The World Asunder

[Neosquid]

"That's fine." Citri said to Karigen.

Suddenly, Kingdom Guard troops stormed into the park from over the wall. They threatened to arrest everyone there and shoot anybody who moved.

Citri looked around. "Get on the ground, Kevin, I'll let them know you're with me. They won't shoot me, though." she said. "Hang on a mo."

She walked towards one of the troopers, and waved to draw his attention. "Heya, I'm Kingdom Guard too! What's going on here!?" she yelled to him

OOC: I suppose you can control that trooper, Lennox, as I'm slightly unsure about what he should say. Feel free to believe her or not.

 

[Lennox]

"Get on the ****ing ground right now!" yelled the Guardsman, rifle raised.

Kai stayed crouched beside the Masked Knight and Ansa. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Maybe this had all gone too far.

The girl he'd been dancing with earlier was on the ground near him. She seemed to be near tears.

"Kai," she said "Kai, do you have the mask?"

 

[Neosquid]

"B-but..." complained Citri. She decided not to disobey for the moment, and sat down on the ground. While nobody was looking, she slinked back to Karigen.

"People are going to think we're bad guys if they keep acting like this. Ugh, they could have at least brought cupcakes. Nobody would be upset then." she whispered to him

 

[GigaRidley]

Ansa kneeled with her hands behind her head and glanced to the left and the right. They had quickly been surrounded. Kingdom Guard officers were closing the gap in around them, their gun sights trained on the crowd. Ansa did notice, however, that the path that led down into Middle and Lower Avalon remained relatively free of guards. Up ahead, the throng of guards parted as a tall, heavily armored figure stepped forward, holding a long lance that crackled with a fiery-red energy. The figure removed its helmet to reveal a woman with high cheekbones, pale skin and long black hair tied up in a ponytail. Ansa did a sharp intake of breath.

It was Zayn Winmorr, head of the Avalon Branch of the Kingdom Guard and quite possibly the scummiest person Ansa had ever met. Zayn, also known as the "Maiden of Flame" in the sensationalist newspapers of Aravad, was something of a superstar in the Kingdom Guard, having risen to a position of high power due to her prodigious skill. Ansa wouldn't be surprised if bribery had a large part to do with it too, however-- Zayn came from a wealthy Vongolian mining family and many suspected that she used her family's considerable wealth to get what she wanted, whenever she wanted. Zayn relished her position of power, but unlike many of the other Kingdom Guard commanders, who had noble ideals and intentions to protect the people of Aravad, Zayn seemed to view it as a way to exert control over those in need. Ansa had first come into direct conflict with Zayn when she and her former APF partner investigated a string of Lower Avalonian merchants who claimed that a subset of the Kingdom Guard had been forcing them to pay protection fees for beefier defenses in case of Splinter attacks. Their trail lead back to Zayn, at the time a Sub-Officer in the Lower Avalon Division. Zayn feigned ignorance and offered the two of them a position under her in the Kingdom Guard in an attempt to shut them up, but Ansa and her partner had refused. Since then, Zayn had been intentionally making like difficult for the APF, which she constantly put down and backhandedly insulted in her many interviews for newspapers.

"Well, that certainly was easy." Zayn's falsley sweet voice rang in the park courtyard. A few Kingdom Guard members chuckled, but Ansa couldn't help but notice that several of them shifted uncomfortably. They don't want this conflict either.
"So I'm supposed to take in this..." Zayn unrolled a piece of parchment in her satchel and looked it over quickly, biting her lip in thought. "Kai Fishwash? And his mask. Big rebel hero, huh? I'm a little surprised at all of you, you know."
Zayn pointed at the rebels kneeling in front of her.
"The initiative you all had was... admirable," Zayn said, smiling thinly, "But did you really think it was going to get you any farther than this? We're going to be making an example of you. All of you. Round them up. And find me Fishwash. We're going to have to make some new holding cells for all these insurgents."
Ansa turned to Kai, who was right next to her. "What does that mask of yours do again?" she whispered, keeping her head low down.

 

[Lennox]

"Wanna find out?"

 

[GigaRidley]

Ansa glanced at Zayn, who had begun approaching their position. It didn't look like she had seen them yet.

"Let's do it."

 

[Pichu2k7]

Karigen lay down on the floor when he told when the guard's stormed the park and told everyone they were under arrest.

About time. He thought to himself, as his lucky law breaking streak seemingly had come to an end after a 5 years of constant thievery and robberies. After a little while Citri ended up next to him.

"This doesn't look good..." He muttered to himself. Gotta find a way out of this mess. Not that I haven't escaped custody before it's just...there's a lot more guards and I have...extra weight to consider.

He scanned the park looking for the closest exit, as a guard walked in the park with a large red lance that looked charged with Seithr. Karigen took notice of a clearing into the lower and middle Avalon areas were relatively clear. Finding cracks in patrols was sort of a sixth sense to Karigen at this point but his focus was on the large guard with the lance. They removed their helmet causing a black haired women to be revealed. His curiosity had been drawn in, just who was this person? He watched with keen eyes as she began speaking.

She talked to the rebels as if they were a laughing stock of a rebellion. The guard with a rifle pointed at Karigen wouldn't stop boasting about his "sweet catch of a Kapshen rebel" and how he would be promoted for it. After her little speech was finished Karigen let out a snarl.

Snobby *****, who does she think she is? Bah! If only I could get out of this predicament. There are two clear openings but I'm not going anywhere with a rifle pointed at my back when I'm on the ground.

He began contemplating options.

"Who is this boot Citri?" He asked Citri, which caused the guard over him to give a grunt.

"Show some respect you filthy lizard!" He commanded. Karigen simply growled as he wanted to rebel against the current situation but couldn't. He had no idea what to do but he was still trying to come up with an idea of how to escape, that included Citri.

 

[Lennox]

"Oh! Uh, okay, yeah... I mean we're probably gonna get shot at though." Kai had kind of expected her to say no. "That said... I mean I really don't wanna get hanged. Should I go for it?"

 

[Hoboturtle]

"Might not have a choice here" He didn't want to start pushing back. He didn't know how capable everyone else was. This was a perfect opportunity, he might convince Kai to surrender this mask of his right in front of both the guard and the people. That didn't sit right with him through, gave him a sick feeling in his stomach like he ate raw fish. Plus he wanted to wipe away the look on this woman's face, a prime example of noble arrogance, "Though if anything, leave this girl up to me and Ansa here."

He turned to the Fae kneeling, "Captain, think you keep some of the flames off me. Got the Seithr for that?"

 

[Lennox]

Kai had a pit in his stomach the size of a coconut. He felt like he could vomit.

"Alright," he said. "Fine."

The Guardsmen were moving around now, going toward the people who seemed like they might make trouble. The woman leading them saw Kai, Ansa, and Lambert talking and approached them. Kai swallowed, and seemed about to stand up, but then Winmorr spoke.

"I'll ask once more, Kai Fishwash please identify yourself."

"Hey Lambert, make sure you take care of these guys okay? They don't deserve to have to keep living like this. You gotta do better than you been doing. Oh and somebody try and give this back to my sister when we're done with it, I'm actually just supposed to be borrowing it."

Kai sprung to his feet, the Mask of the Unrisen stretched out in front of him. A narrow jet of white and blue flame erupted from about a foot in front of the mask, spouting directly at Zayn Winmorr. Kai held the jet there for a moment then spun on his heels, whirling around and scattering flame over the heads of the rebels, setting fire to the assembled Kingdom Guard.

"I'm the king of the sky motherfuсkers!"

Kai had moved quickly, and he made about three-quarters of a full spin before any of the Guards turned to him and opened fire. Only the quick ones got the chance to hit him. The first bullet ripped through his right shoulder, the second grazed his neck, the third pegged him in the gut, the fourth blew off a chunk of his jaw and the fifth hit him full in the center of his back, knocking him forward onto the ground.

 

[Neosquid]

Citri whispered to Karigen. "The woman in charge? Um, I dunno, some high ranked officer. Probs." said Citri, who was largely oblivious to Kingdom Guard leadership.

The guard near them yelled at Karigen, which agitated Citri a little. "GIVE COSPLAYERS SOME F-CKING RESPECT." she said to him loudly. To be honest she had already forgotten whether or not Karigen was a cosplayer or an actual Kapshen. Ah well, she'd ask him later.

"And who would you be, little girl?" snapped the guard

"I'm Citri Liquoric, also known as the "Nuclear Airhead" of the Kingdom Guard! Whatever that means." she stated proudly

Some of the guards near her let out a laugh. "Ah, right. You." said the guard, who was doing a bad job of concealing a laugh. "We don't need brainless firepower right now, we have enough idiots here as it is. So just lay back on the ground, um....Steve, what was her other name!?"

"The "Raging Axe Slut", I think!" said "Steve", causing the guards to laugh even louder. That wasn't an official nickname for her, he had just made it up, but it would be from now on.

Citri knew what that meant. Noticing herself starting to tear up, she buried her face in her arms.

 

[Pichu2k7]

"C'mon Citri, times are hard, you just gotta look up. Hell I won't lie, I get a lot of **** for being a Kapshen." Karigen said trying to comfort Citri, he knew what it was like to be hassled but he had grown accustomed to it.

All of a sudden fire was soaring through the air by the small group in the middle, burning guards all over the park. Fortunately the flames missed the small party of four, Karigen, Citri and the two guards.

Time for a little payback

"Eyes up Citri!" He said before quickly tripping the guard Steve up with his tail, he then quickly scrambled to his feet at an alarming speed and swiftly punched the other guard inbetween the legs causing to him to grasp his precious area and let out a loud sharp yelp. He then delivered a haymaker to him causing him to fall to the ground onto his back. Gunfire went off but Karigen kept his focus, the other guard was recovering and was now on his feet. He quickly grabbed the rifle he dropped and was about to fire on the Kapshen but Karigen was one step ahead as he threw his combat knife into the guards chest causing him to stagger. Karigen then removed the blade, took the rifle from the guard with ease as he didn't have a tight grip on it and smashed the side of the stock over his face causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

The other guard was on the floor still holding his jewels, squirming around on the floor. Karigen swiftly kicked him across the face, causing some nasty gashes across his victims face from the impact of his claws.

"Come on Citri." He said, his heart racing from the adrenaline rush he had experienced from the fight. He fought dirty but what else could he do? He helped her up onto her feet.

"Now isn't the time for this..." He said as he quickly scanned the area for any aware guards. Nobody had noticed the fighting as they were either flailing around on fire or focusing in the centre where the flames had come from.

What was that? Is there another creepy elemental power dude here? He thought as he started to become a little nervous. He turned to Citri again.
He quickly checked the rifle he had acquired to see if it was loaded and what firing mode it was on. Fully loaded and fully automatic. Don't think I can stand the thought of killing but I might have to.

"Look after yourself, I'm probably about to make another bad decision but the people in the middle where that fire came from need help! I'm gonna see what I can do to assist them. You can help if you want but there are clear pathways leading out to the park down there and there." He said as he pointed to the entrances to Lower and Middle Avalon which was now empty of guards as they had ran in to help with the new found commotion in the middle of Haven park. With that he ran off without another word, he was sweating like crazy and his heart was pounding not just from the adrenaline rush but with fear of being hurt any more then how badly he was hurt already. His leg was burning in pain from when he had cut it earlier on but he had to ignore it. He was going to shoot to kill, something he didn't want to do but it looked like he had to if the rebels were to get out alive.

He wasn't a hero but it felt like the right thing to do, they had to be taken out or people would get hurt. People like himself who had simply made bad choices.

 

[Neosquid]

Citri looked up to see Karigen running off. Considering how he had tried to comfort her, she doubted that he was really a bad person after all. Or bad lizard, whatever. Bad cosplayer?

She wasn't sure what else to do, so she decided to follow him. Surely whatever had caused the fire was going to be worth her attention.

 

[GigaRidley]

Ansa took advantage of the momentary distraction to slam the handle of her sword into the head of the Kingdom Guard soldier above her, knocking him out cold. She turned to Kai, who had fallen to the ground and was bleeding profusely. He wasn't moving.
****, ****, don't be dead...
Ansa made a move towards him, but the massive frame of Harkaras stepped in the way and picked up his still form with surprising gentleness for his massive bulk.
"I'll get him out of here! You focus on helping the others!"
Ansa nodded and the thryth took off, his feet pounding against the ground. Ansa turned back to the crowd to give assistance, but just ahead of her, the flames began to part as Zayn emerged. Though her hair looked singed and her left cheek seemed to have a nasty burn, she otherwise appeared relatively unharmed and seemed to have blocked the worst of the blast with her own, Familiar-conjured flames, which danced around her and licked at her feet. Her face contorted into a furious scowl as she stared down Ansa.
"Hifhildr! So the APF is working with the rebellion, eh? Glad I finally pegged your little group for something!"
"I came here of my own accord," Ansa retorted, "But you have a lot to answer for! Threatening the people of Lower Avalon with that announcement about their safety, just to get that mask? I thought you couldn't stoop any lower!"
"I didn't make that order! Someone hacked our systems! I've got officers trying to get to the bottom of it as we speak!"
So that message wasn't from the Kingdom Guard! Someone is trying to play us against each other! any doubt that Ansa had previously held was wiped from her mind. And I'll bet anything that boy with the giant Splinter has something to do with it! I need to find him and get some answers!
"Zayn, don't you see? Some third party must be playing us against each other! I don't like saying it, but we have to work together!"
"The only thing I see is a traitor to Avalon aiding an insurgent group! You're coming with me, dead or alive!"
The flames around Zayn's body increased in size dramatically as she swung her lance into a fighting position.

 

[Pichu2k7]

"Looks like troubles brewing..." Karigen mumbled as Zayn got into a fighting stance to fight what looked a...fae? He'd never seen one before so seeing one for the first time was interesting. He noticed Citri following close behind him. He eventually found himself positioned in front of a small squad of guards, size 4, heading to assist the lanced guard. Karigen proceeded to cut off the straggler, choking him out with his rifle. When he had blacked out, Karigen quietly dropped him to the floor. The group of 3 was in moving and fast. He aimed the rifle, and fired out a small flurry of five rounds. Four of them met their mark and all three guards fell. One wounded with a shot to the chest, another had an arm and a leg injured and the third was killed by having a round go through his forehead.

Two wounded and one casualty wasn't the best outcome, but he had never fired a rifle before. He had only fired sidearms before this moment. He scanned the park again, checking to see if anymore guards had decided to do heroics and try to help their higher ranking member. There was none so far but he'd keep his eyes open. More were sure to come. He noticed Citri still closely behind him.

"Citri, you probably don't want to fight against other guards so why don't you help out the others who are trying to escape? Comfort them or something and guide them out the park unharmed. I'm gonna see what I can do to assist against Miss Lancer over there, she looks like she'll be a problem..." He said as he entered a trail of thought.

"Your choice though, I'm heading to the middle. Whatever you decide to do, when you do it stay at that entrance over there but stay outside the park unless you plan on coming back in." He said as he pointed to the entrance from Lower Avalon. "It'll make it easier for us to meet up and since I don't know where anything is, it's one of the only places I know we can meet up, anyway take care of yourself." He said as parting words as he began to run towards the middle.

Why did she follow me? I pointed out the exits and she instead chooses to follow me? What the heck is going on, nothing seems here right. Rebellions, that splinter attack, this massacre by the guards and that girl Citri. Avalon is just...weird.

When he made it to the middle, he instantly felt intimidated. The lancer in heavy guard armour and the Fae in dwarven chainmail. He was so close though, he couldn't back down now.

"Hey!" He shouted at the two who looked ready for combat.

"What the hell is going on?! And you! What kind of scum are you? This is turning into a slaughter!" He yelled pointing towards Zayn her posture and that lance intimidating him even more than when he got there. Whoever this was, he wouldn't back down now. He took a deep gulp and the fact he was nervous was beginning to show, both of these individuals scared him but his mind was made up. He had a rifle, his familiar and his wits. He hoped it would be enough for what he'd just thrown himself into.