "Smaller hospitals with less security, not far from here, aren't being evacuated..." He thought outloud, narrowing it down to around a handful. He could check this many within the time limit if he hurried.

Taking off again he headed to one closest by, flying into the lobbies and giving a fright to the already on edge doctors, nurses, and patients who were inside. Flying up the stairs to the maternity ward he checked with the nurses and did a quick pass by the floors before crossing this one off of his list.

He repeated this another six times, the clock ticking down each time until he checked the last of the ones on his list just to find nothing at all. Even he was starting to get nervous, calls were coming in for him to report, but he didn't have anything to give them. Nothing of note to share. All the same he picked up the shell.

"Aura reporting in, I've checked the surrounding hospitals near where we lost contact with the officers. Nothing suspicious to report..." He trailed off before a thought popped into his head. She'd mentioned hospital in her message, but that didn't mean it had to be any of these larger hospitals. He checked his phone for any nearby clinics with maternity wards.

"Damnit!" He cursed, seeing that there were three within distance she could have covered by now. He didn't have time to check these ones, he had to choose one and hope for the best. Choosing the one closest to where she'd killed the police officers he took flight and rushed to that location. "Three minutes..." He thought to himself.

His heart was beating in his ears and a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face when he smashed through the glass door of the small clinic. The woman behind the reception desk was slumped over, blood ran down the desk. He knew she was gone but even though the sight was horrid he felt reinvigorated, this had to be it.

Looking at the map on the wall he ran to the maternity ward, passing by the bodies of doctors and patients, jumping over them even. The clock struck the time limit just as he blasted open the door to see, standing over the nearly fifteen newborns as they made little noises was a horrifying creature.

"Madam Armata, the jig is up." He got out, though he didn't sound as cool headed as he would have liked. It was clear he'd been running around like a chicken with his head cut off. The tiredness was clear in his out of breath voice.

He cleared his throat and recomposed himself. "Your crimes are as vile as the one to committed them. Give up now and I'm sure we can get you the help you need." He spoke as though trying to convince her to turn herself in.

Twisted facial features as if her reality was as monstrous as the crimes she had committed. Skewed eyes, a naturally crooked smile and a bolbous broken nose that exposed the front part of her nostrils and dressed in a white suit and coat. The children started to scream in fear and shock as he had burst through. Even more so than when she had stepped inside, reeking of iron. Turning around and looking at him, he would see the sight of Madam Armata holding a still infant, blood around her mouth and a hand missing from the kid. Pulling forth her wrist, she looked at the clock. Swallowing, she spoke up. "You're right. The game is over. And I didn't receive Adam in time. I spoke the truth to you about everything." She said as she held up the kid as if it was a glass to be toasted with. "Now there is consequences."

Izar's brow furrowed, in truth he had a lot of options of what to do next but so few of them could give the children any safety from this monster, and even fewer might see them saved from any further harm altogether.

He tried to think, wishing he'd read the police profile they had on her before hand. But as illusive as she was he didn't have a clue if anything in it would even have been of use to him in any way, shape, or form.

"But he is dead. I heard that much over the radio, I'm sure you did as well. You got what you wanted. What good would having his corpse do?"

A twisted grin showed up upon her visceral face. "That is between me and his corpse. His condition wasn't the big part of my demands. My demands were for him to be delivered to me. You failed. But! I'll let you off easy. A reward for finding me so quickly.." she spoke with a sickening wink as she took another nibble off of the stump of an arm. Talking while chewing her 'food' she then gestured to a few other babies with her free arm. "There are four more babies in here that have passed away. Risks of post-birth-mortem is higher here than in the other hospitals. Five were dead already by the time I got here." She said as she gestured to the one in her hand and then to four cribs that no longer held a heartbeat.

"So, that makes for five already dead babies for me to eat. There will still be one newborn I need to eat, but surely it is better to have eaten just one living being than six?" She spoke wickedly. "No one will have seen you. The Cameras are off. The shells haven't heard us. Sooooo, how about you just step out that door again, let me finish my meal, and I can pick just one more infant afterward. If we are lucky, one might pass away while I'm eating too!" She spoke with a giddy tone.

Though he prided himself on keeping his composure his face twisted at her suggestion, showing his disgust for her and her idea. Bile rose in the back of his throat leaving a gross acidic taste in his mouth. He opened his mouth with the intention of scolding her for even making such a suggestion but he closed his mouth before any words could come out in case something he might say would piss her off and only make things worse. He could tell that if nothing else she was being her own idea of cordial and as sick and twisted as it was, he didn't think she'd be more pleasant in any other mood.

His fist tightened and he grit his teeth, even looking at her made his stomach turn but he couldn't be rash. "So this is all a game to you then? Failure, rewards, deals, and the like."

"Hm, hardly." She replied simply as she bit down on another limb. "If this was a game, I would actually be having fun." She spoke with a full mouth, blood dripping from her chin. "A proper game requires a proper partner. Someone who can be my match. Someone to challenge me. When they arrogantly try but can't do it, I just do what I do best." She shrugged before grinning, bits of meat and gore dribbling past her lips. "But that might have changed now. The number one hero... If anyone could ever by my equal, wouldn't it be you? A symbol of heroism and power? Your attention has been misdirected for a long time, but at last, you are here. I can't wait to see what you will do to challenge me. You already managed to find me, unlike so many before you. What other tricks do you have?" She asked as she chucked the gnawed corpse to the side before walking over to another deceased crib.

"Stop!" He demanded, "Then lets make a game of this then! I'm challenging you, Madam Armata with the contents of this room as the prize. Send your strongest Strigoi at me, should I lose then I could in no way equal you in strength or power and will likely be dead or too incapacitated to prevent you from doing whatever you want. But should I win the currently remaining contents of this room will be untouched by you or your minions and you will have found someone who can match you." He offered, already trying to think of what he might do should she refuse the challenge.

She stopped her hand right over the deceased child, as if pondering the prospect. After what felt like an eternity she removed her hand, straightened her back and looked to him, walking out of the nursery and standing before him in the hallway. "Get out. We are not doing it inside." She said as she motioned for him to leave with the intent of following him. "If you can impress me, I will revoke my previous promise and walk away. But if you can't... I'll go back here after I've eaten you too." She said with a lick of her lips. Whether that was to remove the gore from her face or to threaten was hard to tell. Either way, it wasn't good news.

Izar nodded his head, a feeling of relief washing over him as she seemed to accept his challenge. He followed after her, into the hall and further down it so that their battle would not end up harming their prize. Frankly, all he'd wanted was to get her away from the babies, now that they were he had a chance to take her down here and now. But he didn't make the move to do it, she was a monster and he was sure he could take her. But he was a man of his word, he issued the challenge and he would see it through. He was confident he had little to worry about, he was the number one hero after all.

Making it into a larger, more open section of the clinic he turned to face her, extending his hand out into a fist a blue light appeared as a transparent sword took shape in his hand. He swung it down, the aura blade cutting trough the stone tile of the floor like a hot knife through butter. As far as he knew, her flesh monsters didn't stand a chance.

Carwen looked around herself in the reception before turning to him with her arms crossed as he cut into the floor. "You sure you don't want to go outside? I won't spoil the surprise, but I don't think you will find this space sufficient. You would put a lot of innocent people at risk. Even the still living infants." She spoke as she positioned herself so she could look at him and the exit at once. "Harry is quite a fellow after all."

Izar didn't quite understand what she meant. Whether it was about its destructive power or its size. Still, she would know her monsters better than he, it would be foolish not to heed her words. "Outside? I've no qualms with it. Not worried about other heroes showing up while we fight? I won't allow you to call it cheating if that's the case."

"If you need help, it won't be so impressive to me. Even if I leave, you will not have given me sufficient display for me to want to continue our games. I'll just come back and eat you some other day." She said as they left the building, walking side by side, not wanting to let one or the other be the one in the front, lest they get attacked from behind in a mere instant. Soon as they were outside, she took a couple of steps away. "So! Let's begin." She said as she began her summon. He wanted her strongest Strigoi, and she was gonna make it happen. Snapping her fingers, as if flying right out of her body, she sent forth "Harry", the 'Strigoi Emperor'. A hundred-seventy feet long serpentine creature with wings sprung forth, maws wide open as it came headed in a straight beeline towards Izar. He was only some more meat away from becoming her final step 'The Strigoi God'. Harry was precious to her, and she was confident in his ability to get the job done.

He was surprised by its size, but held his ground, holding out his hand a blue light expanded outward from his palm to create a massive force field that reached from one side of the street to the other and reached nearly three stories in length. He figured no matter how large it was that it would hold the thing back and it did slam against it, Izar feeling the aura shield buckle and even begin to crack against the large beast.

With his other hand he held up his sword, it grew to the size of a massive spear and he readied to throw it should the monster manage to break through.