Haze & Chaos - Reunion B Part 2
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Will actually felt pretty good leading the group through the forest, despite the anxiety that was to be expected. While his other squad mates were more knowledgeable in tactics than he was, Will picked up some things over the course of his career regardless. The group walked casually past the ancient trees, bushes, roots, and stones–each of them taking in the splendor as the sun shone through the leaves and branches. Birds unique to Ertheval chirped away while scurrying rodents such as squirrels and chipmunks darted in front of or away from the group. Will slowed his pace as he saw a young toad hop on by, thankfully away from where they were heading. Yale chuckled, but had to remind Will they were on a mission when he pointed the amphibian out to the group. After some more trekking over some roots that nearly tripped him, Will stopped the group when he heard faint yelling in the distance.
“Shit, they must be close…” He quickly glanced around to see what their cover was like. It was not ideal because they either had to bushwack it or deal with a lower density of trees. “Dang it, and I don’t want to get any ticks…”
Haze slowly brought Will’s hand up. “Will, you’re wearing me, remember?” His mouth indicated that he would have had a mildly incredulous expression.
Will glanced down at the red and black bodysuit he wore and gave a light sigh. “Right, but what about Eka?”
She quietly chuckled as her ribbons began to wrap around and cover her exposed skin. “No problem, Will–I mean, Specialist.”
“Alright,” Will said as he breathed out. Thankfully the commotion was still happening, so he took a moment to consider how he wanted to approach the situation. “We… we don’t have perfect cover, so walk quietly and keep your voices down. Stick to behind the trees, don’t go out in the open, and only call out to each other if it’s an emergency. Sam–you’re with me and we’ll start out on the right side. Vlastimir, you take Eka on the left side. Yale… you fly on ahead and rendezvous with us… somewhere.”
“Somewhere?” He questioned with a laugh. “Like a tree or a bush?”
“Argh, I don’t know–just fly ahead and see if there’s somewhere to hide and let us know if we don’t find something ourselves.”
He shook his head. “Fair enough–I’ll return early if there’s a complication…” Yale then flew above the trees and zipped off.
“Ready to go, Haze?” Mira asked as she tapped Will’s arm.
“Wait–what are you… Oh right,” he said as he adjusted the suit, with Mira going into Will’s left arm. The left arm of the suit had altered in a way that gave the idea that the suit was built for cryomancy.
Will quickly made a small snowball, then reabsorbed the energy, turning it back into water. “Nice… Alright, let’s move.”
Morrigan patted his shoulder as the group split up. “Don’t worry, Boy… Ford, we’ve got this.”
Will shook his head with a smile as they walked. “You’ll get used to it, Devilfay.”
The group soon approached the clearing and could catch glimpses of the fight, but needed a place to hide that was not obvious. Thankfully there was some brush between a trio of trees with the two biggest being diagonal to each other in front of the brush. Once they were all secure and hidden, Will snapped his fingers, causing Mads’ hand to appear from a small portal and hand him his Liger Binoculars. After adjusting the zoom settings, Will could make out who was causing the most ruckus. The first person he saw with Ripsaw–a man with brown hair in a mohawk and buzzcut, gray eyes, and wearing leather pants and a jacket with chains and spikes all over. The next was a woman–Esteri, who had a right side shave, cuff earrings, and wore similar attire to Ripsaw–albeit with a pair of beat-up blue jeans and a leather vest jacket. The third was a manically handsome man with brown hair, red eyes, and wore what appeared to be a red bodysuit underneath a black tuxedo–this was Anker.
And then Will and the group finally got a beat on who the three were fighting–and it chilled them to the bone. It was a demon, but none like they had ever seen before. It had pale blue skin that was more like a membrane with a glowing orange center with large red veins all over. His extremities were dark, his tail was red, and he had scarlet horns coming from his forehead–and his face was not comforting either, having haunting blue eyes with a hollow nose. Despite these qualities, the antagonistic trio did not seem to be phased. Ripsaw charged at the demon with his arms transformed into sword-length chainsaws, but the demon blocked these with his arm turned into a hardened substance that resembled scabs. Esteri ran in to take advantage of the commotion with her fingers turned into shotgun barrels, but the demon barked at Ripsaw to knock him back and roundhouse kicked Esteri away from him. Anker then tried to sneak up on their opponent, but the demon melted into liquid and engulfed him, making Anker punch himself a couple times before retreating off of him in a way that sent the man flying into a tree.
“Damn…” Morrigan quietly commented towards that last maneuver.
“Yale–is that Liss-Zael?” Will asked.
“Yeah…” he answered.
“By the Emperors…” Mira remarked as she partially emerged from Will’s arm.
“So what do we got, Ford?” Morrigan inquired. “Who’s who?”
First Will pointed to Ripsaw. “That’s Malte “Ripsaw” Lejeune–He was me and Vlastimir’s bully back at the academy. And the chainsaws are from his saw devil–Allon Vroomen…”
“Wait, ‘saw devil?’ Like a chainsaw devil? Are ya’ saying he’s a chainsaw man, Boyo?” That made the group quietly laugh as Will bumped fists with Morrigan. Unbeknownst to them, someone had noticed that laughter…
“The girl is Esteri Lavinge–someone who wasn’t there back in the academy days…” Will continued.
“–No, she appears to be a Deth Knell member that Malte befriended,” Vlastimir put in. “I ran into her prior to Red River…”
Morrigan nodded as Esteri turned her whole arm into a gun and tried to shoot Liss-Zael, only to miss each time. “I take it she’s partnered up with some kind of firearm devil?”
“Mm-hmm,” Mira answered. “I’ve heard of him–Abelone Coste–a shotgun devil who’s an arms dealer and wanted in Inferno. Apparently the Death Knells got a hold of him in recent times.”
Will nodded to confirm that and noticed through his binoculars that Esteri was backing up into the woodline for some reason… presumably to get her bearings? “And the last one is Anker Fortuyn…”
Vlastimir cleared his throat. “Anker’s a hemomancer, and I encountered back in The Unlight–not too long before I tried to join Blood and the group. Something's wrong with him…” he said in a focused tone that was uncharacteristic of him, and this set everyone on edge. “He’s obsessed with void callers, wanting to establish communion with The Crimson God–but he’s been absent for some time.”
Yale was surprised by that level of knowledge. “Impressive, Vlastimir. Ahem–he claims he received his magic from The Blood God, but we're not sure who The Blood God is exactly. Vlad IV is working with him, but we’re having two other League agents look further into it at the moment–we potentially have a Bizarre God on our hands.”
Will turned to Vlastimir. “Are you okay, Vlastimir? I know Anker certainly gave us at Gemini trouble, but should we be that concerned?”
Vlastimir nodded and looked Will in the eye. “Will, he’s bound to double down on his efforts given that you're working with Mads now. Jeez, if only I could have been there back in 2023…”
“Right…” Will then refocused his attention on Liss-Zael, who had just coiled around Anker and unwound rapidly to send him reeling into Ripsaw. “How’s Liss doing all that?” Notably he heard some rustling, but assumed it was one of them or an animal…
“His medium is blood,” Yale answered. “And since Anker’s latex suit is infused with his blood, I imagine Liss can do more to him without having to use his anti-ice magic–Liss may be a bit of a jerk at times, but he’s no brute.”
Ekaterina nodded, then stopped–a little dumbfounded. “Wait, latex? Pardon?”
Will nodded his head back and forth. “Yeah, we’ve got similar interests… and we met back on the internet back in the early 2010s, so that may be my fault–although he’s always been a little eccentric.”
“Ah, I see now…” Ekaterina remarked quietly, giving her some context to Vlastimir’s attitude.
Morrigan was going to add onto that, except something she noticed had given her a slight chill. “Boy–Ford, where’s Esteri?”
Will also felt the tinge of adrenaline as he began scanning the battlefield with his binoculars, silently panicking as he could have sworn he saw Anker wave at them. “I don’t know…”
Haze was growing worried too as a pair of faint footsteps stopped. “Will, as Antares would say–THAT’S NEVER A GOOD SIGN,” he whisper-yelled.
“I think we’re going to have to move out…”
“Yeah–you guys lead while I take the rear…” a woman’s voice they did not recognize said…
“Sport–who said that?” Mira questioned with a lurking suspicion in her voice.
There was a moment of awkward silence… broken when that woman exclaimed “HOWDY, PARTNERS!”
There was quite the commotion as the group ran for it out of the brush, with Esteri right behind them, laughing all the way as she fired off air bursts from her gun fingers. As the group made their way to Liss-Zael, Anker rubbed his hands together with an evil laugh. “Ha, I knew there was someone familiar–someone delicious in the bushes just waiting for us…”
Ripsaw slowly turned to him with an annoyed look on his face. “Anker, could you stop being a creep for two seconds?” Anker promptly groaned at him.
Liss-Zael was not amused, and was certainly not thrilled over his reinforcements. “Oh jeez–is this who Milan sent to back me up? Sometimes I wish I was back in the circus…” that last part he muttered. “Welcome to the show, guys…”
“Specialist Ford, sir!” Will said as he saluted him. “Milan sent us to help you out…”
“I can see that,” he said with a chuckle. Surprisingly he had a relatively normal male voice. “And given that you guys are all friends, I’ll let you take over…” he said as he went over near the trees and bushes, with Yale joining him. “Don’t worry, they’re not scheming–just pestering me for information THAT I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE THEM.”
Will nodded as Esteri finally rejoined her allies. “Huh, well that’s interesting to say the least…” he remarked as Morrigan went to his side. “So Malte–it’s been a while!”
“Don’t call me that, Afroman!” he snapped back as he turned his arm into a chainsaw and revved it. “It’s ‘Ripsaw’ now!”
That caused Will’s face to snap into a scowl as he stomped up to Ripsaw and got in his face. “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE AN AFRO TO YOU?” he growled as he pointed at his short hair.
“Looks like the biggest damned afro I ever saw!” he jeered.
Cold air was beginning to swirl around Will’s fist when Allon partially emerged from Ripsaw’s arm and flicked him in the head. “Malte, knock it off–seriously, get some new material or I’m sending you out there by yourself.” Allon was an orange devil with what looked like saw blades emerging from his back. “But at the same time–jeez, Weatherman–still getting rustled over that?”
“OH WHATEVER!” Will said as he slapped his thighs in frustration, heading back to the group. This made Esteri laugh and Anker chuckle.
Ripsaw then squatted to rest his legs and groaned. “Everyone’s a critic…”
“Alright, Malte, what’s the big deal?” Will demanded to know. “I could easily call the whole squad in right now–”
“Ooh–Afroman’s packing heat this time? Got a shiny new badge and everything?”
“That’s Specialist Afroman to you, Malte,” Will said as he flashed his badge, his awkward smile trying to be stoic and intimidating. “I could easily put you away for your villainy…”
Ripsaw laughed. “I’m a villain now?! What is this–a comicbook?! You get rid of that double chin, Afroman?”
Will let out a quick and loud grunt over that one. “I WASN’T FAT–I WAS JUST OUT OF SHAPE–COME THE FUCK ON!”
Thankfully Vlastimir was about to swoop in for the rescue with a sly grin on his face. “Don’t worry, Will–he’s still poopsquatting at the end of the day…” This made the two laugh.
Ripsaw gave Vlastimir the most incredulous look imaginable. “EXCUSE ME? I am not pooping, damn it!”
“No, you just look like you're pooping–which probably means you’re going to poop your pants,” Vlastimir retorted, causing Esteri to laugh more and slap her leg.
“OH GROW UP–I’ve seen you squat like this too!” Ripsaw fired back.
“Yeah, but I’m not pooping my pants.”
Ripsaw got up and roared in frustration, with Esteri continuing to laugh. “Looks he got you good, Malte!” she chortled.
“You kids going to take care of the issue or are you going to keep making out with each other?” Liss-Zael cut in, growing a little impatient. Yale gave a displeased buzz at him, but he ignored it.
“An astute observation, Mr. Liss-Zael,” Anker replied with an uncomfortable formality in his voice. He then went over to Will and caressed his face. “So good to see you again, Will–I’m so happy that brutish Sebastian didn’t do you in…” Will felt his breath go unsteady, but thankfully Morrigan stepped up and got in the way of Anker’s Schmoozing. “And would this be–oh my goodness, Samantha Devilfay is actually Morrigan Devilfay herself–absolutely stunning!”
“Back off, Anker,” Vlastimir said as he pushed his shoulder quite roughly. He was being quite serious again.
Anker threw his hands up as he stepped away and began to pace. “Oh come now, Vlastimir–What’s the matter with a fellow void caller swapping stories?”
“I know what you want, and he doesn’t have it–back off.”
Anker gave him a skeptical look that said he was in charge for some reason… “I know he knows where The Crimson God is…”
“No, I don’t,” Will put in. “I have no idea who he is or where he is–I legitimately have no idea what you’re even on about…”
“That’s not what a little birdie told me–”
Morrigan had drawn one of her swords and pointed it at Anker, inches away from his nose. “I’ve read enough about Operation Blood Drive–you lay a single finger on him and I’ll make you regret it.”
Anker did his best not to show it, but in truth he was sweating bullets. “Ah, Daemonsong–the blade that clashed with Karnage Dethgrave himself during The Tyrant War–it’s quite the honor, Morrigan.” He then backed up certain she was going to attack him if he pushed it. “How about this, Will–tell me where The Crimson God is and I’ll release a whole batch of The Hollywood Files in one fell swoop! Sure, the LA riots were not ideal and the film industry is in shambles–the age of celebrity is well and truly dead–but I think we can both agree seeing those monsters squirm is OH SO DELICIOUS,” he snarled with manic glee. “And Kenneth Stainthorpe is in the round–I know how much you loathe him…”
“Still can’t help you, Anker,” Will lamented. “Kind of sad you’re doing the work that stupid VP couldn’t be bothered to do…”
“Good lord I wish General Lundberg had shot him right then and there–he was in with that crowd, you know…”
“And I thought Herbert and Horace were bad…” Ekaterina remarked, recalling the warring monopolies during her time in the early 1900s. “Could we convince you to release those files anyways, Anker?”
“Eka, please don’t negotiate with him…” Vlastimir quickly groaned.
“For a charming flower such as yourself–I’ll consider it,” Anker replied, making her shake her head with a smile.
“Alright, enough gab,” Morrigan interrupted. “Boyo, want me to teach mohawk over there a lesson?” This made Ripsaw groan again.
“No–I should take him on given that I’m more familiar with him. You and Ekaterina deal with Esteri–”
“Two on one?!” she cried. “NO FAIR.”
Will ignored that, having been humiliated enough so far. “Vlastimir, want to deal with Anker?”
A violent smile from his days of mad wanderings appeared on his face. “WITH PLEASURE,” Vlasitmir growled as he summoned two black blood swords and sharpened them on each other.
“Ooh–easy, Tiger,” Anker cooed with a bit of snark, daring Vlastimir to come after him as his hands became claws made of blood.
“Esteri, up and at ‘em!” Ripsaw ordered. “Looks like things just got interesting…”
“Don’t need to tell me twice!” she said as his arm took the shape of a shotgun barrel and made a clacking sound. “Let’s see what these dame’s got packing!”
Ripsaw held up his fist and clenched it, with it making the noises of a revving up chainsaw. “Show me what you’ve been up to, Specialist…” he sneered at Will.
Next:
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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Will actually felt pretty good leading the group through the forest, despite the anxiety that was to be expected. While his other squad mates were more knowledgeable in tactics than he was, Will picked up some things over the course of his career regardless. The group walked casually past the ancient trees, bushes, roots, and stones–each of them taking in the splendor as the sun shone through the leaves and branches. Birds unique to Ertheval chirped away while scurrying rodents such as squirrels and chipmunks darted in front of or away from the group. Will slowed his pace as he saw a young toad hop on by, thankfully away from where they were heading. Yale chuckled, but had to remind Will they were on a mission when he pointed the amphibian out to the group. After some more trekking over some roots that nearly tripped him, Will stopped the group when he heard faint yelling in the distance.
“Shit, they must be close…” He quickly glanced around to see what their cover was like. It was not ideal because they either had to bushwack it or deal with a lower density of trees. “Dang it, and I don’t want to get any ticks…”
Haze slowly brought Will’s hand up. “Will, you’re wearing me, remember?” His mouth indicated that he would have had a mildly incredulous expression.
Will glanced down at the red and black bodysuit he wore and gave a light sigh. “Right, but what about Eka?”
She quietly chuckled as her ribbons began to wrap around and cover her exposed skin. “No problem, Will–I mean, Specialist.”
“Alright,” Will said as he breathed out. Thankfully the commotion was still happening, so he took a moment to consider how he wanted to approach the situation. “We… we don’t have perfect cover, so walk quietly and keep your voices down. Stick to behind the trees, don’t go out in the open, and only call out to each other if it’s an emergency. Sam–you’re with me and we’ll start out on the right side. Vlastimir, you take Eka on the left side. Yale… you fly on ahead and rendezvous with us… somewhere.”
“Somewhere?” He questioned with a laugh. “Like a tree or a bush?”
“Argh, I don’t know–just fly ahead and see if there’s somewhere to hide and let us know if we don’t find something ourselves.”
He shook his head. “Fair enough–I’ll return early if there’s a complication…” Yale then flew above the trees and zipped off.
“Ready to go, Haze?” Mira asked as she tapped Will’s arm.
“Wait–what are you… Oh right,” he said as he adjusted the suit, with Mira going into Will’s left arm. The left arm of the suit had altered in a way that gave the idea that the suit was built for cryomancy.
Will quickly made a small snowball, then reabsorbed the energy, turning it back into water. “Nice… Alright, let’s move.”
Morrigan patted his shoulder as the group split up. “Don’t worry, Boy… Ford, we’ve got this.”
Will shook his head with a smile as they walked. “You’ll get used to it, Devilfay.”
The group soon approached the clearing and could catch glimpses of the fight, but needed a place to hide that was not obvious. Thankfully there was some brush between a trio of trees with the two biggest being diagonal to each other in front of the brush. Once they were all secure and hidden, Will snapped his fingers, causing Mads’ hand to appear from a small portal and hand him his Liger Binoculars. After adjusting the zoom settings, Will could make out who was causing the most ruckus. The first person he saw with Ripsaw–a man with brown hair in a mohawk and buzzcut, gray eyes, and wearing leather pants and a jacket with chains and spikes all over. The next was a woman–Esteri, who had a right side shave, cuff earrings, and wore similar attire to Ripsaw–albeit with a pair of beat-up blue jeans and a leather vest jacket. The third was a manically handsome man with brown hair, red eyes, and wore what appeared to be a red bodysuit underneath a black tuxedo–this was Anker.
And then Will and the group finally got a beat on who the three were fighting–and it chilled them to the bone. It was a demon, but none like they had ever seen before. It had pale blue skin that was more like a membrane with a glowing orange center with large red veins all over. His extremities were dark, his tail was red, and he had scarlet horns coming from his forehead–and his face was not comforting either, having haunting blue eyes with a hollow nose. Despite these qualities, the antagonistic trio did not seem to be phased. Ripsaw charged at the demon with his arms transformed into sword-length chainsaws, but the demon blocked these with his arm turned into a hardened substance that resembled scabs. Esteri ran in to take advantage of the commotion with her fingers turned into shotgun barrels, but the demon barked at Ripsaw to knock him back and roundhouse kicked Esteri away from him. Anker then tried to sneak up on their opponent, but the demon melted into liquid and engulfed him, making Anker punch himself a couple times before retreating off of him in a way that sent the man flying into a tree.
“Damn…” Morrigan quietly commented towards that last maneuver.
“Yale–is that Liss-Zael?” Will asked.
“Yeah…” he answered.
“By the Emperors…” Mira remarked as she partially emerged from Will’s arm.
“So what do we got, Ford?” Morrigan inquired. “Who’s who?”
First Will pointed to Ripsaw. “That’s Malte “Ripsaw” Lejeune–He was me and Vlastimir’s bully back at the academy. And the chainsaws are from his saw devil–Allon Vroomen…”
“Wait, ‘saw devil?’ Like a chainsaw devil? Are ya’ saying he’s a chainsaw man, Boyo?” That made the group quietly laugh as Will bumped fists with Morrigan. Unbeknownst to them, someone had noticed that laughter…
“The girl is Esteri Lavinge–someone who wasn’t there back in the academy days…” Will continued.
“–No, she appears to be a Deth Knell member that Malte befriended,” Vlastimir put in. “I ran into her prior to Red River…”
Morrigan nodded as Esteri turned her whole arm into a gun and tried to shoot Liss-Zael, only to miss each time. “I take it she’s partnered up with some kind of firearm devil?”
“Mm-hmm,” Mira answered. “I’ve heard of him–Abelone Coste–a shotgun devil who’s an arms dealer and wanted in Inferno. Apparently the Death Knells got a hold of him in recent times.”
Will nodded to confirm that and noticed through his binoculars that Esteri was backing up into the woodline for some reason… presumably to get her bearings? “And the last one is Anker Fortuyn…”
Vlastimir cleared his throat. “Anker’s a hemomancer, and I encountered back in The Unlight–not too long before I tried to join Blood and the group. Something's wrong with him…” he said in a focused tone that was uncharacteristic of him, and this set everyone on edge. “He’s obsessed with void callers, wanting to establish communion with The Crimson God–but he’s been absent for some time.”
Yale was surprised by that level of knowledge. “Impressive, Vlastimir. Ahem–he claims he received his magic from The Blood God, but we're not sure who The Blood God is exactly. Vlad IV is working with him, but we’re having two other League agents look further into it at the moment–we potentially have a Bizarre God on our hands.”
Will turned to Vlastimir. “Are you okay, Vlastimir? I know Anker certainly gave us at Gemini trouble, but should we be that concerned?”
Vlastimir nodded and looked Will in the eye. “Will, he’s bound to double down on his efforts given that you're working with Mads now. Jeez, if only I could have been there back in 2023…”
“Right…” Will then refocused his attention on Liss-Zael, who had just coiled around Anker and unwound rapidly to send him reeling into Ripsaw. “How’s Liss doing all that?” Notably he heard some rustling, but assumed it was one of them or an animal…
“His medium is blood,” Yale answered. “And since Anker’s latex suit is infused with his blood, I imagine Liss can do more to him without having to use his anti-ice magic–Liss may be a bit of a jerk at times, but he’s no brute.”
Ekaterina nodded, then stopped–a little dumbfounded. “Wait, latex? Pardon?”
Will nodded his head back and forth. “Yeah, we’ve got similar interests… and we met back on the internet back in the early 2010s, so that may be my fault–although he’s always been a little eccentric.”
“Ah, I see now…” Ekaterina remarked quietly, giving her some context to Vlastimir’s attitude.
Morrigan was going to add onto that, except something she noticed had given her a slight chill. “Boy–Ford, where’s Esteri?”
Will also felt the tinge of adrenaline as he began scanning the battlefield with his binoculars, silently panicking as he could have sworn he saw Anker wave at them. “I don’t know…”
Haze was growing worried too as a pair of faint footsteps stopped. “Will, as Antares would say–THAT’S NEVER A GOOD SIGN,” he whisper-yelled.
“I think we’re going to have to move out…”
“Yeah–you guys lead while I take the rear…” a woman’s voice they did not recognize said…
“Sport–who said that?” Mira questioned with a lurking suspicion in her voice.
There was a moment of awkward silence… broken when that woman exclaimed “HOWDY, PARTNERS!”
There was quite the commotion as the group ran for it out of the brush, with Esteri right behind them, laughing all the way as she fired off air bursts from her gun fingers. As the group made their way to Liss-Zael, Anker rubbed his hands together with an evil laugh. “Ha, I knew there was someone familiar–someone delicious in the bushes just waiting for us…”
Ripsaw slowly turned to him with an annoyed look on his face. “Anker, could you stop being a creep for two seconds?” Anker promptly groaned at him.
Liss-Zael was not amused, and was certainly not thrilled over his reinforcements. “Oh jeez–is this who Milan sent to back me up? Sometimes I wish I was back in the circus…” that last part he muttered. “Welcome to the show, guys…”
“Specialist Ford, sir!” Will said as he saluted him. “Milan sent us to help you out…”
“I can see that,” he said with a chuckle. Surprisingly he had a relatively normal male voice. “And given that you guys are all friends, I’ll let you take over…” he said as he went over near the trees and bushes, with Yale joining him. “Don’t worry, they’re not scheming–just pestering me for information THAT I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE THEM.”
Will nodded as Esteri finally rejoined her allies. “Huh, well that’s interesting to say the least…” he remarked as Morrigan went to his side. “So Malte–it’s been a while!”
“Don’t call me that, Afroman!” he snapped back as he turned his arm into a chainsaw and revved it. “It’s ‘Ripsaw’ now!”
That caused Will’s face to snap into a scowl as he stomped up to Ripsaw and got in his face. “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE AN AFRO TO YOU?” he growled as he pointed at his short hair.
“Looks like the biggest damned afro I ever saw!” he jeered.
Cold air was beginning to swirl around Will’s fist when Allon partially emerged from Ripsaw’s arm and flicked him in the head. “Malte, knock it off–seriously, get some new material or I’m sending you out there by yourself.” Allon was an orange devil with what looked like saw blades emerging from his back. “But at the same time–jeez, Weatherman–still getting rustled over that?”
“OH WHATEVER!” Will said as he slapped his thighs in frustration, heading back to the group. This made Esteri laugh and Anker chuckle.
Ripsaw then squatted to rest his legs and groaned. “Everyone’s a critic…”
“Alright, Malte, what’s the big deal?” Will demanded to know. “I could easily call the whole squad in right now–”
“Ooh–Afroman’s packing heat this time? Got a shiny new badge and everything?”
“That’s Specialist Afroman to you, Malte,” Will said as he flashed his badge, his awkward smile trying to be stoic and intimidating. “I could easily put you away for your villainy…”
Ripsaw laughed. “I’m a villain now?! What is this–a comicbook?! You get rid of that double chin, Afroman?”
Will let out a quick and loud grunt over that one. “I WASN’T FAT–I WAS JUST OUT OF SHAPE–COME THE FUCK ON!”
Thankfully Vlastimir was about to swoop in for the rescue with a sly grin on his face. “Don’t worry, Will–he’s still poopsquatting at the end of the day…” This made the two laugh.
Ripsaw gave Vlastimir the most incredulous look imaginable. “EXCUSE ME? I am not pooping, damn it!”
“No, you just look like you're pooping–which probably means you’re going to poop your pants,” Vlastimir retorted, causing Esteri to laugh more and slap her leg.
“OH GROW UP–I’ve seen you squat like this too!” Ripsaw fired back.
“Yeah, but I’m not pooping my pants.”
Ripsaw got up and roared in frustration, with Esteri continuing to laugh. “Looks he got you good, Malte!” she chortled.
“You kids going to take care of the issue or are you going to keep making out with each other?” Liss-Zael cut in, growing a little impatient. Yale gave a displeased buzz at him, but he ignored it.
“An astute observation, Mr. Liss-Zael,” Anker replied with an uncomfortable formality in his voice. He then went over to Will and caressed his face. “So good to see you again, Will–I’m so happy that brutish Sebastian didn’t do you in…” Will felt his breath go unsteady, but thankfully Morrigan stepped up and got in the way of Anker’s Schmoozing. “And would this be–oh my goodness, Samantha Devilfay is actually Morrigan Devilfay herself–absolutely stunning!”
“Back off, Anker,” Vlastimir said as he pushed his shoulder quite roughly. He was being quite serious again.
Anker threw his hands up as he stepped away and began to pace. “Oh come now, Vlastimir–What’s the matter with a fellow void caller swapping stories?”
“I know what you want, and he doesn’t have it–back off.”
Anker gave him a skeptical look that said he was in charge for some reason… “I know he knows where The Crimson God is…”
“No, I don’t,” Will put in. “I have no idea who he is or where he is–I legitimately have no idea what you’re even on about…”
“That’s not what a little birdie told me–”
Morrigan had drawn one of her swords and pointed it at Anker, inches away from his nose. “I’ve read enough about Operation Blood Drive–you lay a single finger on him and I’ll make you regret it.”
Anker did his best not to show it, but in truth he was sweating bullets. “Ah, Daemonsong–the blade that clashed with Karnage Dethgrave himself during The Tyrant War–it’s quite the honor, Morrigan.” He then backed up certain she was going to attack him if he pushed it. “How about this, Will–tell me where The Crimson God is and I’ll release a whole batch of The Hollywood Files in one fell swoop! Sure, the LA riots were not ideal and the film industry is in shambles–the age of celebrity is well and truly dead–but I think we can both agree seeing those monsters squirm is OH SO DELICIOUS,” he snarled with manic glee. “And Kenneth Stainthorpe is in the round–I know how much you loathe him…”
“Still can’t help you, Anker,” Will lamented. “Kind of sad you’re doing the work that stupid VP couldn’t be bothered to do…”
“Good lord I wish General Lundberg had shot him right then and there–he was in with that crowd, you know…”
“And I thought Herbert and Horace were bad…” Ekaterina remarked, recalling the warring monopolies during her time in the early 1900s. “Could we convince you to release those files anyways, Anker?”
“Eka, please don’t negotiate with him…” Vlastimir quickly groaned.
“For a charming flower such as yourself–I’ll consider it,” Anker replied, making her shake her head with a smile.
“Alright, enough gab,” Morrigan interrupted. “Boyo, want me to teach mohawk over there a lesson?” This made Ripsaw groan again.
“No–I should take him on given that I’m more familiar with him. You and Ekaterina deal with Esteri–”
“Two on one?!” she cried. “NO FAIR.”
Will ignored that, having been humiliated enough so far. “Vlastimir, want to deal with Anker?”
A violent smile from his days of mad wanderings appeared on his face. “WITH PLEASURE,” Vlasitmir growled as he summoned two black blood swords and sharpened them on each other.
“Ooh–easy, Tiger,” Anker cooed with a bit of snark, daring Vlastimir to come after him as his hands became claws made of blood.
“Esteri, up and at ‘em!” Ripsaw ordered. “Looks like things just got interesting…”
“Don’t need to tell me twice!” she said as his arm took the shape of a shotgun barrel and made a clacking sound. “Let’s see what these dame’s got packing!”
Ripsaw held up his fist and clenched it, with it making the noises of a revving up chainsaw. “Show me what you’ve been up to, Specialist…” he sneered at Will.
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ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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