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The Devils Luck
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The fog rolled in, covering everything in its foreboding filth. Andy stood next to you, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.
You cursed, drawing the pistol from your coat "Something's about to happen, something bad." Andy froze, looking at you his body now tense he drew his gun.
"Go tell Valentine, I'll be back in a second."You said not giving him time to answer, you darted down the hall towards the stairs.. The elevator would be quicker, but if anything happened to the power you'd be a sitting duck. That and if whatever was about to happen started in the lobby you'd be in ground zero.
You darted down the stairs, running with increased speed, your endurance beyond that of a regular person's. Something was funny about the company, those people were too focused, you'd stared at them for over half an hour and none of them moved from their tasks. And that women, she was... too perfect, like a model freshly airbrushed on the cover of a magazine.
You had parked your car on the east side of the building, you arrived on the main floor noting how silent everything was. The floor here was coated in black mist as well, it was odd, by now there should have been some other signs. The fog didn't lie, there were a thousand things that could happen in the next while. Some of those options were violent, the sword and shotgun in your trunk could easily sway the tide in your favor. You opened the buildings eastward exit, and ran outside, running across the street to get your personal arsenal.
From your car's position, you could see the front of the building, a typical work van sat in front, just a few feet away from the limo. It was a boring tan colour with a ladder strapped to the top of it, the words on its side where unreadable from where you were standing. Four men got in as you watched and drove away instantly, the van already running and ready to go.
You took note, grabbing your shotgun and slinging the sword on your back. The shotgun was a Benelli m4, barely legal, but you had your registration for it. The sword was interesting, swords nowadays where sold for props, it took you a fair amount of research, trial and error to find a proper sword. The sword you ended up finding was made of a high grade steel, made from metal that old sword smiths would've had wet dreams over. It was sharp as hell, and you kept in it in good shape, it was curved to end in a point, not in the style of a katana or an old longsword, but somewhere in between that gave a good balance.
Locking your car, you ran back to the building hoping to god that the door hadn't locked behind you.
On cue the door opened and the receptionist from earlier walked out, with a cigarette in one hand. She wore a long white sweater dress, with long thigh high socks covered by brown designer boots. She was cute, but not perfect like that blonde women had been, who'd escorted Valentine into president Rex's office. She was mid yawn, her eyes closed she stretched a bit, the dress rising to show an inch of bare pale thigh.
She cracked her neck, opened her eyes and froze, the cigarette fell from her hand. For her credit she didn't scream, just stared at you not moving an inch. You did look a bit threatening, big guy in a black suit with a shotgun, what looked like the hilt of a fucking sword poking out from behind. You didn't say anything, fuck you didn't have time, you just tried walking past her. Tried because as soon as you went to walk around her she backed up and pressed herself up against the door.
"Your one of Valentines aren't you..." Her voice wavered as she spoke. One of Valentines? Fuck you didn't have time for this, people could be dying inside at this very moment.
"I need to get through." You say with a sigh, trying to reach past her and grab the door handle. She grabbed your arm, a bit more forceful then you'd expected from her.
"I know what Valentine does, we've received threats from his like before. Rex is trying to do good for the city, unlike Valentine who's just trying to control the cri-" She was cut off by a thunderous bang from the behind her, followed by three others exactly like it, just as loud. Where you too late? What was this girl even trying to accomplish by holding you here. The building let out a loud grown, a long crack ran up its side as you watched....
You'd mistaken the kind of threat that the fog was foretelling...
Fuck, Andy was still in the building, you didn't have time. A chunk of the building fell, hitting the sidewalk beside you exploding in a burst of stone. You grabbed the girl, trying to get her to run she hesitated not realising what was happening. A brick rebounded off her head, her body going limp, you barely caught her as she collapsed. Awkwardly you picked her up, trying to get her in a position where you could carry her while also keeping her safe from the falling debris. Pieces of stone hit you, your back burned as you stumbled away from the building a warmth running down your arm, you had barely made it to the street when you were thrown to the ground. Something hit you square in the back, throwing you down, followed by something hard hitting the back of your head. Your vision turned black as you felt the unconscious girl underneath you.
-
Awareness came and went after the seconds it had taken for the building to fall on you.
Dust hindered your vision, you were still alive something hard pressed on your back your left arm was stuck pinned under something. You could feel the girl beneath you, feel her breath against your neck, her warmth, at a stark contrast with the cold stickiness that covered your body...
Darkness...
You heard talking, yelling, sirens...
Darkness...
You stared at the metal roof of some vehicle, a red haired guy was standing over you in a bright yellow jacket. He shone a light in your eye, it was kind of annoying, your left arm was on fire...
Darkness...
Puke green walls, stiff bed, a soft pillow behind your head, you were warm, naked under some paper thin gown. Your arm just felt numb, strapped over your chest in a kind of cast, your back hurt, there were small sharp twinges of pain all up and down your body. You were alone...
Darkness...
"How bad is it?"Said a familiar female voice.
"Concussion and a broken arm, lots of cuts. The girl they found underneath him is in a lot worse condition." That voice was male, unfamiliar. You opened your eyes, your head throbbed but you could think a bit more clearly. The events of the past few...
Hours?
Days?
It couldn't have been that long, everything still hurt like hell. Your back felt like it was nothing but a big purple welt. Fuck what happened to your sword, your shotgun? That girl? Well the girl was alive according to the voice, in bad condition but alive. Looking around you saw two others in the room, a tall graying doctor held a clipboard, and was talking to a short blonde girl. April stood there wearing one of David's sweatshirts overtop her nurse scrubs. You prostrated yourself a bit, trying to move your bruised muscles.
"It's alive." April said with a smirk, looking over at you.
"Is this Providence?" You asked her
"What? No, your at Ford stupid." What a cunt, you just woke up. She didn't need to be an ass about it.
"David called me while I was at work, he doesn't have a car and i'm pretty sure he's too high to get off our couch." Your couch*. You didn't remember her chipping in when your father bought it. Fig was probably over, he could have just borrowed Fig's car if he wasn't baked out of his mind.
The doctor gave April an amused look "You should be fine to leave Mr.Stokes, come back in if you experience any more trauma, fainting, vomiting or any signs of a brain injury. You'll need to come back in a week to remove those stitches in your head. You'll need to come back in three weeks to remove that cast."
It always made you uncomfortable whenever someone called you Mr.Stokes. With your increased healing, you'd probably need to get April to remove the stitches in a few days and you're arm will probably be healed in a little over a week. Your arm was in a sling, pressed up against your chest. Apart from that and your throbbing skull you didn't feel too bad. The small cuts that had covered your arms were almost gone already. You could actually feel the pain begin to lessen on your back, although that might have been from the drugs. It was a miracle you didn't have a fractured skull, maybe your bones were stronger than normal peoples? This would be the first time you'd ever broken a bone.
The doctor left, leaving a bottle of pain meds on the counter. Leaving you alone with April, and your thoughts. What happened? A whole building, a whole fucking building just collapsed on top of you. How many people died? Did anyone survive apart from you and that girl. Andy...
"Do you know what happened?" You asked April.
"Not much, just what people were saying at work. We've been swamped, sending supplies and a few extra hands over here to help. Over sixty dead, a dozen injured, a handful in critical condition. No one knows who did it, although it would have taken some high grade explosives and a good deal of them to knock down a building like that."
She took a breath giving you a curious look. "They're calling you a hero. Apparently, you saw something fishy and managed to save the company's President, along with your Employer. There saying you were hurt trying to go back in and warn more people, even shielding some girl from getting completely crushed."
They got out? That didn't make sense, maybe if they'd started running the second Andy warned them, but that was still odd. Andy must have made it then, it sounded like no one else did though. You had a thousand questions, and April couldn't answer any of them. You let out a grunt in response to April, she can believe whatever she wants.
Your phone buzzed from the pile of clothes beside the bed, picking it up you flipped it open. You had two texts, which went to show how active a social life you had. One was from David that just said "You alright?"
The other was from Gerry which read. "Andy's fine, take tomorrow along with the next week off work. Got your weapons back from the police, there fine although a bit beat up. Left them with two stoned guys at your house, I assume one of them is your roommate. The building just missed your car, the windshields broken, I took it to get replaced. It should be done in a few days, I gave him your number. Get well kid, get some rest." You weren't sure if him leaving your guns and sword with David and Fig where a good thing but at least you still had them. It looked like your runes were confiscated or lost in the rubble. Either way you weren't getting them back and would need to make new ones.
The next hour went by fast, you managed to get out of bed and change, your suit was destroyed, but the hospital gave you a plain white shirt and a pair of sweatpants to wear instead. While you were leaving an officer came into the room and asked you a few questions about what happened. You answered to the best of your ability telling them about the van and that you thought something was off about the four men.
You didn't like hospitals, the black fog was everywhere, not thick but present. You could always see it clinging on patients, it seemed to cling to everyone there. Even those not critically ill had little wisps of the stuff clinging to them.
It hurt to move, but with the help of the meds you managed to get yourself into April's car. After a short ride with April making jokes about your hard empty skull, you arrived home. She dropped you off and went back to work. The first thing you saw as you entered the house was a red eyed David standing on the coffee table posing with your sword. Fig lay on the couch, playing with a shotgun shell, the shotgun itself sitting on the kitchen counter next to a bong and your glock.
You grabbed the swords sheath off the living room's floor, the effort of bending over hurting like hell. "David." You gave him a stern look, just the hint of a smile on your face. He took the sheath from you, sheathing the sword and handing it over.
"You alright?" David asked, looking at your slung arm.
"I'll live, it'll take more than a building to keep me down." You put the sword on the counter next to the shotgun.
"Hungry?" David asked, opening the fridge.
Fig sat up "Taking a hit, might help with the pain." he gestured towards the bong next to the weapons.
"Yeah, i'm starving." You paused looking over at Fig "Not right now, maybe in a bit." You vanished into your room, you'd need to hide your weapons but that could wait. You just wanted to lay down for a bit, till David had finished cooking at least. David was a cook at a bar nearby, there beer was average but there food was fantastic.
There was something on your bed, not a person or an animal, but a book. You walked over to it, inspecting it before you picked it up, it looked old. It was thick, the cover made of hard cracked leather, the pages were rough but flexible. There were a couple black feathers resting on the books cover, what looked like a crow's feathers. You opened it, but couldn't make sense of anything it said. A few words looked familiar, you remembered them from when you where researching runes. While researching your Mother, the book was in old Irish. A gift from her? That didn't seem like her kind of thing, you'd never received a gift from her in your life, why would she give you something like this?
You put the book back on your bed, more questions filling your pounding head. Well, you had the rest of the day to blow, it was Thursday currently. Gerry gave you Friday off, along with all of next week, so you had a while to relax.
What do you want to do?
{Pick 1. Its around 4-5pm so we only have time for one thing today, We'll get between 2-3 actions each day depending on how busy we are.}
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Go visit that girl in the hospital.
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Go visit Andy.
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Find a translator on your laptop and try to study this strange book.
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Research basic magic.[0/3] (You can power and create runes, you've wondered if you could branch out further magically speaking.)
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Make some Commus Runes (will get you 3 of them)
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Make some Anam Runes (will get you 3 of them)
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Chill with Fig and David. You did just have a building fall on you, just relax.
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(Write in!)
[Your car won't be ready till Saturday, David doesn't have a car, but you'd borrowed Fig's car a few times in the past and he didn't look busy. You could always borrow his car and fill up the tank as a thank you, if you needed too.]
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Sorry, I've been busyier then I thought i'd be.
That and procrastinating like hell, over-watch Christmas event hype?
Pretty sure my exams went well, ill know more in a few days.
I also promise that nothing has changed, I was planning on just blowing up the building this whole time. These premonitions aren't clear and the only thing they tell us is the coming of death.
Like always if you guys have any questions, comments or criticism please ask. 
