Thread #313748

Thomas flexes his science muscles

Leaning on the doors, I push them open and walk into the room.

There are many senators on the floor, seemingly unconscious.
In the middle of the room stands the familiar face of Curtis. He looks like he's been expecting you.
"We meet again, white devils!"

"Hasn't been long enough, Curtis."

Thomas waves and smiles at Curtis.
It's a smile laced with malice.

"Why are you waving? Just shoot him."

"You wouldn't dare shoot me!" Curtis laughs. "Aren't you all excited for the dawn of a new age?"

#d6 (4)
VV shoots at Curtis.

Thomas was going to continue the conversation but he just shrugs.

#3d6 (1, 1, 1 = 3)
curtis gets fucking shot
He looks down at the new hole in his stomach in surprise.
"You don't like to wait around, do you?" He coughs.

"This feels anticlimactic-jiminy christmas"

#d6 (5)
VV shoots Curtis again.

"We aren't old friends seeing each other for the first time in years or anything!"

#3d6 (6, 1, 1 = 8)
The bullet slams into Curtis' arm. He continues to bleed.
"Damn, you're a good shot!"
He dives behind a wooden bench.

Thomas just sort of looks at his pouch full of bombs.

"Oh I guess I can have a go"
Thomas grabs a large bomb and lobs it over the bench.
#d6+3 (3 + 3 = 6)

(athletics points
)

#3d6 (6, 3, 2 = 11)
The large bomb stops in midair and flies back towards Thomas.

Thomas sweats profusely.
"Uhhhhh"

Seeing the bomb making its way towards Thomas, I take a hasty shot at it.
(Firearms #d6 (6))

felicity shoots the fucking bomb and it explodes before it reaches the team. Several senators on the floor can no longer be found after the explosion.

"Oh right there were people in here."

#d6 (3)
Felicity's seed hand throbs a little bit.

I flinch, and spare a moment to look down at it.

Curtis can be heard chanting in another language fairly loudly. As he does, the hand throbs a little more.

#d6 (6)
VV fires the remainder of her magazine into the wooden bench that Curtis is behind.

The thick wood of the benches protects Curtis.

One of the benches close to the team rises into the air.
#d3 (3)
It flies towards Thomas very quickly.

"Oh no oh crap oh boy aw jeez"
Duck
#d6 (1)

Thomas gets slammed by the bench, which deals 3 damage and knocks him to the floor. The bench sits atop him and seems too heavy to move by himself.

Thomas attempts to futilely move the bench.
"This is embarassing but could I get a hand here?"

VV runs over to help him out.

Thomas is surprised to see VV be proactive in terms of his well being.
"Dont get hit by the other one please"
Thomas is going to push proper to begin his roll for bench removal
#d6 (5)
Oh ok

Another bench rises into the air.
Curtis continues chanting loudly.

VV pushes on the bench #d6 (5)

The bench on Thomas is moved, freeing him.
#d3 (3)
The hovering bench flies towards Thomas.

"NO STOP"
dodge roll
#d6 (4)

Thomas successfully evades the benhc.

I spread away from the other two, trying to circle around Curtis' hiding spot.

Felicity's hand feels warm.

I look down at it again.

It doesn't look any different. But Felicity gets the impression that the strange sensations are related to Curtis' chanting.

Thomas decides to kove the opposite way of Felicity in order to flank the benchspot

A bench rises.
#d3 (3)
And flies towards Thomas.

move
"PLEASE NO"
#d6 (2)

Again, it slams into Thomas, dealing 3 damage and knocking him down.
This time, however, it does not stay on top of him.

VV tries to sneak around to the bench Curtis is behind.
#d6+1 (6 + 1 = 7) stealth

Thomas wobbles to his feet

VV successfully sneaks behind Curtis.

#d3 (2)
A bench flies towards Felicity.

From her hidden position, VV bolts to the other side of the bench and attempts to stab Curtis with her sword.
#d6+2 (6 + 2 = 8) athletics

#3d6 (3, 3, 2 = 8)
Curtis manages to knock the sword out of the way, sustaining a large gash to his arm but surviving. VV notices that his arm and stomach no longer seem to be bleeding.
However, her attack stopped Curtis' chanting, and the throbbing in Felicity's hand stopped.

#2d6 (2, 6 = 8)
Curtis leaps forward onto VV, attempting to knock her down. His eyes are glowing yellow.

I take the opportunity with Curtis out in the open to take a shot at him//
(Scratch that.)
#d6 (3)

Thomas opts to take a scientific approach and goes for a full body tackle to Curtis
#d6 (4)

Felicity is knocked down by the bench and takes 3 damage, though she manages to avoid being pinned by it.

>>313876
#3d6 (3, 6, 4 = 13)
Thomas slams into what seems to be an invisible wall and is hurled into a nearby bench, taking 1 damage.

Instead of dodging, VV puts everything into a punch directed at Curtis's face.
#d6+4 (1 + 4 = 5) athletics

#3d6 (1, 6, 1 = 8)
Curtis manages to avoid the full brunt of the bunch, /// punch, but it still hits him in the side of the face. He, however, does not seem to be dissuaded from his attack by the punch. He wraps his hands around VV's throat. "Die, white harlot!"

"Beans"

"Wow you dont know VV she's a PURE MAIDEN"
Thomas lifts himself from his comfy bench and will probably do something once I think of it

VV, outs of everything but medical supplies, stabs at Curtis's neck with a pair of medical scissors.
#d6 (3)

No longer dodging a bench, I take a level shot at Curtis.
(Firearms #d6+2 (4 + 2 = 6))

VV fails to stab Curtis.

Felicity successfully shoots Curtis, who takes the bullet in the side and falls over, off of VV. He slams his fist onto the ground and disappears into a bright, white light.
When the light fades and everyone can see again, the door to the senate chamber that the team came through has been closed behind them.

(implying that he left through that door)

Thomas hustles over and checks the door-ohhhhh
thomas tries to open the door

The door appears to be barred shut somehow.

Thomas looks for other exits first, being a rational scientist and definitely not an arsonist

He finds no other exits.

"Boss you want I to explode door?"

You hear Sicily shout from the other side of the door.

"Not...really."

What kind of shout

like a holy shit shout

"You sure boss? It seems barred shut."

Felicity can tell that using more explosives will probably kill a lot of senators.

"Let's try and avoid getting any -more- people in this room killed, right?"

I try and give the door a firm shove.

VV dusts herself off and picks her sword back up.

"Oh right."
Thomas has noticed that he is standing on a senator and steps off.

The door doesn't give in to Felicity's shove.

I try the doorknob, pulling it towards me.

No good.

Thomas drains his own mental health by 1
"How can we get out of here without exploding people, Pete?"

VV looks around for anything they can use. Like a fire axe or something like that.

"The door is wooden. You may want to break it down." the wolf replies in Thomas' voice.

VV does indeed find a fireaxe.

VV grabs the fire axe and starts bashing on the foor with it.

Thomas hears Peter's words and watches VV realizing that some people are just quicker on the uptake and you have to accept that in lite.
life

The door gives way to VV's assault.
It seems the door can be pushed open now.

I lean on the door again and push it open.

It opens up.

In the lobby, stands Hoover, holding a wounded Curtis up by the face. Curtis doesn't seem to be moving. "You did fine work, everyone." Hoover says to the group.

Thomas mentally acknowledges the situation seeming to be in a good place and looks around for Sicily

Sicily is nowhere to be found.

"Uh, mr Hoover? Did you see our friend recently? The shotgun gal? I know youre busy but still, I feel the need to ask."

"I wouldn't worry about her. I sent her to get a doctor." Hoover suddenly squeezes Curtis' face so hard that Curtis' skull is crushed. He tosses the body /// the headless corpse to the side like a ragdoll. He looks happy.

"What now?"

Thomas can see a colorful energy getting absorbed into Hoover when Curtis' body gets thrown.

VV casually glances out of the nearest window to see if the sandstorms have stopped.

The sandstorms have only gotten worse.

>>313947
"Uh... huh. Hmm. I see. You are growing stronger. Uh... hmmmmmm."
Thomas is a mix between confused curious and worried.

"Thanks to you, I have everything I need now. Truly, I'm thankful." He laughs maniacally.
"But I'm going to have to kill you."

Thomas nods acknowledgingly.
"Did uh Archie know about this, um, outcome?"

"Archie was just as ignorant as you. Curtis had no idea either!" He laughs again. "Archie and Curtis both thought I was on their side until the very end. I was the one that killed Archie so that Curtis could have the tomes you recovered. And I was the one that started Archie on his quest to recover those tomes. All so that I could have power. You see," it seems Hoover plans to talk for a while. "Curtis was an Indian. He was born with it. I could never learn from the tomes like he could. But I uncovered a way! I could extract the knowledge directly from his tiny, Indian brain. But I needed him to have that information, first. That's where you fools and Archie came in. You did all the work for me so that Curtis could become powerful, blinded by his stupid wish to expell the whites from America. Now I have everything I needed from him. But there's one more thing I need." He points at Felicity. "Your hand."

"I guess this means you were never going to pay us, then."

Thomas just heard some magic words.
Thomas has entered into a sort of trance and might not even hear the rest of his monologue.

"Oh, are we to witness a marriage?"

"My hand? Fuck, man, I'm not into older guys."

"That hand is a seed. It is the seed that will grow into the child. Give it to me."

"What happens if the hand is destroyed?"
Thomas has returned momentarily

Hoover pulls a small ball of meat out of his pocket. Thomas recognizes it as the Archiesamuel meatthing. "That's not going to happen."

"Why not?"

The meat thing starts to enlarge back to its former size.
"If it's destroyed, your friend will die. You don't want her to die, do you?"

"More importantly, I don't want to die!"

"Honestly I'm surprised she hasnt punched me yet" Thomas shrugs.
"It's a thought. But destroying her (hand) wooooould ruin your plan right?"

Hoover shakes his head. "So long as she remains, my plan will be fine. After all, her baby is a hard one to kill."

"I don't even have a kid, asshole."

"I think its in your hand"

"That hand is a child. It's already inside you, woman."

The meat thing begins to crawl up the wall towards the ceiling. It watches the team carefully.

Thomas thinks about what level of destruction a mining explosive would bring to this, uh, hallway

you're /// hoover is in the lobby right now
but it would damage the HELL out of it
might even bring the building down if placed right

VV looks confused.
"Why are you planning to kill us, specifically her, if you need the baby to live?"

Thomas whispers to Felicity "so what if I destroyed the whole building"

"I will extract the child and kill her. The child is ready to be free from that wretched wombwoman."

Meanwhile, Thomas tries to think about the tomes he read a while back. It's good to keep your options open.
(ie, he wants to see what will happen if he tries to recall their contents)

he'll remember feeling like there was something there but being unable to read the actual contents

Thomas kicks a nonexistant pebble so probably just a piece of wood in dejection

"I guess that makes some sense. I'm not sure why killing everyone is necessary, however."

He slams his foot on the ground. "This nation is rotten! The people have lost their faith! They want government handouts! They want everything to be free! I will rid the nation of these parasites! We will start again!"

VV looks puzzled.
"What does that have to do with us, though? Specifically me, as I am British."

Looking at the fleshmonster, I try to remember what the markings on the paper Hoover gave me the last time looked like.

"You know too much. The Eldritch truth belongs to the chosen few, and you have not been chosen!"

>>313991
"Keep it as an open option," I whisper back. "It might be necessary in the end."

With a flash of memory, I recall the writings on the page that incinerated the monster the last time.
I pull a sheet of paper out of my notebook, and bite into my thumb, puncturing the flesh so a little bit of blood starts running.
I then use the blood to recreate the designs of the page.

"I think you'll find that I don't know very much at all. Except that I am very tired of all this and wish to go home."

>>314012thomas gives a thumbsup
oh mo my post

>>314013
The design glows lightly.

>>314014
"Hand Felicity over to me, Victoria, and I'll let you live."

"Don't do that don't do that don't do that."

"You can't trust a gentleman who betrayed his best friend and turned him into a flesh monster thing..."

"I'll turn him back into a person once this is all over with. You can trust me, Victoria. It's your only chance at survival, you know."

"How about you, then, Thomas?" He points to Thomas. "Hand over Felicity, and live to see Archibald another day."

Thomas puts his hand to his chin.

"BEEEEEAAAAAANS" the beast screeches in Archie's voice.

Thomas is deep in thought.

"Hey, boss."

"Yeah?

"Can we get dinner after this?"

"Uh, like "get to know you better dinner" dinner, or just "let's go eat some time" dinner?"

"Ehhh, maybe a bit of both?"

"Final option," Hoover shouts impatiently. "Felicity, turn yourself over to me, and your two friends get to live."

Not turning from facing Thomas, I shout. "Or maybe you find some better way to effect the change you want on the country that doesn't involve turning to fucking crazy magic books!"
In a calmer voice, I say, "I'll, erm, consider it. I don't have a lot of free time at work, and if you haven't noticed, now is NOT a good time to go out to dinner." I wave frantically towards a window. "It's a sandstorm out there!"

"Well, sounds like we should clean up in here then, huh?"

"Sounds good. Give me something distracting, but not too big."

The ground begins to crack and tiny tendrils start to pop out, around Hoover's feet. Hoover looks really mad.

Thomas winks at Felicity. "You got it boss". After some finger guns, Thomas swiftly reaches into his bag and tosses a small explosive (lets say smoke)
#d6+1 (5 + 1 = 6)

The smoke fills the room. Hoover says nothing, but the fleshbeast screeches, "BEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAANS".
The sound of the beast moving is heard. It lands on the ground and starts moving around.
#d3 (2)
Felicity hears it near her quickly as it goes to strike, but a loud gunshot rings out and it falls over.

"What the actual fuck." Sicily shouts. She's got a bag of guns.

Thomas is a little giddy.

"Oh you're still alive. Was worried a bit about you."
A little disheartened, I move over to the fleshbeast and tap the piece of paper on it.

VV goes to the bag of guns and starts digging around.
"I quite wanted to shoot that man while he was talking, but had already expended all of my ammunition."

The fleshbeast bursts into flames, screaming in anguish.

"You're alright for some weird rich lady," Sicily says to VV.
There are three rifles, a shotgun, and two handguns in the bag.

"Wasn't entirely sure that would work."

Thomas skips on over to the. bag of guns and nabs -fuck it, both handguns if no one else wants it

I pick one of the rifles, testing its weight in my hand.
"Good enough."

The rifles are all M1903 Springfields. That have 5-round clips and there does not appear to be additional ammo.

VV takes a shotgun from the bag.

The shotguns are Remington model 11s with 2 rounds each.
The handguns are M1911s with 7 rounds each.

The smoke begins to clear reveling a Hooverless room.

"Oh dear"

(or is it?)

Thomas senses danger??
#d6 (6)

"Can't people stay in one place."

thomas senses that hoover is RIGHT BEHIND HIM

"Nani?!"
dodge roll away #d6 (6)

Thomas rolls away as Hoover appears holding a sword and swings it at where Thomas was.

Thomas takes aim and fires at Hoover
#d6 (6)

"I //
I swing to face Hoover and take a shot with the rifle.
(Firearms #d6 (4))

#6d6 (5, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1 = 15)
Hoover gets shot once. He doesn't even flinch. He charges towards Felicity.
#2d6 (5, 3 = 8)
And attempts to slice at her hand.

meanwhile the tendrils continue to come out of the floor where hoover was standing previously

Thomas, acknowledging that he must act quickly, takes a quick glance at the tendril spot.

I try to dodge out of the way of the sword swing.
(Athletics #d6+2 (1 + 2 = 3))

Though Felicity's hand doesn't come off, a gaping wound appears on her wrist. It doesn't bleed, however. Instead, tiny tendrils, the size of earthworms start to wriggle out of the cut.
felicity should roll stability

#d6 (1)

felicity loses two (2) stability
those tendrils are worming around like disgusting maggots
She can feel them moving inside her hand
Maybe they'll infest the rest of her body? She doesn't know.

Gasping aggressively, I yank my hand back, dropping the rifle to clutch at the wound as I scramble back.

"Stiff upper lip!"
VV shoots at Hoover.
#d6 (1)

VV misses completely. Hoover sneers at her. He throws his sword directly at her.
#2d6 (3, 3 = 6)

Thomas returns his gaze to situation and glares at Hoover.
And takes another shot
#d6 (3)

Thomas misses his shot.
#d6 (5)
The bullet glows greenish as it ricochets off the ground and back towards Thomas.

Thomas inhales sharply and tries to
move out of the way
#d6 (2)

Thomas takes the bullet to the leg, dealing 3 damage and taking -1 to future athletics rolls

Slightly more composed, I crawl forward on the ground and pick the rifle back up again, taking aim at the hand Hoover had been holding the sword in moments before.
(Firearms #d6 (5))

Thomas is slightly unnerved in the face of his own mortality.

#3d6 (1, 2, 5 = 8)
Hoover attempts to catch the bullet. He doesn't flinch when he grabs it, but it injures his hand a bit.

The tendrils from the ground have grown quite big. They are almost large enough to reach across the room.

Thomas tries to ignore the pain in his leg and attempts another shot at Hoover
#d6 (3)

Thomas misses.

#d3 (1)
One of the tendrils attempts to grab VV.

#d6 (1)
VV tries to avoid.

The tendril grabs VV and lifts her high up into the air.
It looks like it might try to slam her into the ground. Luckily, VV's arms are free.

#d2 (1)
Another tendril attempts to grab Felicity.

#d6 (3)
VV attempts to cut the tendril with her sword.

(#d6 (2))
I make an attempt to get away.

VV fails to cut the tendril.

Felicity fails to get away and is pinned to the ground by the tendril.

VV sighs, and presses her shotgun up against the tendril and shoots it.
#d6 (3)

The shotgun fails to damage the tendril.

Thomas takes a quick look to surmise if a medium kaboom at the center if the tendrils wouldnt hurt his friends

it would be fine

Thomas reaches into his bag and tosses a medium exosive with all his might towards the center of the tendrils
#d6+1 (6 + 1 = 7)

The explosion damages the tendrils which drop VV and Felicity.
VV takes 1 damage when she falls to the ground.

Hoover starts chanting.
#d6 (3)

"Oh will you give it a rest already."
Thomas fires his fourth shot, and hopes no one hears his fearful whispering
#d6 (4)

#3d6 (3, 5, 6 = 14)
Hoover knocks the bullet out of the air with a slap.

>>314177
VV is sneaky enough to avoid detection.

VV tries to sneak up behind Hoover.
#d6+1 (4 + 1 = 5) stealth

I take aim with the rifle and shoot at Hoover's throat.
(Firearms #d6 (2))

Felicity misses.
Small worm-like tendrils emerge from under her skin on her arm and writhe disgustingly.
Felicity should roll stability again.

(#d6 (4))

Felicity is surprisingly cool with this.

I swallow back down a bit of bile and stay focused on the matters at hand.

Thomas looks to Felicity with a look that says "plan b?"

I return the look, mimicking a detonation button press with one hand.

Hoover disengages and jumps back into the center of the damaged tendrils.

Thomas turns and starts limping away, looking for the most ideal spot to explode a large explosive

I keep Hoover's attention by firing off another rifle shot at his chest.
(Firearms #d6 (5))

#2d6 (3, 1 = 4)
The bullet hits Hoover square in the chest. He doesn't flinch though he begins to bleed.
The tendrils start wrapping around him, covering him in tendrils.

While Hoover is distracted? being shot, VV jumps out of hiding and brings the axe down on him.
#d6 (4)

VV's axe is stopped by the tendrils.
The mass of tendrils surrounding Hoover begins to writhe violently until it begins to take the shape of a giant man, made of tendrils.

VV retreats to a (very) safe distance and starts looking around for something to make a fire with.

Thomas has presumably moved a bit with his limp. Where is a spot, if any, that might work best.
Thomas may or may not have noticed the giant

I also retreat away from the green giant, staying near the walls of the room.

"You insects have lived long enough!" he hollers. The giant picks up a large piece of stone debris and hurls it at #d2 (2)
Felicity

Grimacing, I try to dodge the rock .
(Athletics #d6+1 (5 + 1 = 6))

Felicity, tired as she is, manages to dodge the debris.

It is then, that Hoover notices Thomas.

Thomas is also at a wall,
albeit a different wall
Thomas is going to place a large mine-tier explosive here, and has let it dribble ever so slightly out of the beaker.
Fortunately, thomas #d6+3 (3 + 3 = 6)
has a lighter to ignite the trail of dribble.

Thomas is now trying to light the trail and get out of dodge presumably when he is noticed by Hoover

Thomas spends 3 points of explosives to light the trail expertly (0 remaining)
and is going to fucking BOOK IT if he can
fleeing #d6+4 (6 + 4 = 10)
thats a 9

#d6+4 (4 + 4 = 8)
VV runs for a window to try to escape.

VV successfully escapes out the window into the duststorm.
Thomas also does.

Hoover notices the escape and attempts to halt Felicity.
#d6 (5)
he attempts to grab her hand with his giant tendril arm

Thomas prays for Felicity's safety.

Seeing the tendril come at me, I desperately try to make it to the window.
Fleeing (#d6+4 (4 + 4 = 8))

Felicity too escapes.
As she jumps out the window, flames fly out behind her in slow motion as the capitol building begins to collapse. Hoover screams in pain as the building falls on him. One of the senators that was in the senate chamber must have woken up because he's also screaming as the building collapses on him.
After a few minutes of collapsing, the dust storm dies down.

Thomas takes deep breaths
and senses for danger
#d6 (5)

there seems to be a heavy police presence outside the capitol building and they seem very dangerous

"Oh..."

I bite my lip and look anxiously towards the police force.

The police have yet to see the team. They still have a chance.
"We should get the fuck outta Dodge," Sicily says, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere.

Thomas looks over himself and ponders if he can sneak in this condition.
"I have another smoke bomb but we should probably wait until we get spotted for that. "

you guys can escape or turn yourself in
ERABE

VV looks at Sicily and nods. "Yes, I do believe it's a nice time to be leaving."

"I agree. Let's get out of here."

Thomas is going to go with his gal pals

And thus the team made their way out of Dodge. Luckily, they found Battler, who was very much alive, incredibly drunk, and sobbing about Kinzo's death.
In his possession was the keys to a nearby car. A good getaway vehicle!

Thomas wearily gives Battler a thumbs up.

In the aftermath of the explosion, the truth was never revealed to the public. A strange group in the government hid the truth very well and the public was led to believe the explosion was the result of terrorists. Nazi terrorists. Hoover's death was mourned a little bit but most people hated him and blamed the Great Depression on him. But Hoover Dam was named for him in honor of his (few) accomplishments.

but what happened to the team in the aftermath???

also felicity's hand returned to normal after a few weeks

I return to Chicago, and despite my best excuses, can't come up with a good case for why I disappeared for months without anything to publish in the paper.
I get thrown out of my job, and turn to writing penny dreadfuls to keep the money flowing until something better comes along.
I've got plenty of material to work with, after all.

Thomas realized his explosive fetish would probably be useful to the military and attempted a lucrative business deal for his explosives that require surprisingly simple components for what havoc they wreak.
He used this money to become a comfy university drop out.
He writes Felicity frequently, still waiting for that dinner date.

VV returned to England, and never came back to the states. Her first trip there was dreadful.

>>314330
haha