Players:
Date: June 23, 2020.
Log Title:Challenge to the Hound
Rating: R
NYC - Times Square
Once a central hub for humanity, little remains of Times Square but broken storefronts and disintegrating buildings. Stretching as far as the eye can see, the entire area is littered with crushed cars and skeletonized bodies; leaving little to be found without taking a chance inside one of the many crumbling facades. For the lucky, scraps of a bygone lifestyle can still be uncovered in the form of clothing, canned food, and supplies. Albeit amidst the occasional threats of wondering gangs and roving Sentinels. With literally innumerable hiding spots to choose from, there is little doubt that either could be laying in wait.
After getting a bit of sleep in last night, Daisuke decided to get an early start on the day trying to see what he could dig up. Hosea was one of the few he was able to grab to go out with him after all it's not exactly smart to be going on supply runs by oneself. It almost got Daisuke killed last time if that guy Theo wasn't there and if Chloe didn't show up. He's wearing something like an armoured flack vest that covers his back, torso and neck while there's a Katana strapped to his back and a glock holstered under his arm. He goes out prepaired just incase he can't use his powers. The backpack slung over his shoulder is half filled with goods. "Ya know, I know we've been through Times Square a few times but I'm always surprised at the shit you can find here. Look at this." He says kicking a box of folded 'I <3 New York' t-shirts that seem to be old stock from a tourist shop. "That'll make decent clothing and the ones at the bottom you can make bandages out of." He says placing it out side before he goes to head back inside the wreckage of 'Broadway Gifts', though the sign now reads - ' ro d ay if s'.
Hosea has that stinking smile that always crosses his face. It probably hasn't been as well appreciated by everyone since his return. There's not a lot that people are feeling smiley these days. He carries a full sized external frame backpack, and wears no shirt at the moment. With the destruction of the supplies the other night, there isn't a lot to go around, and he's been more than happy to go without. His scarred muscles are still toned, though. He did his best to stay in shape while he was at the camps. "I could use a shirt," he says with a laugh. "Let me see heah." He steps inside of the store, pulling the backpack off and picking up one of the shirts. 'I <3 NY' is written across it. Ironic.
"Really, it's a bad idea to go out here /without/ a shirt no, no matter how much Mr. Buff n' Stuff you think you are." Daisuke says as is piling through broken snowglobes, mugs, shotglasses and other tacky gifts. "I think there's an old Duane Reade down the street to dig through next." Like Hosea, Daisuke also sports the 'M' over his right eye. One of his arms is still in a sort of makeshift splint but he seems to be functioning with it. "Volk got me the armour so I'm pretty lucky in that department…okay! I think this place is safe to say it's…wait.." He says as he picks up a few baseballs that are discarded there. "Okay..I'm getting ideas." He says packing them into one of the NYC bags in the store.
"Dere were other people who needed shirts," Hosea answers. "I will tend to them first." Here, however, he's the only one without a shirt, and so he pulls it over his head. A perfect fit. "Baseballs?" Hosea observes quizzically. "What do you have in mind for those?" He imagines it isn't to play nine innings. He packs some of the shirts into the backpack, and begins to search some more around the store. He spots some candy. "Hah, this nevah spoils," he says. It's not the healthiest food, but given the recent bombings, anything is better than nothing.
Due to his Master's trips into the past and the increase in Hounds Caleb hasn't had as much work to do, but he's been instructed to patrol the Times Square area today, intel suggests the rebels have been scavenging here resently, he's dressed in dark grey cargos, a black t-shirt, a grey jacket, black airwalk trainers and the stone in the silver wristband on his right wrist is clear, he hasn't noticed the two searching for supplies yet, and is currently walking around the rubble servaying the area.
Daisuke walks over to Hosea and smacks him on the head, it's not playful but it's not malicious. More designed to litterally, knock sense into him. "Walk up Hosea, we're at war and if you're out here fighting, even a flimsy shirt can help protect you. If you're concerned about protecting others, you gotta protect yourself first so you can watch out for them." He just thinks it's idiodic logic. After packing up about a dozen baseballs he starts to head over to the next shop he can. Chef Boyardee, Dinty Moore and Spam! He starts packing them in his half full backpack unfortunately from talking to Hosea and the noise of cans piling on top of eachother, Daisuke can't hear the hound.
Hosea laughs, "I was in war long before dis war," he says. "I learned dat my protection comes from God. And see, though I gave my shirt, God has provided me with a new one, yes?" There's a sudden pause, and he holds his finger to his lips. He phases into an intangible state to maintain silence as he moves back to Daisuke in his rummaging. "We are not alone," he whispers. He crouches down, and places his hand on Daisuke's shoulder to encourage him to also bring himself low. He creeps toward the front window, and peers out into the street carefully, trying to spot the sound he had just noticed.
"If one drink, could make tonight, slip my mind then I, Should drink up, so I can forget, that I haven't lived my life, You are an example of, better things to come, So why wait on some other escape, that leads me nowhere fast, I've got to ask…", Caleb sings under his breath as he kicks a piece of rubble out of the way still not alerted to Daisuke and Hosea's presance, considering taking his search up into the air.
"I'm not a Christian Hosea, I'm a Shintoist." Daisuke whispers as he stays very still as he hears the singing voice. He's not a dedicated Shintoist but it's what he was raised to be believe from his Grandmother. He gets down low and takes a few steps towards the voice, trying to stay hidden among the rubble. "Hound." He whispers to Hosea as he recognizes Caleb from the information they have in the Underground. Before Caleb even has time to act, Daisuke hits a note with his sonics, aiming it right towards Caleb. The pitch will jar his equalibrium causing a wicked sense of dizziness and knocking off his balance. Get the edge, get that element of suprise.
As much as Hosea would like to pursue a religious discussion, he doesn't comment any further at the time. He would have preferred to wait it out until Caleb left, but Daisuke's eagerness doesn't leave that option open After the note is released, he leaps up, and takes one step starting into a sprint toward Daisuke, but then vanishes into a teleport. He reappears behind Caleb, a full on dash from a point blank range to tackle him from behind and try to pin him to the ground. Hosea's large frame gives him a good physical advantage, and he hopes to use it to pin Caleb face first in the street.
As Daisuke has suprise on his side, Caleb doesn't get the chance to protect himself from the note, with his balance shot, Hosea is easily able to knock him over and pin him to the floor, as the dizzyness clears he curses, "Fucking Rebels!".
Unsheathing his katana, Daisuke walks over to Caleb and points the blade at him from where Hosea has him pinned. "Now listen up Hound. Right now…I'm not going to kill you but we want Heather." He growls as he leans down to look into his face. "If you can get us Heather than I'm willing to break the rules, if not, well, one less Hound for us to deal with."
Hosea attempts to get a better grip on Caleb to keep him from getting up. His desired hold is a full nelson, so that he can keep Caleb's head on the ground. He doesn't speak, since Daisuke seems to have an idea. Instead, he just tries to maintain his hold.
Caleb rolls his eyes, "Yes cos my Master will just hand her over, won't he?, and as for letting me go, you don't have a whole lot of choice", he phases and pushes himself up to stand several feet away from the two rebels, "You havn't got anyway to contain me, let alone make me do anything".
Daisuke cracks his knuckles. "Ah a phaser, well…didn't you just run into the perfect rebel today. And it's you who don't have a lot of choice. You either arrange a trap for us to run into Heater or I scream. You have three seconds to decide." And with that Daisuke puts up three fingers and slowly lowers the first one waiting to see what Caleb does cause he won't hold back against a Hound.
Hosea loses grip as Caleb phases away, and he scrambles back to his feet. "You should give us her," he contests. "It would be dah right thing to do. You will be free from Ahab's control." He knows that Caleb probably doesn't view himself as trapped, but he says it anyway.
"My Master doesn't control me, i'm happy to serve him, perhaps you should consider joining us?", even if Caleb gave them Heather, his life wouldn't be worth living afterwoods, he would be punished severly for handing over Ahab's favorite Hound, in an attempt to confuse Daisuke enough to stop him attacking he turns invisable.
As Hosea and Caleb talk Daisuke's fingers finish the count down and true to his word he sends a sonic scream right at where Caleb so that the sound hits the area with quite a bit of force. Any glass that might be left in the area shatters at the sheer force of his attack. He not aiming for one speicific target, he's going for an area of effect hoping that he's still in that area. When you don't have to worry about collateral damage, you don't worry about holding back as much.
As Daisuke takes in the breath to scream, Hosea ducks back a little, to avoid being part of the damage. himself. "Your master will destroy himself, by using Heather," he counters. "And I already have my Master. He is more powerful dan Ahab." Then the scream is let loose, and Hosea covers his ears.
Caleb screams in pain as he's hit by the sonic wave of Daisuke's scream, the pain knocks him corporial, and he falls to his knees putting his hands over his ears.
Now that Caleb is down, Daisuke walks over and tries to grab him by his hair. "Now listen up -Hound-." The way he says Hound sounds like an insult, a word he dispises. "You want to walk out of here alive, you get us Heather, okay? If not, I got a lot more force behind that and you'll be wishing you were just holding your ears. Now, you can either agree, set up a trap and go back to your fucking Master or you can die right here and never see your beloved Ahab again…got it!?"
Hosea moves to the rear of Caleb, though he doesn't lay any hands on him at the moment. He doesn't appreciate these methods at all, but he's more concerned that Caleb not be killed, regardless of his hatred toward them. He crosses his massive arms, and waits for the Hound's response.
Still disorientated Caleb winces when Daisuke grabs him by the hair, "Do you think it's as simple as that, i'm a fighter, my Master has plenty of fighters, but Heather is special, i give you her and i'm dead anyway".
"Here's a trick I learned from Deadpool." Caleb says as he takes the Katana he's been holding and goes to drive it through his leg and into to the ground, knowing he might be able to phase or teleport out of it, the pain will be real and show that he's not dicking around. "I'm a fighter too -Hound-. I fighter for something you don't even have anymore, freedom. I fight for my life, what is it you fight for? Nothing. One last chance."
"Think back to before you were a Hound," Hosea says. "What did you seek? Look around you. Even though Ahab has poisoned your mind, you cannot deny that the world we live in is vedy broken. Dere is nothing left but wreckage. You can not blame dis on mutants! It was Ahab who has done it! What will he do wit you when he has captured all of dah mutants?" he challenges, trying to reach the Caleb within. "He will no longer need you, and toss you to dah side.
"I no nothing of before i served my master, i always have, all i seek is to do his bidding", Caleb screams in pain again as the katana goes though his leg, he phases out of the sword and struggles to get several feet away, he actully liked mutants before he became a hound (not that he remembers that), "This damage was caused in an attempt to stop you mutants!"
There's a laugh that escapes from Daisuke's mouth as he shakes his head. "-You- caused this damange to stop something that didn't need to be stopped. -You- did this trying to take away life from people whose only crime was having something equivilant of brown hair…genetics. You make me sick." Daisuke spits out as he sheathes the Katana and uses his sonics to fly up in the air. "So I guess you're going to die right here trying to stop us then? You don't give us a choice Hound."
Hosea speaks out against Daisuke. "Stop!" he commands, a finger pointing up at the Japanese mutant. "This ends now. We will not kill him. We will not live dah way dat they live, or else we are no bettah."
He turns his dark brown gaze back to Caleb. "Listen vedy closely. We have dah strength heah to kill you. But it is wrong to murder. You want to help Ahab? You must do what he cannot see. We must end dis war. If it continues, dah world will look like dis city. Dere will be nothing left. If you want to serve Ahab, you will bring Heather heah. He will not understand dat this is for dah good of all, but you must act in wisdom."
Caleb's eyes glow violet and he nods at Daisuke, "I guess i am", he flies up after Daisuke, "I'll bring Heather here if my Master instructs me to, otherwise no, no i won't", he clenches his fists tightly, if he's gonna die, he's taking one of them with him.
"Hosea you fucking moron! I should kill -both!- of you right now." Daisuke spits out beyond angry at this moment. "The next person this hound kills Hosea…it's no yoru head, not his. You know what…fuck it." Daisuke says as he looks at Caleb. "Tell Ahab you found a pocket of mutants and need help, request Heather, it's that simple." He says as he screams again sending another wave of Sonics at Caleb, quite a bit more brutal than the last one, instead of just causing his ears to bleed the force might be enough to break stuff.
Hosea isn't fast enough to be able to intercept before the sonic attack, and moving to intercept Caleb wouldn't accomplish anything more than getting hit by the attack himself. Still, he doesn't like whatever is happening with the glow about Caleb's eyes, and so he responds. He makes a dive headfirst into the ground, disappearing into it, and then popping up next to Daisuke, momentum still in flow. He wraps his arms around the other member of the resistance, and then teleports again to the street level several hundred yards down the street.
He gives Daisuke a rather angry look as he lets him go, but says nothing, looking back to see what becomes of their opponent.
As Daisuke screams, Caleb releases blasts of violet energy from each hand, not only does his attack miss when Daisuke is teleported, he is hit by the full wave of the scream, sending him crashing to the ground.
Daisuke is grabbed and teleported away and he just glares at Hosea. "You fucked up." He says looking annoyed. "You don't know what it's like out here on the streets, I was in a camp like you for a bit but it's worse out here dude." The once former X-Men doesn't go after Caleb though, just lets him land. "Let's grab out stuff and head back. There's nothing for us out here right now." He's not happy at all.
"You know nothing!" Hosea answers. "You do not think. You only use force, you think with muscles, and you will die. I lived in Nigeria. This is what I grew up in! You think dis is bad, only five years you have lived in it. I lived my whole life like dis before I came to America. I learn from a small child how to survive. I just saved your life, you fool!" He catches himself with a rather raised temper, and suddenly looks ashamed. He takes a deep breath. "I did not mean dat. You are right, we should head back."
There is a blast of violet energy from the rubble Caleb landed in, aimed at Daisuke, following the blast Caleb climes out of the rubble, his hair white, eyes glowing violet, the stone on his whistband has turned yellow, he is bleeding from his ears and has a large gash on his forehead and due to the wound in his leg is hovering above the ground, "You are going nowhere".
"Remind me sometime to tell you about what I had to grow up with Hosea." Daisuke says as a dark and angrier look shows on his face, he's someone whose become fairly bitter about his life, feeling like he's almost always gotten the short stick. "Just cause I grew up in Amer—-Aaaaaaah!" He says as he's hit by the blast right in the back and thrown forward to the pavement, sliding in the rubble. Ow. Though dispite the pain he pushes himself up and just stares at Caleb looking for a weakness, that one bane of his.
Hosea looks back as Caleb's blast strikes Daisuke, and knits his brow. He teleports to suddenly be standing at his left side, and a large dark fist comes swinging for the Hound's head. "Get out of heah," he commands. "I have been merciful, do not test me."
As Hosea announces his presance Caleb phases to let the fist go though him, once it's clear he recorporialises and fires another violet blast at Hosea's stomach.
"Salt." Is all Daisuke says as he knows he doesn't have any of that. "Shit." He says and then there's Caleb attacking Hosea and as much as he'd like to think that Hosea diserves well…he can't let Caleb win. "Caleb!" He shouts and that should of the name has some sonic force behind it, not enough to do anythign but stir up rubble. He then sets up for another scream, this one more of a pin point and accurate scream so it won't hit Hosea to, one that will hopefully throw Caleb off of him.
Hosea phases as well, though the blast is only partly lessened as he only does a partial phase. He feels the impact, and lets out a yelp of pain, but it removes the push from the blow as the blast continues into the building behind him. The tall African swings his left arm quickly around in an attempt to clothesline. His opposite foot comes forward behind Caleb in an attempt to solidify the outcome, should his arm land. He's not aware of Daisuke's preparation, however, or that Daisuke is even conscious.
Caleb is clotheslined by Hosea, but uses his ability to fly to avoid hitting the ground, at the sound of his name he moves behind Hosea and puts both his hands together firing a blast at his back, hoping to get both the rebels (his aim may be slightly off due to Hosea's attack and struggling to put weight on his injured leg).
Diving down to the ground and rolling, Daisuke barly misses the blast and he brings out a gun and aims it at Caleb. He takes time, he's not aiming for a kill shot right now but aiming to hit Caleb's shoulder, take out the arm. He doesn't even say anything as he fires one shot, hoping to hit.
The Prophet ducks as Caleb moves to his six, though because of his height, the blast still tears across his back and through the new shirt. He had begun to spin, and the glancing blow only spead him up. His fist comes flying up between the arms, an uppercut greatly enhanced by the force of the blast headed for Caleb's jaw. While the grazing blast sped up the Nigerian's attack, it isn't all good. He continues to spin, body flipping through the air and he lands flat on his back, the wind shoved from his lungs by the landing. He phases again, this time entirely, and coughs as he tries to regain himself in the cold pocket dimension of his. For the other two, he just simply vanishes from sight completely.
Caleb grunts as he's knocked to the floor by Hosea's uppercut, it fucking hurt, but hey at least he got knocked out of the way of the bullet, he's dazed for a few seconds.
Daisuke walks over to Caleb's dazed form and smacks him on the back of the head with the pistol, aiming to knock him out. "There you go Glory boy, he's not dead." Daisuke says kicking Caleb so that he hopefully stays down. "I hate Hounds." He says before looking at Hosea and pointing at him. "You and I gotta talk Glory Boy."
Hosea reappears in time to hear Daisuke's comment, back on his feet now. He looks satisfied with Daisuke's action. "We will talk later," he says, walking back toward the store. "Right now we need to get supplies back." One thing is for certain, when he teaches mercy, no one can accuse him of not practicing what he preaches.
