Log:Reign of Terror, Scene 0

Reign of Terror 2010/04/05 	 Bard Dark Horse

0

The downtown district, and above all famed York Boulevard, is an area of skyscrapers old and new and the jewel of the city where most of the real money is made. From the lower, older buildings like that of the Colonial Bay Chronicle to the height of the Corporate Tower, the district is alive with bustle through the day; while at night it is well lit by the light of ads and news reporting across the sides of the buildings, and the action is focused on a few clubs and other hotspots.

A call goes out over the police bands: Possible suicidal man at the Colonial Bay Network (TV Station) building. Entered main lobby with gun pointed at his head, demanding for a video to be aired.

Outside the CBN building two police cruisers pull up, sirens blarring. The police officers get out but don't rush inside, instead seeming to try to assess the situation.

Bard is on the scene like lightning. He has a mandolin strapped to his back and it coming upon the police line, since their cars are still faster than him. He looks around trying to gather what all is going on and who is in charge.

Dark Horse had been monitoring the police bands, like he usually does. He swings around a corner on his swingline, and lands on the sidewalk by the police line. He then recoils his line, and heads to look for whomever appears to be in charge. Which coincidentally causes him to notive Bard doing similarly.

A female officer, Officer E. Maza. Light brown skin, long brown hair, seems to be in charge.

Bard walks over to The officer. "Hello, Officer maza." HE bows. "How might I be of service today?" He notices Dark horse, a face he has not seen before.

Dark Horse: This man stands just about five and a half feet tall, but his posture seems to indicate that his stature is a bit larger than his mere size. His costume is a deep green, with a matching top and pants. The shirt fits a little loosely, as do the pants, which are also covered in several pockets, like BDU pants. The costume itself seems to be made of a thick material...perhaps it's made out of some kind of kevlar-like material. His boots and gloves are a solid black...matching the insignia on his chest, which is a black horse rampant, covering from about his collarbone to where you think his navel might be. Attached to his belt is a metal stick, about 6 inches long. It seems to be attached to a coil of small cable which is also attached to his belt. There are a couple of small grenade-looking items on his belt as well. His face is covered is a green mask which has two eye holes, but no other openings...but it does leave his hair uncovered, which is a dark brown. He does appear to have a half-headset attached to the mask, though...there is a single earphone, with a wired microphone which swings down along the right side of his face, and then in front of his mouth.

Bard: A Handsome man just out of his teens. his face is unblemished and his skin is slightly tanned. A bronze god. He is part alien, which can be noted in the fact his black hair moves whenever he experiences extreme emotion, typically standing in a bunch of small spikes like a member of boy band. He has hazel eyes, and his body seems very well toned, as if he spends time getting lean muscle. He is almost always wearing a green shirt and blue jeans and a gray fedora. He is almost always seen with an instrument, namely the mandalin. He has shoes that have thick soles perfect for hiding things in though there are no visible compartments.

Dark Horse runs a hand through his hair as he walks up to the officer and Bard. He looks Bard over once with a look akin to 'who the heck is this'? He then looks back to Officer Maza, "Afternoon, officer. I'm here to help as well, if you need the assist."

Maza glances over at Bard, "Huh. You may be just we need. An unidentified man walked into the lobby 10 minutes ago with a gun pointed at his head, demanding for a video to be shown. We're trying to ID him from out tap on the security cameras but no luck so far. At the moment CBN staff have evacuated the lobby leaving him alone in there. We gotta do something fast though, or that poor bastard'll blow his brains out. He looks like he's terrified from what we can see on the cameras." She nods to Dark Horse as well, "Good to see you. Maybe you two can figure out a way to get his gun away from him, or talk him down or something."

Dark Horse nods slowly, "Any idea what's on the footage he wants shown?"

Bard nods. "Any and all information we have is valuable, please tell us, my dear."

Dark Horse raises a brow at the musician calling the policeman 'my dear', and winces a bit, expecting a backlash from her in 3...2...1...

Maza shakes her head, "No idea. He keeps babbling that we need to show the video so he can be free, that he can't take it anymore." She raises an eyebrow at Bard, "So anything you can do... sweetcheeks, would be good."

Dark Horse narrows his eyes a bit. "Sounds like he'll kill himself after the video is shown, anyway."

Dark Horse says, "I'll adjust my radio, so I can keep in immediate contact with you out here, Officer Maza. Any idea where he is in the building? Still in the lobby?"

Maza nods, "Yeah. They locked the other doors and shut down the elevators. We have a car covering the fire exit on the side. So unless he's got powers, he's in the lobby."

Dark Horse nods. "You think we'll be able to get inside without him shooting? So we can talk to him directly?"

Maza shrugs, "Beats me. If he believes you're willing to help him, maybe. Hell of a day for our head hostage negotiator to get in an accident on the way to work."

Dark Horse raises a brow at that, "He alright, I hope?"

Maza shakes her head, "Car can't beat a Maglev."

Dark Horse winces. "I'm...sorry to hear it. We'll do what we can." . o 0 (Huh. How'd his car get in the way of the Maglev? That's weird.) He looks to Bard, "You set to go?"

Bard nods. "I'd like to know more but that seems like a luxuray we can't afford." He nods to the officer. "Thank you." Back to DH "How do we get in?"

Maza shrugs, "Yeah. Figures he'd pick the one damn place the Maglev has to cross a street at ground level.'

Dark Horse shrugs, "Front door, I think. Any other access is shut down. Just...be sure to not look threatening when we walk in. Then we try to talk him down. Or bargain, or what not.

Dark Horse nods to the officer, "That's...horribly unlucky."

Dark Horse walks toward the door to the lobby, making sure that his hands are empty of equipment before reaching for the door handle.

Bard follows Dark Horse's lead.

Dark Horse opens the door, trying to look...well, non-threatening as he steps inside and looks around.

The door opens into the brightly lit lobby. A disheveled looking man in a rumpled suit, balding, in his late 50s stops his ranting at the security camera and turns to look at Bard and Dark Horse. He has a .45 caliber revolver pointed at his right temple. In his other hand, he's holding an envelope.

Bard nods to the man. "hello... You got a name?" He asks. "I'm Marcus, we're here to talk."

The man sobs, "Pl-please help me! I d-don't want to die, b-but I c-can't take it anymore."

Bard motions for the man to calm down. "calm down, just tell me what's wrong. I can help but I need to know what is wrong."

Dark Horse nods in agreement with Bard, and then looks to the man, watching him closely.

The man babbles, "Y-you have to show this video!" He waves the envelope, "I-it's the only way the nightmares will end!"

Bard offers a hand. "Let me see the video." he says, formulating a plan... it could be dangerous. "If we show this you promise me no one will get hurt, even yourself?"

The man clutches the envelope to his chest, "N-no... it has to be shown on the air... H-he'll know if it isn't!"

Bard takes a hlaf step forward. "who will know?"

The man clutches the envelope to the side of his head, "N-no... I c-can't say!"

Bard takes another half step forward. "Okay. Just tell me what these nightmares are."

Dark Horse takes a deep breath. "Sir...please, just set the gun down. We can talk this over, and take a look at that video."

The man shouts, "S-stay back! D-don't try anything. I c-can't go on living like this! I-I can't sleep, I can't eat. Every shadow is looking at me! The faces-- they all know m-my name!"

Bard looks at Dark horse. o O (Some kind of fear effect, this man is a pawn I'd wager.) Bard looks to the Man. "And what name is that, friend?I can help you I just need you to trust me." He is very soft and very gentle in his words.

The man stutters, "Al-alfred Koch."

Dark Horse hears over his radio, "Maza here. It'll take us about 10 minutes to run him down from the name."

Dark Horse just keeps watching. Bard seems to be doing well enough as it is. He says into the radio, "Understood."

Bard nods. "Okay Al, can I call you Al? Well now Let's just relax. I want to know, when did the dreams start?"

Alfred sobs, "T-ten days ago."

Bard says, "what happened Ten days ago?"

Alfred shakes his head, "N-nothing. I w-went to work, c-came home, f-fed the dog. T-the usual. I-it w-wasn't until th-three days later HE appeared."

Bard says, "It may be hard, but describe him."

Alfred shakes his head, and tightens his finger around the trigger of his gun, "I-I cant!"

Dark Horse nods. "Sir...please. We understand. You can't. Just...set the gun down."

Bard steps back. "Alright, Al." He nods. "I can't help you if you don't atleast point the gun else where."

Alfred sobs, "P-please. J-just show the video and he'll r-release me."

Dark Horse nods again slowly. "Set the gun down, and then we can see about showing the video. They won't do it while you're threatening yourself."

Alfred hesitates, the gun wavers away from his temple for a moment before starting to swing back...

Dark Horse slips forward, and attempts to grab Al's wrist, and wrench the weapon free from his hands.

Bard strums the instrument at his side, reaching his mind out to the man in need. -"Stop resisting!"- He cries out. Or so help me the night mare may never end, despite your best. You will be caught in a world of torment like you can't believe, and rot in your thoughts. I've been in a similar hell and believe me Al We can save you from this nightmare!"

Dark Horse wrenches the weapon free, sending it skittering across the floor into the corner.

Dark Horse winces a bit as he thinks to himself. . o 0 (His name is 'Al'. Too weird. Too many coincidences.)

Alfred cries out in a panic as Dark Horse wrenches the gun away from him. He collapses, crying, to the floor, muttering "no no no no no no no" over and over. Bard feels his song hit... something, some sort of resistance, as it is repulsed.

Dark Horse moves over to pick up the pistol where it lays on the floor. He says into the radio, "Situation is taken care of, officer. Come on in."

Maza and her partner come rushing in, "Good job. So what the hell's wrong with him?"

Bard looks to Dark horse, surprised. "He resisted my mental attack... No... I don't think he did." hE looks at the entering officer. "Someone is in his head, or so I think"

Alfred starts beating his head against the marble floor.

Bard treis to use his power to tell him to stop, if anything else he might be able to attract the attention of the other entity.

Dark Horse says into the radio, as he moves back over to Al, "We think he's mind controlled by someone. Still working on restraining him, but he's weaponless." He puts the pistol in one of the pouches on his belt, and heads over to try to help restrain Al before the man seriously hurts himself.

Bard reaches into the mands mind in the darkness and fear of what is going on, he orders the man to stop and so Alfred does.

Alfred sits, kneeling, shaking uncontrollably, caught between two compulsions and his own desire for release.

Maza nods and radios for an ambulance.

The envelope lies where Alfred dropped it.

Bard looks around calling into the darkness. "I know you're watching! I know you aren't the type to wind up the clock and let it run on it's own. You want to talk! Talk to me." He calls out, before struming his mandolin again and ordering Alfred to break free from his mental bindings.

Dark Horse picks up the envelope, since he's not needed to keep Al under control. He looks it over curiously.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you see a cloud of darkness resolve into a purple and black translucent ... hound, with 6 legs, no eyes, and three jaws nested within each other, each filled with jagged teeth.

Dark Horse blinks, and looks over in the direction of the phantom-looking dog, "What the hell?..."

Bard sees the Appearing creature. "Hello." He says, no longer smiling. "Nice touch."

Fear Hound flickers and reappears in front of Bard and slashes at him with a claw.

Bard jumps back in the nick of time for the Claw to miss him.

Dark Horse noticed it was pretty quick...so keeping a firm hand on the envelope, he rushes over to the beast, and takes a swipe with an open palm strike...trying to see how tough it is.

The hound shrugs off the attack. You notice it's utterly quiet. (invisible to hearing)

The heel of Dark Horse's hand strikes the beast, glancing off. "Bah. Didn't get a good strike in."

Bard steps backwards a fair distance and starts to play his mandolin. He begins to sing 'What's Left of The Flag' from Flogging Molly in an attempt to blast the beast with his powerful voice.

The hound staggers but remains upright.

Maza and her partner open fire on the beast.

Maza's shock pistol scores the side of the beast.

The hound flickers and appears behind Bard, and tries to hamstring him by biting at the back of his knee!

Bard twirls like a graceful dancer as the dog bites at him, successfully avoiding the attack.

Dark Horse grimaces as the beast continues to go after Bard. "Hrm. The other mentalist must want you out of the picture." He moves around by the beast, and tries a side kick at it this time.

The glancing blow barely bruises the hound.

Fear Hound springs at Bard and tries to rake him with its viscious rear claws.

Bard is clawed at and feels his shirt get torn off, he grimaces as his chest is torn into.

Dark Horse pulls a small flare off of his belt, and throws it at the houng, attempting to blind it.

Dark Horse draws the pistol, and fires at the beast, hoping that works a bit better.

The gun doesn't seem much more effective, as the bullet fails draw any blood, or whatever the hound has.

Maza shouts to her partner, "Dan, get the ASHAAR from the car!" She fires her shock pistol again.

Fear Hound swipes at Bard with it's foreclaw again.

Bard jumps back intime to avoid the claws this time, he'll still need a new shirt. "I see I've got your attention!"

Dark Horse moves closer to it again, and tries to kick at it once more, keeping the pistol in one hand and the envelope in the other.

The hound felt that one and tilts it's eyeless head toward Dark Horse.

Dark Horse hits much more solidly that time, finally...getting the beast's attention. "Uh oh."

Maza's partner runs out of the lobby toward their cruiser.

Fear Hound flickers and reappears behind Dark Horse. It tries to hamstring him by biting at the back of his knee.

Bard moves so he can see the beast again and lets out a powerful blast of his voice. He keeps himself ready to be attacked.

In the lobby of the CBN TV station building, Bard and Dark Horse are facing off a small pony sized 6 legged translucent black and purple hound-thing with no eyes and 3 nested jaws.

A female police officer is fightining alongside them. A man in a suit is kneeling nearby and crying

The hound winces slightly at the blast.

Fear Hound flickers and reappears behind Dark Horse. It tries to hamstring him by biting at the back of his knee.

Dark Horse instinctively moves forward, having seen the beast's tactics already while it was fighting Bard...getting himself out of the hound's reach.

Bard lets out another powerful blast of his voice. He is intent on bringing that hound down.

Bard misses wide to the right, blasting a hole in the ground.

Fear Hound slashes at Dark Horse with it's foreclaw.

Dark Horse slips to the left, dodging the beast's claw, and pivots, firing another round from the pistol at it.

The gunshot fails to wound the beast.

Fear Hound leaps at Dark Horse and rakes with it's powerful rear claws.

Dark Horse grimaces. "Well...hell."

Dark Horse dodges again, trying to slip to the side.

Dark Horse just narrowly escapes the beast's claws. He looks to Bard, "Can you like...drop this thing? I can only keep it occupied so long."

Bard begins to strum his mandolin again. the frets glow as a bolt of golden energy flies off of it at the beast

The hound shakes its head, as if trying to dislodge a mosquito

Maza fires her shock pistol again, "C'mon Dan how long does it take you get the damn ASHAAR!?"

The electric bolt singes the beast.

Dan calls back from outside, "Hold your damn horses Elisa."

Fear Beast flickers and appears by Bard. It slashes with a foreclaw.

Bard is scratched but it just glances off his skin.

Dark Horse moves toward the beast, and tries a leaping side kick, putting all of his strength into it, attempting to strike it in the head with the heel of his boot.

The odd beast staggers and begins to dissipate, quickly fading away.

Dark Horse lets out a kiai shout as his foot connects with the powerful hound. He lands, and looks toward it, only to see it disappearing. "Well...what the hell was that thing?"

Bard looks at Dark Horse. "what my wager is is a hound of demons... meant to scare us." He looks at Alfred. "Do you have a rope?"

Alfred looks up, "H-his servants... Th-they're everywhere!"

Bard looks to DH. "I'm thinking we're dealing with someone who is a mentalist capable of manifesting their thoughts. Otherwise known as Psionics."

Dan runs back in carrying a large 3-shot ASHAAR shock cannon. Maza sighs, "It's all over Dan, you can stow it."

Dark Horse catches his breath, and looks to the officer. "Better grab an evidence bag, eh?" He chuckles. "Sorry...I umm...fired the pistol twice. But you saw it happen."

Dark Horse nods to Bard. "Hmm. I'm Dark Horse, by the way. We weren't really introduced before."

Maza nods as she cuffs Alfred, "So what's that damn video anyway?"

Bard bows. "Marcus bard, but there are bigger things at hand. We need someone to veiw that tape but something tells me it maybe a focus for a menta attack, I'm not sure but it's a hunch."

Dark Horse holds up the envelope. "On a data stick. Haven't looked at it yet. But...if you're alright with it, I'd like a copy of it, officer. To analyze. And probably with a mentalist around when doing so." He nods to Bard.

Maza nods, "Sure. Toss it on HeroNET. Maybe one you capes can tell us what the hell was going on."

Bard shakes to Dark horse. "I'm not mentalist. YOu want Icon."

Dark Horse says, "Anything I find out, I'll happily let you know about, officer."

Dark Horse makes a quick copy of the data onto his PDA, and then hands over the evidence to Officer Maza, as well as the pistol.

Maza nods, "We'll get this guy sedated. Hopefully some mentalist will be able to help him."

Dark Horse nods, "He might come out of it on his own, but I wouldn't count on it."