Austin Baritone: Aftermath

((Please pretend I never changed Austin's object of power. It is becoming his coat again.))

Hours passed and fighters tired. It seemed the hoard would never end. Finally it appeared the last flesh eater had fallen. Austin collapsed over the bits of body and just lay there, ignoring the smell and the soaking blood and all the other unpleasantries.  Someone heaved him up and sat him on the sofa, realising he was still alive. He felt he had to check on his sister, but fell asleep instead.

Xerxes watched the man sleep. Baritone knew very little of the war against Mevolent, being only around four when it ended. To him, Baritone seemed like a child, even with the little beard thing going on. He stood there, staring. Memphis wasn't moving, and Nemo was unaccounted for, presumed dead. Ursa had sort of curled up in the corner. He too was exhausted, had leaned against a wall and slowly slid into the curled position. Xerxes was sure he was asleep, and that his behaviour showed no sign of being upset. "The girl." He said, not sure if anyone would hear. "The blonde one, Cadence..." He had only just noticed she wasn't there. He went to her brother and shook him awake.
"Nhh?" Austin cracked an eye open curiously. Xerxes carefully planted himself beside the blond man.
"Your sister. She's missing."
"Did you check upstairs?"
"You think she's upstairs?"
"That's where I told her to go..." He suddenly sat up, knocking heads with Bloggs, causing the American to lose his glasses. "She's alone upstairs, having a baby..."

They got to the top of the stairs and tried to open Cadence's door, only to find it barricaded.
"Cay!" Austin bellowed, hammering on the door. He could hear someone in there, crying. A woman, definitely Cadence. Scowling, Austin swept the edge of his coat before him and shadow-walked through the door. In a moment, he averted his gaze to the wall and shut his eyes, immediately wishing he hadn't come in. He had once been told Cadence had been present at his birth, which to him sounded simply disgusting. He hardly wanted to see this. He heard her calling to him and told himself she was the last family he had, and she needed help.

-----

Mortis' breathing was clear and strong now. Ass Bandit was good at what he did. The man had been brought from the brink of death to perfect health in these past hours, and now Bandit treated his unconscious form like a doll. He brushed and styled the hair and dressed him in little outfits. He looked so cool in a leather jacket, white shirt and skinny jeans. Bandit carried the limp form to a wall and shackled his arms to a window handle. His ankles were chained to a water pipe. Despite being the tallest of the 'murderous quartet', Mortis was being stretched beyond his natural limit here. The small window in Bandit's room was very high up. Bandit himself was bigger than Mort.

When he woke up, the first thing he noticed was how painfully stretched he was. He tried to struggle, but his efforts were in vain. He only succeeded in pulling a muscle and aggravating his tender hip. Worst few days of his year, he decided as he let out a pitiful whimper. Cold hands reached around his waist, touching bare skin where his shirt had pulled up by his position and making him shiver. As if it wasn't cold enough already. He was facing the wall, and when clumsy hands scrabbled at the fastenings of the trousers he wore, he began to buck and struggle, hitting his head on the wall. He had blood in his eyes now and his hip was now a load of searing agony, but he struggled on as the man behind him wrapped his arms around his waist and whispered something about being calm and something going easier. God no, this couldn't be happening. Tears spilled from his eyes as his movements became more frantic. He was panicking. He rarely panicked, but these past few days had been nothing but. Chained to a window and a pipe, suspended above the pipe by the pull of the window. Could he manipulate the window open? No. And even if he could, what then? If he threw his head back, it would hit his assaulter's chest, maybe glance off the chin, but no real damage would be done. He couldn't kick back very far, couldn't bite, scratch or stab. He had to find a way free, but he was in an almost impossible situation. He needed his blade. He needed his friends. He gave a roar of fury, and tried to twist his hands, wriggle a knife out of his sleeve, but of course he wasn't wearing his own clothes...

-----

Regret number 206, letting Cadence wrap her newborn in his coat. Teddie was a girl, with tanned skin and blonde hair. The male Necromancer left them, wanting to go fall asleep, but Ursa met him outside his sister's room.
"Baritone, mate, we need to get out of here. Someone knows we're here, they want someone in this house and we need to get somewhere safe. All of us."
He shook his head, rubbing his eyes. "I need to sleep."
"I know, but you sleep now, you won't wake up."
"Can't we escape under cover of night?"
Borealis shook his head. "Another attack like this could ruin everything." He sighed deeply. "Heatwave and Fumes have been confirmed dead. We can't let anyone else die.
Baritone yawned and looked back to the door to Cadence's room. "She won't be able to be active for a few hours..."
"We have to get everyone out of here."
Baritone thought for a moment. "Ask around. Someone might know a teleporter.

Someone did. River Tempest made a call...

...To Santa Claus, in Russia. He listened to the call, and told her to tell the others to dress up warm. They were coming to Russia.

-----

Jayden had exhausted himself and fallen asleep. Thank God. All the shouting was giving Millie/Garnet such a headache. A man approached the two of them, hopping on one foot, using some kind of trolley to support himself. He leant over and grabbed the chains binding the two others to the wall, trying to stay standing while he hacked through them with a junior hacksaw. Millie stood and almost collided with Mortis, who neither she nor Garnet recognised at first.

Mortis wasn't the kind of person to cover himself in his enemy's blood. There he stood, clothes soaked in deep, red lifeblood, hair matted and sticky with it. It stained his skin and masked the fact he was still crying.
"Garnet." He said sharply, voice shaking. "We're getting out of here."
"Where's Wilbur?" Asked Garnet's voice. As far as he knew, Mortis would go nowhere without that knife. To his surprise, the Necromancer shook his head.
"Not a priority. I just want to get out of here!"
That was...different.
"Wake Jayden up. I need you both to support me physically. I can't fight, I have no weapons. The only option for me in my current state is escape."
Well, at least there was combat logic in there, but Mortis was a stab first think later sort of person. This was unbecoming of him. It unnerved Garnet's spirit. Even as he thought this, Millie had awoken Jayden and pulled him up.

This wasn't good. Mortis was a big person, taller than average, broad-shouldered, with a naturally large build even though he had no muscle mass. He must have once, by the looks of him. Once he must have been very powerful. Every step Jayden and Millie took was silent, but Mortis had to hop. Every time his foot hit the floor, there was a loud, echoing bang. Of course, being all about stealth and detectability, Mortis was furious. There was a loud click behind them and they stopped, looking round slowly. There stood Ass Bandit and Jerry Vehemence, both looking angry and eager to spill blood. Mortis was out of action, Millie was generally not a fighter, and so Jayden stepped towards the two villains, stopping them from being able to get anywhere near his boyfriend and Millie.

((I'm weird enough to randomly crown myself high lord of the collaboration roleplay thing. BOW DOWN TO ME, Y'ALL!!!))

Cadence Nightwish: Emergency Stop

Cadence was asleep on the sofa, one hand over her baby belly. Austin was sat on the arm of the chair, smiling. He was going to have a new niece or nephew soon. The name had already been decided. Teddie, either way. He gently stroked her hair, really wanting a hug but having no-one to hug him. Daemon walked in and sat down in front of the television, but completely ignored him otherwise. There was a yell in the distance, in another room. A crash of a breaking window. Austin sat up straight, startled, and looked around, not entirely sure where the crash had come from. Someone swore and three of the Americans came in. Two were rather calm, but Memphis was in a bit of a flap. Xerxes clenched his fists, head bowed as though in prayer. Austin scowled. "What the bloody hell is going on?"
Cadence sat up as Ursa struggled to find the words. "Zombies." He finally gasped out. "We need more weapons, they're in the house! We're surrounded!"
The atmosphere changed quickly. Cadence forced herself to her feet, swearing. Austin had the flintlock pistol out in seconds, Daemon was off the floor and out the door in seconds, ready to rip bodies apart. Memphis went to the nearest window in an attempt to count the number of bodies out there. He swore and stepped away. "Hundreds." he told the others blankly. "We'll need more than bullets, Borealis."
Ursa shook his head. "I have fire."
"Not much use."
Xerxes shook his head, pulling down the blinds, shutting and barricading the door. "All I can do is vomit spiders." he muttered miserably. "I never fight with weapons..."
River curled up on the sofa, looking simply shocked. "Is he dead?"
"Nemo's tough." Xerxes insisted, breaking a leg off the table as they heard a window break.
"Cay?" Austin began, raising an arm protectively, "Get to your room. You shouldn't fight."
"I'm staying. I can fight. I won't be much safer in my room anyway, Austin."
He nodded. "Just looking out for my sister."
She shrugged, slipping on her old engagement ring. Shadows curled around it and she smiled. "First to a hundred kills wins."
"You're on."

-----

Ass Bandit smiled, carefully stitching the throat wound shut and planting a kiss on the oh so cold lips of the rather attractive murderer. Jayden and Millie where shackled in the corner. Jay was still crying, very loudly. He had held his boyfriend as the blood poured over the bandaged body, trying to stem the flow and help him breathe, trying to keep him alive while Maleficent barred their exit. He had slowly grown so cold and pale, and Jayden had been there as Mortis' life appeared to slip away. This disgustingly overweight man was now healing all injuries and caressing the fallen man. Jerry Vehemence...he had been taken to another room by Maleficent. Whether he was alive or not was unknown. Jay was beginning to realise this man, 'Ass Bandit' or whatever, had a thing for Mort. He was giving the body little kisses and soft strokes of the hand.
"Leave him alone!" Jayden finally shrieked, kicking out even though he had no chance of striking him.
A-B looked up, cold gaze taking Jayden in. "He's mine now, providing he survives. I've always wanted a toy boy."
The dark-skinned man's eyes widened. "You're going to rape him...You're going to rape him and if you do I'll fucking kill you!"
He laughed. "I'd like to see you try, chained up like a rabid dog." He leaned over Mortis, checking for breathing. Once satisfied, he heaved the Necromancer over his shoulder and brought him through a door. Jayden's shouts were like music to him.

-----

Cadence found a certain appeal to fighting walking corpses. It was thrilling and she didn't have to worry in the slightest about the people she was hurting. Yes, fighting with a slightly overdue unborn baby added to her physique was a pain, especially once the contractions started. Now, her choices were to  fight through the pain for as long as possible, give up and die or retreat now and maybe take her brother with her to help. Unfortunately the furthest she could shadow walk from here was upstairs, to her bedroom. Tears were forming in her eyes as the thrill gave way to raw terror. If the labour advanced too far while the zombies were still there, she and Teddie were dead as dead could be. "Austin!" She shrieked as she tore a few zombies to pieces with her shadows. At least he heard her. He was trying to get to her, trying to keep the dead away. Another contraction. Suddenly her little brother was there, standing beside her, fighting in the madness. "Cay?"
She shook her head, trying to keep more corpses off her. "Having baby." Slash out. Duck under. Kick. Swipe. "Need to move."
"You have got to be kidding me!" He yelled back, one word between attacks. "Shadow walk up stairs! Join you in a second, be ready to attack when you're not covered!"

The next second, she was in her room. After what seemed like an hour, Austin hadn't turned up. She barricaded the door as best she could and realised she was going through this alone.

((I have been listening to Disney songs non-stop, and I was never going to use the A-B for more than that first chapter, but now he has someone to crush over, aww...aaaanyway...CHEESE.))

Advantageous Twist: Secret Compartment

Mortis awoke, head pounding again. The first thing he saw was his hair falling across his face, which he couldn't simply brush behind his ears. He was still in the torture chair, as he liked to call it. He tried flicking it out of his face with some sharp head movements, but only succeeded in worsening his headache. Next, he noticed a jug of water on a table at the other end of the room. His throat felt like sandpaper, and he hoped some of the water was for him. At least the gash in his arm hadn't bled him out completely. He looked down and saw it had been healed to what was now an unsightly brown scab. Frustrated, but not entirely sure why, Mortis stamped. A good way to explain his overall feeling was light-headed, or maybe very very sick. Wait...his feet were free? He could move his legs! Now what? How to exploit that? He couldn't think straight. His head hurt. The door opened, and there stood B-J. She was smiling.
"What do you want?" He hissed. He sounded hoarse. Ouch. Throat. He decided to not talk too much. Maleficent poured some water into a glass and came over, holding the glass to Mortis' lips.
"You must be parched. Not to mention hungry. It's been three days since we got you here."
"Three?" He asked into the water. It probably just sounded like a bunch of confused bubbles to her. She didn't respond. Once the water had been drained from the glass, she stepped back.
"Listen, Mort. It's no secret I hate you. You killed Dexter Vex and you're generally a very horrible person." She shrugged and smiled. "But this is something other than petty hate. This is sacrifice. Oh, don't look so horrified. I've got something, been looking into some Necromancy stuff, and some other things...ancienty..."
He arched an eyebrow. "If you're trying to suggest I'm related to an Ancient-"
"Not what I said. Besides, I need to do more research. When I'm ready to do the soul switch, yours for Garnet's, or maybe yours for that of Jerry Vehemence or Electrolytic."
Mort decided to focus on freeing himself from the chair. "You do realise I'm Garnet's best friend. He won't be too happy if you kill me to get him back."
"Yeah...I'm thinking more Jerry or Abla Hazardous. They seem more likely, especially since I've actually rallied that hottie, Rasputin, to the cause of the Faceless."
He bit his lip and glowered. "You've lost your mind, Jinx."
She casually slapped him. He bit harder on his lip, not caring if he broke the skin. He glared at her until she shrugged and left.

-----

The skinny man with long, fair, matted hair was a scavenger. He had gotten the idea of faking his own death from his sister. His sister. Oh how he missed her. This scavenging was difficult. He was for the moment confined to this one building, for safety reasons. He had to be careful how much he took and when. He hadn't eaten for days. He had lost so much weight. He was starving...

Sighing, he ducked into a room, sticking to the shadows. The room was oddly familiar...oh hell. He was in Twist's vampire room. At least there was food in there. Popcorn, for some reason. The room was otherwise empty. He hurried out of hiding and went straight for the food, but froze when the door opened. Someone walked round to his front. "Faith and begorrah..." The man muttered, crouching down. "Little Esra...the little kid Mr Twist and I met on those streets those ninety odd years ago...I thought you were dead, I thought you had died!"
Esra gasped as he was drawn into a hug. "Erin..."
"I thought you were dead! So many of us were dead, it was just me and Mr Twist and everyone else was dead!"
The door opened again. "Erin. We're going on a rescue mission."
"We are?"
"Do you remember...wait, you weren't here when they were. Anyway, for a time we had these three men staying here. Garnet, Jayden and Mortis. Unfortunately, they remember us and remember we were allied against Mevolent, so they think we might help rescue their friend. They kind of know about Esra's secret tunnels."
Esra whipped round. "Nobody's supposed to know about those!"
Twist dropped his hammer, stunned. He was cleanly shaven, no stupid handlebar moustache. He was giving the excellent impression of a guppy at feeding time.
"Mr Sunshine..."
"Twist..."
"Oh my God..."
He stood, brushed himself off and sighed. "Enough exchanging pleasantries. Rescue mission? Is that what this group sells itself out to these days?"
"We're not much of a group anymore."
"I know. But we're still missionaries.
"That we are."

-----

Mortis sighed, swinging his legs back and forth childishly. A body wrapped in tissues or toilet paper or something lay before him. Jerry Vehemence, apparently. He was unnerved. If this was his end, it certainly wasn't the way he wanted to go. He had been waiting there for hours on end. So pissed of, he was. The amount of discomfort he had put up with was ridiculous. Being left to wet himself was probably the last straw. Never before had he felt so humiliated...apart from when he was friends with Regicide. He kept his cold gaze on the door, waiting for B-J to come back in. That was, until he heard someone kick open the air vent. His head jerked to the side. He couldn't see them. They were directly behind him.
"Are you sure this is the right room, Millie?"
"Anyone else smell pee?"
"Is that a dead body over there?"
"Is that Mortis in the chair?"
Mortis nodded. "Help me. They're going to kill me. They have my knife. I can't get out...we have to get Ricky out of here as well. He's dying in the cells, but we can save him."
A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Calm down." It was Jayden. "You're agitated. We'll help Ricky, of course we will. Twist, Sunshine, Motionless, search the cells."
A woman knelt down and picked the locks binding his wrist. Jay pulled him up, supporting him. Mort still couldn't walk. This hip Ricky had forced into place was still causing him a lot of pain. Twist walked back in, supporting Richard Sloth, who seemed only semi-conscious. Twist looked a bit panicked. Sunshine and Motionless were gone. "We've kind of alerted guards."
Millie pinched the bridge of her nose, but didn't speak. No, the voice that sounded, the man's voice, came from her necklace. Mort realised that instantly.
"Perfect. Get Ricky out of here. Mort, do you think you could crawl through the air vent?"
He shook his head, pulling a face. "No. God, no. I'm in agony, Garnet..." He scowled, wondering where he had gotten Garnet from. No, that was definitely the voice he could hear.
Millie frowned. She spoke. "Garnet, we can't get him out any other way."
"Twist will be pushing Ricky along ahead of him. We could try that with-"
"Have you seen his shoulders? Your friend's too bulky. We're trapped unless..."
"Unless?"
Millie glanced out the window. "Night's fallen...Erin might provide a distraction, providing he doesn't kill us."
They paused and turned towards the door...that was when the bang went off.
There stood B-J Maleficent.

She was holding an empty crossbow.

Mortis sounded like he was choking. Jayden looked, and he saw an arrow protruding from his boyfriend's throat.

"MORTIS!!!"

((...My name is Rhiannon, and it is my job to tear your hearts to pieces. Mortis is your favourite character, you say? Have B-J Maleficent and a cross bow...and look, I wuv Esra so much, and not just because his name is arse backwards (which is the only reason he's called Esra), that I brought him back to life...I can't even remember how he died.))