Chase's response left Jame with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Despite his warnings, the boy clearly seemed far too confident that they would succeed. Ceci was probably dead by now, assuming nothing even worse had happened. He couldn't bring himself to say much now, but he wasn't looking forward to delivering the bad news when they returned. James turned to Pablo. "Looks like it, yeah.". A note of concern entered his voice "Are you sure you feel up to get going again? Going blow for blow with the eye must have been taxing. I don't think anyone could blame you for taking a breather.".

Pablo crossed his arms for a second, pondering what he should do, even now, he just felt like he needed to do what he could. Even if he will probably need to sleep the day after he finishes.

Given everything, I might blame myself

"It should be fine as long as I know how to pace myself," He said "Might need my help to get the hell out of dodge" He then lowered his voice so that only James hears "However this thing ends"

Another Crumpled Ball Of Almost-Maybe On The Floor

"Well well well, looks like we've got some divine cybermancy on our hands over here."

Heather approached her familiar group as the last of the sympathetic phone-locating spell resolved. She had the old white hat on her back and looked... Honestly, a little ragged. Worn out. Not worn out enough to avoid quipping.

"Soooo, how'd everyone's meetings go? My mom's doing okay, she says hi..."

Seraphina Twilight - Yes, I'm old

"Yeah, I'm from around that era. It was a damn good time I would say. I swung, partied, and drank at speakeasies. Met some pretty famous people who were that decade's icons and such." Sera was interested in Becca's magic. No wonder she needed to bundle up to use it; it must be so cold that it'll give her body hypothermia if she didn't take any precautions. She can admire such magic with caution.

"Anti-aging magic? Huh, I just age extremely slowly without putting much, or if any thought to it. Maybe it's just a side bonus from my magic, although I don't see how specializing in a specific kind of gun magic would contribute to you staying youthful for over a century now. Maybe it truly is genetic, since I can see my parents using some anti-aging magic before they had me and I would imagine that would effect their DNA or whatever, so of course the children of mages that used youth spells might stay youthful much longer without little effort."

Chase watched, eyes wide and a sense of fresh, almost jittery optimism coming over him - all the while his mother just watched with a sense of visible pity. As if she and or figured that whatever might be happening with that girl, it was probably nothing that would help Chase's mental state. Yet she said nothing.

The device whirred and spun and crackled with the interaction of mana and technology - the last known location of Cici slowly but surely materializing through the use of the spell. And the location was certainly not where one might have expected if she had simply been slain there in that building.

Instead, it seemed she had either traveled or been taken some small distance north, to an area known for a bunch of warehouses and not much else. When Chase saw the location he gulped, "The warehouse area...? How'd her phone end up there? We—-we were in a building due south—-?"

What was more, it looked like there was a specific registered warehouse that the phone was located in.

The diary looked...old. Quite old, in fact. Years, if anything.

Dear Diary,

I can't believe I'm back at this for the first time since high school. Just as well can't believe that something like that would happen to the Streisses. I literally just saw Kyrio and Victoria three days before it happened. Yet nobody's talking about it. Nobody seems to WANT to talk about it. Our fellow Sandfielders are dead, and yet the message seems to be "just go on with your life, smile, and carry on".

It's been bothering me all day. Can't wait to unload with Kesper this evening.

That name would stand out to Jayden. It seemed his dad had known Carl Kesper - aka, "Drunk Carl", "Carl the Bastard", "Carl the Driver". His dad had known Carl Kesper what seemed like years before the fatal accident that had claimed his life.

It would not take long for the survivors going along in Katie to be allowed to park and then ushered inside. It paid, after all, to be a supply man the way Russ was. The interior area of the school had undergone a rather substantial - and shocking to anyone familiar with it - metamorphosis. The walls had been reinforced with odd, thrumming steel that seemed to be a sort of cobbled together magitek - slabs of steel welded to old school walls, reinforced with veins of crystallized mana.

The 317th flag flew at various points, though without much regulation. Some tried to fly it like the American flag, others simply taped and stapled the emblem of the wings and shawl on the walls. What had once been large classrooms were now barracks. What were locker rooms were now armories. The gym had been refitted into an artillery base.

As they walked they would be able to see the 317th discussing things and socializing during the rare bits of downtime.

Three 15 to 16 year old boys, newly pumped up with whatever odd magic empowered these super soldiers, sat around a bunch of pulled together school desks and teacher's equipment. They talked things familiar and foreign. They talked about girls, about how awkward it was talking to "ma and pa" about "the shit goin' on", about how to make the rations "taste less like school food"...and compared their combat records.

Before long though, they would reach the central camp at the school. The location the hazard gate footage was being kept. A young, bulky looking 317th boy approached them - black, somewhat unruly hair with long bangs particularly on one side, cold blue eyes, and a slight tan. He wore a camouflage pattern tank top, a pair of jeans with a belt, and brown boots.

"So you're here about the footage, right?" He then introduced himself, "My name's Rand Hawkins, I'm a Unit Commander - and I'll be showing you to the evidence storage room." He carried himself as much like a military man as he could, though to such a degree it suggested more of a familiarity with military movies.

Ross Chase - The 317th Central Camp.

"The Hazard Gate attempt footage, yes." Ross replied quietly. He remembered sitting at those desks back before it all went to... this. Back when his concerns were limited to getting grades his parents would approve, to finding new locations to explore with Katie. It was still a place of education in a sense, a place of preparation, but, it was different. Nevertheless, the task was important. Getting out of here and wreaking havok on the militia outside was important. Finding a way past the Green Wall was important.

"...I have some footage of my own." He added later, revealing a flash memory card from his dashcam. It contained everything Katie has recorded. The attempt by the militia to surround the wall, the walkers equipped with the oversized cattle prods, and more importantly, the creature. The way it was handled, the way it was led in. And then, the way it was freed, though admittedly, Katie did not have that much of a vantage point after hit-and-running that one mech. "It, uh, shows the militia's attempt to use a giant magical beast against us." he added, shooting a look of gratitude at Sera. It usually paid off to share info with them. It usually resulted in them sharing info with him. Reciprocation for the win. "I, uh, will need that card back after you transfer it to your devices."

Edited by JackCossack on Apr 3rd 2024 at 6:49:39 PM

Mina Parker

"We're assuming that her phone was on her when she was grabbed, so if it wasn't taken from her, I'm assuming that's the most likely location for her to be at," Mina said, somewhat cautiously and mindful of the pitying gaze of Chase's mother. "Before we decide to head out again, let me look up the details on that warehouse. It says here that it's registered, so maybe I can find it in some GPS database or another."

With that, Mina performed a narrower search on her phone, using the location that was marked on the map as a focus. Maybe Cici had already been rescued, if the warehouse was registered as being above board somewhere. Maybe this was some kind of dirty trick, or a trap designed to capture any rescuers. In any case, Mina also tried to access any security cameras near the warehouse, in the event that it would help them get more context about what was going on.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Apr 7th 2024 at 2:27:05 AM

Rebecca Weathers - 317th Central Camp

"Genetic, huh?" Becca remarked, a little disappointed that Sera didn't know much about her slowed aging. Even if Becca couldn't increase her lifespan, it would at least be useful to keep her youth and not be debilitated by the effects of old age.

Becca followed the rest of Lil' Katie's passengers through the school and into the central camp. Though the place held no memories for her, Becca still felt uneasy at the sights inside. Knowing what this place had once been, seeing it as a military camp felt... wrong.

Becca stayed silent and watched as Rand and Ross spoke to each other... until Ross mentioned what he had on his footage.

"Wait, hang on. Gibbs' is using what?" Becca questioned. In all her encounters with the Militia, she'd never seen them use something like that. She'd never even considered the idea that they'd have something like that, given how anti-magic the Militia was. But if they knew about dangerous magical creatures, let alone were able to control it, that meant either they'd forced the information out of a magic user... or the Militia had someone with magical know-how backing them up. The former was probably bound to happen at some point, unfortunate as it was, but the latter? That idea concerned Becca.

"Hey, Heather" Pablo said "Went about as well as I could expect. Had to explain a few things. How about you?"

Hearing about the changed locations, he crossed his arms, thinking about it.

"Of course she would move with all the shit going on around town" He commented If she is alive and moving on her own will The mood about this is not something he likes, either blind optimism or negativity. But they are aiming for the one percent, so the best he can give is a serious nod.

"Good thing for Mina's super hacking, wouldn't have believed that there were cameras over there anymore"

Ross Chase - The 317th Central Camp

"Oh, uh, right. You weren't there, were you." Ross replied, thinking of where to begin, and he figured he should start from the beginning. "They've decided to surround the mall we were looking for supplies in, and they've brought in a restrained," he paused, thinking of the right term, "gargoyle would the the right word, I think? Thirty feet tall, black and gold, dragon-slash-lion thing wielding a giant fuck-off blade," he described the creature that the magic society might recognize as Sandfield's one of two Dominulan Gargoyles. He then went back on track. "Anyway. They've brought it in, restrained, and coerced with oversized cattle-prods, to, uh, fuck us up, inside the mall, I guess." He swirled his keys. "Luckily, Lil' Katie was outside to rat them off. They never expect a car to rat them off. So... we kinda found a way out, and... broke their control. Veda's plan, by the way. So yeah, less is using and more was using, past tense relevant."

He then paused. Would militia really build them cattle prods just for one creature? Of course, they could've been a one-off thing, a prototype, and the militia's lack of discipline in handling the creature certainly suggested so, but... for what other reason would they make something so specialized?

Edited by JackCossack on Apr 15th 2024 at 6:16:51 PM

Jayden

Jayden stared at the page, unsure of what to think.

First off—'back at this'? Had...had his dad been an investigator too? And—Streisses? Like Matthew? Wait, how long ago had this been? Jayden would probably remember people dying...

He checked the date.

2008.

A chill settled in his stomach. One year. One year before the accident. Well, no wonder he didn't remember, he would've been six at the time and withdrawn into his own little world. But...one year. The last year of his dad's life.

Jayden read the next paragraph and stopped. His fingers gripped the book tighter.

Carl Kesper. Alcoholic Carl Kesper. Drunk driver Carl Kesper. The one whose idiocy got Arthur killed Carl Kesper.

Jayden stared at the name, knuckles turning white. Some part of him—some small, ugly part of him—hoped that, when the apocalypse had arrived on Sandfield's doorstep, Carl hadn't survived the experience. It was the least he deserved.

He took a deep breath, relaxed his grip, and continued reading...

It was certainly unlikely that an assailant would move Cici's phone a few blocks and then discard it for no reason. It was also implausible that somebody had stolen it from her corpse, there wasn't much use for a random cellphone nowadays. Thus, they arrived at the most reasonable explanation; that whatever thing had attacked her had dragged her there, taking the device along unwittingly. That was probably bad, there were only two reasons he could think of that a horror would go to the effort of transporting her body, alive or dead. The first was that it had already killed her, and was storing her corpse for later consumption. Given how much time had passed, he didn't place much credence in that option. The second, was that it had taken her and perhaps other victims in order to inflict some unknown but inevitably grotesque "fate worse than death". In either case, it was basically a sure thing that their rescue mission would be unsuccessful. Despite that, James found he could not bring himself to deny Chase's request. So many people had already lost those dear to them, while he himself had lost nothing at all. He didn't have the right to deny Chase the chance of seeing Cici again; and if Chase's hope really was as empty as it appeared, then they would simply have to be the bearers of that ill news.

Veda, 317th Central Camp

"If you're really over a hundred years old, genetics alone wouldn't explain it. Some kind of residual anti-aging magic is more likely." Veda noted as they walked. He was mildly curious as to what knowledge Sera might possess, but given her temperament the woman probably didn't focus much on practical matters. "If you gave me some time to study your magical aura, I might be able to figure out what it is."

The retrofitted school was a reminder of what had been lost. And a hope for what might be regained. Veda did not glance around as he walked, merely stared ahead with determination as a soldier approached them.

"A pleasure to meet you, Commander Hawkins." Veda greeted. "As my associate says, we're here to analyze the footage of the Hazard Gate. I'm Veda, by the way. Magical analyst and engineer."

He gave Ross a side-eye as the driver brought up the mall incident. Veda cleared his throat. "They weren't really controlling it, mind. Just poking it in the direction they wanted it to go. Essentially, they just released a wild animal, and thus it was fairly simple to use it against them."

"The Militia's trying to use magical creatures...?" Hawkins contemplated, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It had been no secret that the 317th had been pushing them back - first from these districts around the school, then from one of the rich areas that had theoretically formed purely for deference to the invaders. But for the self proclaimed saviors of the mundane modern man to resort to use of a creature like the Dominulan Gargoyle, it said that something was going on in the Gibbs Camp.

It might be time to try and get some more info from that guy that Shin and Matthew had been talking about.

He took out a card that might be easily inputted into a computer or phone from a desk, and handed it over to Russ. "Here ya go, Baby Driver. Just...if you intend to go after whatever's responsible for this, know that it's probably someone or something with substantial backing."

The warehouse had previously been recorded as belonging to an overseas shipping company, but as Mina accessed the singular remaining security camera operational, she would see that was likely no longer the case. The footage was grainy and the camera seemed to be cracked, giving an uneven, grey look on top of the damage. The security camera showed a substantially altered warehouse.

A part of it repurposed into an armory of some kind, and two distinct flags were waving in the air.

The flag had a black base, and a red tiger-like emblem across the middle that seemed to be made of fire according to the design.

It looked like there was some kind of stain on certain sections of wall near the camera. Like there was a fight of some kind that left certain spots stained.

The next entry...

Dear Diary,

I cannot believe I never heard what a weird, complicated life Carl has. He pretty much vented all of last night! I'm glad we had that much booze in us, or it would've gotten awkward. Not that I was without blame. I told him about the Streisses, and about how weird and off-putting I found the whole way folks were handling it.

But that's not all. I swear, on the way home from the pub, I saw Kyrio Streiss. Who was dead. Yet there he was. Maybe I was just drunk. Carl told me I'm imagining things.

Radio had Kellon Nyczus on in the drive home. Can't stand that prosperity gospel crap.

Mina Parker

"I don't like the look of this place," Mina stated bluntly, voicing out loud what the people who were spectating her efforts were all likely thinking. While maintaining the projection of the security camera's feed, she took out her journal and made a simple sketch of the flag. "We just came back from a big fight with the Eye, so I don't know if any other people would be willing to head out again so soon. However, I am, with the caveat that I'm going to inform the 317th about it before we head out. No sense in them not having information on where we're going if we also go missing too."

"I want to try and approach this carefully, if not diplomatically. I don't think there's any use in starting a fight with another—perhaps magical—faction, and there will be more problems if we just go inside, guns blazing," she concluded. "The situation seems pretty precarious as it is, but we really do have to find out what happened to Cici. What do you guys think?"

Edited by JumpingFruit on Apr 21st 2024 at 4:48:48 AM

Pablo's hand went to his chin for a moment, thinking of Mina's words. "Well, I dunno how many more chances we would get if we let this pass us by, even if we aren't close to 100%"

He rolled his shoulder, though, making his point.

"Still, if we can fight less it would be for the best, so show your stuff, Mina"

The scene Mina's scrying revealed was a suprising one indeed. He had been expecting nothing more than the den of a beast, but it was obvious that this warehouse was serving as a human habitation. That made it even less likely that Cici had been eaten, it also meant that they might be outnumbered. This probably wasn't Gibbs' people, so any foes might well have a comparable or even superior amount of magical power, and that made this whole thing rather risky. Of course, he had volunteered to be bait for a titanic robot just this morning, so he certainly was willing to put up with a certain amount of mortal peril. James nodded. "I think you make good points. This looks like the sort of situation that merits caution. We should probably also make sure we have a clear means of escape. It might be easier just to grab Cici and run." He sighed "That said, this really screams Umbrals to me, so a peaceful solution may simply not be an option."

Ross Chase - The 317th Central Camp

Truth be told, the usage of the gargoyle was outside of the expected for Gibbs. "Do you also think Gibbs or one of his subordinates might be more about usurping magic for themselves?" He asked quietly, putting forward his own hypothesis, which filled him with dread. Magic was a gift, and everyone deserved to have it. Hell, if magic was widespread in Dubai, maybe... maybe that Henderson asshole would've been stopped before... before he ruined it all.

He nodded upon taking the card. "Thank you. I, uh, I intend to learn all I can from this," he answered, bowing his head. "I didn't exactly plan on taking on it alone," he added (although the intrusive thought of him straight up ramming clean through whatever eldritch abomination that might be sounded unmeasurably badass, if also incredibly foolish), "my plan was more along the lines of...lead whatever is guarding the gates on a merry chase, let others find out more about the gates and where they lead, with the primary threat distracted and all, and perhaps fight this thing on our terms?"

With that, he moved towards a computer, eager to watch the footage, to see what can be learned.

Edited by JackCossack on Apr 15th 2024 at 7:00:05 PM

Rebecca Weathers - 317th Central Camp

Becca summoned the Weathers' Tome as Ross described the creature his group had encountered, and began flipping through the pages. Magical creatures weren't something she regularly studied, and the tome wasn't the most comprehensive source on the subject. What it did contain plenty of information on, however, was how to summon and control these creatures. Meaning Becca would be able to find out exactly how hard it would be to get one of these Gargoyles under control.

Eventually, Becca came upon the page on the creature that fit Ross's description. Gargoyles were fairly simple to force control onto; one just needed to use the enough force to assert dominance. It seemed clear that this simplicity was part of the reason Gibbs had decided to use a Gargoyle as a beast of war. However, if the militia had been using cattle-prods to make the Gargoyle do what they wanted, there was still cause for concern. The shock it would take to get a Gargoyle under control meant Gibbs hadn't just bought some regular prods; he'd have to have get them made specifically for magical creatures. And Becca highly doubted that the Gargoyle would be the only thing the militia intended to use them on.

But there was one thing Becca knew for certain. If the militia was developing weapons specifically for controlling magical forces, that meant they were making the effort to actually understand what they were going up against. And that prospect was something Becca wanted to nip in the bud, and fast.

"You can count me in," Becca told Ross after he explained his plan on stopping whatever was blocking the Hazard Gates. "If I'm going through one of those gates, I'll be doing it after I know whatever's messing with them isn't going to be a problem anymore."

With that, Becca stood behind Ross, looking over his shoulder to see what the footage would reveal about the tampering with the gates.

Jayden

"..."

Jayden let out a soft groan, head slowly dropping onto the pages. You were drunk. You were drunk and you still drove home. Why? Didn't you realize how badly that could've ended? Didn't you realize you could've died...well, before you actually did? Why were you even out drinking in the first place?

Jayden had known his dad. Or, at least, he'd thought he'd had; he was always closer to his dad than he had been to his mother. He'd never thought of him as the type to...drink. Or get drunk. Or know Carl Kesper at all.

He was beginning to wonder if he'd known his father at all.

Jayden continued reading, skimming in parts to find the important stuff...

Colt - En Route to Monroe

It was never simple, the coexistence. Never easy. Colt kept losing time, blinking and waking up in strange places. And, other than the warmth in his chest and the gold in his eyes, there wasn't ever any trace of that regal presence that he felt before. Just hints. Feelings. The phantoms of actual instructions. He stumbled back to life mid-stride and rolled his ankle, halting and falling to a knee. His companion's gripes finally reached his ears.

"Wh-...where...? Luke, where...n-nevermind, uh...phew."

The delinquent rose back to his feet and touched his face. The disassociation faded. Colt ran his fingers over the curve of his sunglasses. Behind the red-tinted spectacles he glanced at Luke, then to the ground. He shuddered. Getting used to his own body again. For a second he didn't recognize his own hands.

"Just...think about it. Those guys in there were all, like, magic. I don't know about you, but I'm not. Not looking to get myself killed either."

Colt spoke harshly but with genuine care. The edge he sported came off as less a conscious addition and more a side-effect. Of what, exactly, was unclear. He shifted, turning back towards the path he had been treading and gesturing for Luke to follow.

"C'mon, man..."

Well, Looks Like We Gotta Face The Fire Tigers

"Went fine. Me and mom had a chat, I got my hat back. And now I'm back out here, yaknow? Ready to roll, ready to fight against the dark and light and stupid authoritarians until we can claw humanity to freedom. So, rescue mission? Sounds good."

Heather put her big hat on properly and cocked her hip out to the side.

"I suppose I could do the talking. In before anyone expressly forbids me from doing so."

With the course set, Chase looked down, thinking about the situation Cici was likely in. He remembered hearing about the strange, malevolent, Satanic cult called "Umbral" - and the way that the sinister Gibbs Militia used it to their ends. He had his own misgivings about magic, but he was far away from sympathizing with the people who set up a wall around his home. "Just...no matter what, please...whatever happens, bring Cici home. I can't just go on with my life not—-not at least knowing whether I should grieve or not."

The path was most likely open from here - the 317th going by their rescue from earlier likely could get the teens from the Two Schools area to the warehouse district. From there, whatever choice they made would bear out.

Of course, it was also a matter of pitching the idea to Commander Daniel.

A pair of technicians promptly brought in a significantly jury-rigged up computer, suited for showing the recording. Due to how the Militia had encircled the town and affected technology, phones didn't work, nor did the internet going out. The result was a monitored closed network that the 317th had only just been able to work around and deal with.

Rand crossed his arms and leaned backward as the video started to play on the slightly static suffused screen of the computer...

What the group from the mall would see would be a group of mages, some looking to be in their 20s, others looking to be closer to 40 and 50. They seemed to have been slightly roughed up already - and going by the scenery, their spot of choice for attempting to open the Hazard Gate was close by the Perpetual Forge.

Hence some of them looked slightly singed at best and one clutched a severely burned arm at worst.

As the spell finished, the recording seemed to start glitching out even worse than usual as the Gate went haywire. The standard formation of the runic array and the creation of the gate swirled and oscillated, distorted and turned disturbing.

A monstrous, haphazardly constructed white, blue and brown metallic arm reached through the Gate. All they would see then would be a flash of static, followed by the sounds - of the people all gathered in that spot being slaughtered. The only thing keeping it from being front and center was all that static.

The diary went on, detailing a surprising and rather bitterly ironic friendship between the cad Carl Kesper and the upstanding man that Jayden saw his father as. The diary more than showed the human man that had lived, breathed, laughed and died that fateful day. He wasn't a saint, he wasn't a sinner - he made mistakes like anyone else.

The diary showed him supporting Carl in trying to go out with "someone he really pined for", and the two of them talking about life. Though notably, even with their odd friendship, Arthur noted there was stuff it seemed Carl coached in certain language. As if he didn't want to so readily share everything.

Then the last diary entry hit.

Dear Diary,

Either Carl's in a very intense religious movement, or its a cult. He got drunk tonight and babbled at me about something he was a part of. He didn't say entirely, but I'm pretty sure.

And then there's what I saw throughout the day. I swear. I saw Kyrio Streiss. The dead guy Kyrio Streiss. Walking around, going somewhere. Living. I don't know what happened, or what's happening. But I know there has to be something going on in Sandfield.

I will find out what, one way or another. You don't just fake your death and leave your damn kid like that.

"Well I'm magic, too!" Luke petulantly responded when Colt said that. He still didn't know what was going on with his companion, but they'd gone far further than intended. In fact he doubted there was much chance of getting down there before whatever happened to that mall...

Luke sighed, but then both young men on their way would be able to hear more sets of footprints racing through a wrecked alleyway. Heading their way.

Luke's hand went to his waist to draw his estoc, but he paused when he saw it was just a collection of rather shabby dressed folk. Hardly a militia unit. They looked like refugees...and they seemed to have their own fellow on guard. Leading the group of refugees was a tall man with a military issue vest pulled tight around what looked like an orange short sleeved shirt and tan colored pants.

The man had disorderly cut light brown hair in a somewhat greasy looking mullet, a tanned look, and light blue eyes. He carried himself like a man, but he looked quite young for whatever his age was...but there were a few light red spots on his face that indicated he enjoyed a certain amount of drinks.

The refugee group "guard" raised a hand and the group stopped on their way toward Two Schools. "...You don't look like Militia. But there's more than them in these wastelands. Who're you?"

Mina Parker

Mina double-tapped the footage to take a screenshot of the warehouse and the flag and did the same on the map projection. Her phone dinged twice as it saved the data that it had just uploaded and displayed two tooltips indicating that the images had been encrypted successfully. With that, she began to disentangle the scrying and sympathetic magic on Chase's phone, which caused the projected map to slowly unravel and fade away. She logged out of the social media accounts she'd used to find Cici and handed Chase his phone back, since they now had all the information they needed, or so she hoped.

Now all the party needed to do was pitch the mission to Commander Daniel. "I have all the location data in here," she said, raising her phone. "James, can you propose the mission to the higher-ups? Depending on who's flying that flag we saw, they might not be able to sanction us directly, or give us aid. But it'd make sense to tell them where we're going, what we're trying to do, and get information on who we're facing."

Edited by JumpingFruit on May 5th 2024 at 2:08:56 AM

Ross Chase - The 317th Central Camp

Death. Destruction. Pain. To be quite honest, Ross was so excited, so curious about finding out what he was up against that he forgot about the part where people died to the thing. As the sounds of slaughter continued, Ross grew more and more nauseous. Each of them had a family waiting for them. Or a family waiting to be avenged. And for what "crime"? For wanting to be free? No, that isn't right. Freedom is not to be punished. "This is America," he murmured to himself, pushing himself to go through with this.

The arm... The fact that the sounds of carnage were drawn out. They made Ross paler with each second, but they also meant the arm wasn't that fast. Should be easy to deal with. That static, however, it was worrying. If this thing messed with electrical stuff... Well, Katie was from a different era, from the era where cars were just starting to transition to electronic devices they were today. She *should* be able to withstand voltage variation in her electrical system better than a modern car. However, this didn't mean it'd be pleasant for her. And that was not something Ross could abide by. "Will have to shield every wire... put a faraday cage around the radio," he noted to himself.

After the video ended, Ross turned to others. "A-all right then," he said, trying to hide his emotions and failing, "I don't like that thing, but I will outrun it. I will outrun it." He had to be able to outrun it. No point in calling oneself a driver otherwise. "Is there anything you've, uh, noticed?"