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!!!))