Log:Unlucky Finds

All Hail the Carrion Queen 2014/10/04 Bullet Chen Paragon Shoro

1

Artists' Quarter

This district is bisected by Pennyroyal Lane, which runs southwest to northeast, winding down from Colonial Heights then continuing on the level to Golden Sands. And "artistic" flare permeates the whole district, but its nature varies greatly, from the truly (or pretentiously) artistic in the housing, cafes and galleries east and south of the road, through the showy, even garish, commercialism around Pennyroyal Lane, to the more suspect pleasures of the red light district in the north and east.

Lucky Finds

This store, on the southeastern side Pennyroyal Lane a block of beyond its descent from Colonial Heights, lacks the flashing lights of many of its neighbours, and looks quite old-fashioned in comparison. It is, however, cheered up by a colorful large hand-painted sign declaring it to be "Lucky Finds". A lot of old furniture can be seen through its display window.

Chen says, "They were delicious, Bullet. Thank you. Which reminds me, sausages for tricks. I owe you some tricks. Roll over and play dead maybe, for a start." The tiger laughs."

"Well, now that I know what tricks you are capable of, I think I'll either save this one up for later, or suggest playing in traffic as a trick." says Bullet, a bit too fast, the words clipped since to her, she's talking like... oooooookaaayyyyyy...

Bullet, Chen, and Paragon are on patrol through the city. As the trio near Lucky Finds, it's clear something is amiss. The old-fashioned store's large display window has smashed inwards, and display items knocked aside. From the darkened store, two figures lumber out, shrouded in tattered cloaks with hoods, and desiccated hands clutching ghostly blades. And behind the vanguard, one of the living is emerging with a large tome under one arm, and an amulet in the other. This man is also wearing robes, but new and well kept, with golden runes around the bottom hem, and another concealing hood. The man looks up with darkened eyes and sees the approaching heroes. Perhaps it took too long to locate the Book. And then his eyes find something of interest...and he speaks a word of power.

"Huh...something...doesn't feel..." Perhaps Paragon misunderstood who was supposed to roll over and play dead? In mid leap she just...deactivates? Her eyes turn off and she goes limp, crashing face down into the ground instead of her usual style of landing.

As Paragon crashes limply to the ground, Chen changes form to a sabre-tooth tiger and roars with primal rage while leaping at the man who spoke.

For a moment, Bullet is less aware of Paragon slowing down to nothing because... everything is that slow to her. Her eyes dart about, seeking rooftop armored figures when she -does- think about it, and then she looks over, sees the guy with the book... zeroes in on the book, the runes, and then she grabs Paragon and whooshes away around a corner, hopefully getting her out of sight from the man with the book. Her plan is to come back after getting Paragon out of danger...

Chen transforms to her most fearsome shape, the sabre-tooth tiger stirring ancient fears embedded in the subconsious, in mid leap as she goes for the mage's throat with her teeth.

One of the undead guards jumps in between the mage and the leaping Chen tiger. Jaws close of the guard and powerful neck muscles reand and tear befor tossing the guard to the side out of the way.

Dusty, dried skin tears away, as well as some of the hood. It makes no sound of pain or fear. Just an angry, dry hiss before it's tossed back and to the ground.

Startled by the sudden ferocity and the short work made of one of his guard. "Get up, you simpleton! Slay them!" he rasps. With a gesture, he wards himself. A dark field ripples around him. He's still visible, but shielded.

The standing undead guard reaches out a boney looking hand to try and simply touch the sabertooth, its fingers gnarled as they grasp. The fallen undead guard gets to its feet and draws a ghostly blade from within its robes and charges forward towards Chen.

Chen ignores the chilling touch. The ghost blade on the other hand cuts deep into her flank spilling hot blood onto the sidewalk.

Skidding to a stop, Bullet lowers Paragon from the over-shoulder-grip and sets her on the ground. "Damn... don't wanna leave you alone but... Chen.. old man... stay here, be right back!" she remarks as she whooshes off in a golden blur of dust and skids to a stop a few meters from the altercation. "So, what did I miss?" she asks

Chen tells Bullet when she returns, "Be careful of the blades. They're ghostly shape." The tiger has a deep gash cut in her right flank with blood spilling onto the sidewalk.

Chen morphs to Stinger mode and reaches out for the blade that cut her.

Chen shifts to weretiger form as she switches mass, muscle, and armored hide to stinger mode.

Chen twists the blade from the undead's fingers and swings it feeling for the balance. She girns, a fang filled girn, "Now I have a sword too. Ho Ho Ho..."

The necromancer scowls. "You will not sway me from my task, wretched lycanthrope," he spits out the words. He stows the amulet within his robes. As he withdraws his hand, it starts glowing with ghastly green power, sending a blast of eldritch energy at Chen.

Chen snarls at the necromancer, "I don't want to sway you. For what you did to my sister I'm going to slay you."

"Ah.." begins Bullet, "Ah." she continues from right beside the old man as she tries to snatch the amulet out of his hand.

Ending up beside Chen, Bullet just shrugs, "That didn't go as planned. He zigged where I zagged. Be right back."

"Your...sister? That thing?" The necromancer laughs coldly. "A mere puppet. What care you for the dead?" With a blur of motion, bullet sweeps by, but he sees it with plenty of time to herk his hand away. Spry old man. He stows the amulet in his robes. "Trying to take my prize? I think not." His hand glows green and he sends a blast of magical energy Bullet's way.

Chen asks worriedly, "How is Paragon? Is she...." Chen can't even bring herself to ask if Paragon is dead.

"She's resting. I set her down.." and Bullet is interrupted by a magical blast that strikes her, sends her reeling backwards. She compensated by executing a perfect back handspring like she does when cheerleading, and she ends up on her feet, "Seriously?" she asks with an incline of her head, "Is -that- all you've got?"

The undead guards lurch forward with menace, their hoods concealing their gruesome faces. The one with a sword still remaining in-hand slashes at Bullet. The other attempts to grab Chen.

And the blade skids along Bullet's body, leaving a shallow cut, but nothing as deep as it really should have done, "Hey careful! You could really hurt someone with that!" she calls out.

Chen is currently in the form of a weretiger woman shape with human hands and a snarling fang filled face. She has a blade gripped in one hand and a deep gasp leaking blood on her right flank.

Yutaka has arrived, having heard from some contacts that theres trouble at Lucky Finds. Amy is his friend and has been for a long time, he won't let anything happen to her pad while he can stop it. Its also a hot bed of things that are best left undiscovered. He ducks into an alley before arriving and suits up. He tries for the stealthy approach, hoping to get a lay of the land before acting. Jumping in head first works sometimes, but sometimes...its better to look before leaping.

The cut along her left shoulder and the outside of her left arm makes Bullet a bit upset. "Careful. That'll leave a scar." she remarks before she points up and to the right, "Look! Air!" she announces. Then she vanishes and appears behind the Necromancer. "You should really be more careful about who you try your mojo on." she remarks, reaching to try to grab the guy around the lower chest, upper abdomen area, hopefully pinning those hands so they can't reach into the robes anymore. "Chen, you think you can work with a new partner and take out those minions?" she asks.

Chen says, "But I..." She starts to protest. She wants to get to the necromancer, to hurt him for what he did to her sister. But she nods and sighs, "Okay."

"You're worried about a little scarring? Your vanity--" and the necromancer wheezes out at the squeeze, his words cut short briefly.

Shoro watches what goes on, and thinks the sword wielders are at the beck and call of the Magician, but they seem like they are the muscle of the mage..the mage is tied up, so the zombies it is.."Time to dance.." he says to himself, as he teleports in behind one of the zombies, the closest, and sweeps the feet out from it...

It's a solid blow that sends the undead guardian stumbling forward before it regains its footing and controls its momentum.

Chen clearly knows which end of a sword is the sharp one. Seeing the other sword wielder is being dealt with she gores from the one that cut her. She feints once, twice, and then swings her 'borrowed' blade in a slicing horizontal cut intent to decapitate the undead guard she is facing.

The undead guard's shoulder and neck are cut into, but its head remains on its shoulders. It makes a rasping, rattling breathy noise in response.

The Necromancer tries to turn his gaze to Bullet, but can't. For that, he'll make her friends suffer. His angry eyebrows narrow intensely at the weretiger.

With just a glare, the Necromancer inflicts Chen with pain. The pain of death, hunger, a chilling cold down to the bone that will not cease...

Chen asks the necromancer, "Can you resurrect? I do hope so. That way I get to kill you more than once." It hurts but not as much as the necromancer thinks. Chen has no fear of death.

Since she didn't see the mental stuff starting up, Bullet can put two and two together when the effect hits Chen, "Hey now, that's cheating." she mutters as she lifts the guy off the ground and then WHOOSH, she's carrying him over to a corner of where two buildings meet, into the V of that corner where she plants the guy's forward half into said corner, "If you are good, I'll let you out of the corner.. eventually." she mutters.

The necromancer lets out a muffled cry as he's crushed against the corner of the wall, indignant rage written across his face for none to see. The Undead guards at least show some intelligence. As the necromancer is whisked off, they both turn their heads to him and start to follow.

Hearing the guards coming from behind, Bullet says, "Okay guys. Any time now. Zombies and I... okay most Zombies and I, don't mix well." she adds as she headbutts the back of the Necromancer's head, trying to bash his forehead into the wall. It's a headbutt daisy chain or domino reaction.

Another bash against the wall, and the necromancer goes limp. The tome is pinned to him along with his arms, but he no longer grips it.

Shoro knows the zombies are too far for him to get to and act, so he just teleports in front of the sword bearer. As he appears, he just waits to intercept...

Chen reaches out to the zombie heading away from her with two hands. Growing a third arm and hand for the sword. Then she tries to grab it and pull it back to the waiting blade.

Chen grabs the zombie and pulls it back onto the waiting blade impaling it through and through. After a brief shudder the zombie becomes a dead weight, rather that undead weight.

The remaining servant of the necromancer charges for its master. With Shoro in the way, it aims to slash right through him with its ghostly blade. If it had lips, it would be snarling. But since those rotted away years ago, all that remains is gnashing teeth and pulled skin.

"Gimme that." mutters Bullet as she takes the tome from the Necromancer. "Total Necro Loser.. hrmmm... Necrooser?" she shakes her head and gives the guy a little shove towards the wall as she turns, sits down on the guy's slumped body and glances at the book's cover. "Anyone know if I should try Klatu Verata Nikto before I open this thing?!" she calls out.

The Zombie for all its earthly speed, undead strength, and unnatural skills with the sword Shoro simply sidesteps the blow..and a fist glows..ready to return the favor.

Shoro turns eyes on The last zombie standing, he focuses and his strength, chi, and technique become one, the blue glow surrounding his fist envelopes his body as he works to end this now.

The fist comes into contact with the Zombie, and the life force of his chi, and the anti-life force holding the zombie together interact with explosive results, his fist goes through the zombie as it explodes into dust and bones, and when the air clears, Shoro is left standing silent with his fist outstretched. He slowly brings his fist back to his side, takes in a deep breath as the blue glow that surrounds him fades away...

Chen is torn between tearing the necromancer limb from limb or going to check on Paragon. But Paragon checking wins. Although she's almost scared to go. At the moment she can hope Paragon will be okay. Going to check runs the risk of discovering she isn't. It's with fear as a companion that she goes to where Bullet took Paragon.

Then again, Bullet is sitting on.. oh shit. "Hey, watch this loser." she mutters before she dashes off to check on Paragon herself. "I promised I'd be back and totally spaced out. Damn..."

Shoro see's Chen go running he's not sure whats going on, but he teleports over to Bullet and says, "Better take the amulet too."

It's not as though Paragon was in any condition to hear the promise, let alone scold for not keeping it. She is exactly as Bullet left her...

But as he gets there, all he hears is "Hey, watch this loser." and Bullet is gone. "I guess I will do it.." he says as he grabs the amulet and tries to take it from the necromancer.

"Okay, I got this book. Anyone know if it'll help Paragon?" asks Bullet as she appears over Paragon's form. "Oh, some guy in black is watching the Necro Boob."

Chen is there already, in Chen shape, holding Paragon in her arms and sobbing pitifully. "You can't be dead. Please, come back to me." she is saying.

Paragon remains as she was, propped up against a wall with her helm tilted down and her eyes deactivated. If one is quiet enough, the electrical hum of her cybernetics can be heard and are still running.

Zipping out onto the sidewalk, Bullet waves to Shoro, "Hey, guy... kicky punchy guy! Over here!" she says. Then she ducks back into the alley. "Think the shop owner might be able to help?" she asks Chen.

Shoro cocks his head to the side, then grabs the necromancers neck and drags him towards where Chen is. Once there his eyes widen, though they are unseen behind his mask, and he says nothing but his hands start to glow as he shoves the limp body of the necromancer against the wall, holding him by the neck...

Chen doesn't answer Bullet. She doesn't even seem to be aware Bullet and now Shoro are there. She searted on the ground holding Paragon in her arms and rocking back and forth in racking sobs.

"I think... we need to wake up the Necro Loser." mutters Bullet. She looks to Shoro and inclines her head. "Careful.. apparently he can smack your brain by looking at you." she adds before she hrms... "we need a blindfold."

The blue healing power of Shoro's Chi infuses the necromancer just enough and the Necromancer rouses barely enough to realize what is happening. As the Necromancer's eyes flutter, Shoro's hand closes very tightly on the throat of the necromancer, and he says in low even tones, emotionless tones, "You will undo whatever it is you have done to Paragon, or I will kill you..I will crush you and make your death as long and drawn out as I need to."

"Whoa.. whoa..." says Bullet. "I said blindfold! I did not say Bad Cop!" She places a hand on Shoro's shoulder and narrows her eyes, "Ease off." she adds.

Shoro's hand remains glowing..clutched around the necromancer's throat.

The necromancer's eyes widen in genuine fear at Shoro's threat. Until Bullet reprimands him. "Sure...your friends...would not allow..." he rasps as best he can with a hand closed tight on his throat.

Shoro laughs a quiet deadly laugh. "These are not my friends..."

"He's right. I don't even know this guy. Which... is why I'm about three seconds away from letting you -join- this guy against the wall." mutters Bullet.

Shoro's hand tightens. "I only need one."

Chen lifts her head at the sound of the necromancer's voice. Tenderly she lowers Paragon back against the wall. Then she changes in a instant to sabre-tooth tiger form and snarls leaping at the necromancer with lips curled back and fangs jutting.

The necromancer isn't as stupid as perhaps Bullet would believe. His eyes see through Shoro's deception. Barely. "You're bluffing. You wouldn't." But Chen, grief stricken and full of rage, definitely looks like she would...

"Whoa Chen! Kill him and he can't undo it!" says Bullet as she bravely steps into the way. "Seriously... no eating the bad guys, please." And now she thinks.. great, bad cop, worse cop.

Shoro smiles, "You're right I won't kill you. I will simply bring you back after hurting you..over and over again." too bad the smile is hidden behind his mask, but the he allows his eyes to show, and the darkness of his past reflect in his eyes. This time he is not lying.

Chen pauses just a barely noticable instant at Bullet's words. Then she's trying to move around Bullet in a flowing feline fashion. If she manages to pass she will leap onto the necromancer, front paws on his shoulders, and snarling fanged face just inches from his own.

The necromancer has been intimate enough with death to believe and fear the threat. Threats. Two of them. And he is unwilling to bargain that Bullet is fast enough to deal with both. "Very well. It is no further consequence to me if it lives again." And the consequences should Paragon not are very apparent.

Bullet is fast.. fast enough to be in the way wherever Chen moves to, "Seriously. Come on Chen. What would Paragon do? What would she -want- you to do?" she asks, trying to stay in the way here.

Shoro says simply, "less talk, more do."

Chen continues to try and get to the necromancer, hampered by not wanting to simply batter Bullet out of her way. The snarling never ceases and it's clear what will happen if Chen gets by.

It's not just speed. Bullet is as strong as Chen, though she may not look it. She just.. does her best to be an obstacle and hold back her friend. She doesn't want her to regret doing something that Paragon might look down upon.

The necromancer nods weakly at Shoro's threat, eyeing the savage Chen nervously. With a strained gulp swallow that Shoro can feel in his grip, the Necromancer turns his head to Paragon. Licking his dry lips once, he speaks another word of binding, similar to before but in reverse as he undoes the binding. The results are...none too stellar. There is no crack of thunder or glowing light or magic sigils. He has no need of these.

Paragon remains propped up where Chen tenderly put her to rest. And so she remains. After a few moments, the fingers on her right hand manage an uncoordinated twitch.

Shoro holds tight "A lot of pain depends on the results..this had better work."

"It -will- work!" hisses the Necromancer pridefully.

A quiet groan escapes Paragon as she lurches forward from her seated position, dimly glowing lines appearing in her helm's eye slots. Her movements are sluggish. Almost drunkenly. Her body still lacks coordination. She leans forward and tries to stand up, then slumps back down in a seated position weakly. "....right..." she finishes the sentence she started before she collapsed. Her eyes flicker and the lines thicken as her eyes open a bit more. The helm pans around in a wobbly manner. "How'd I get over here...?"

When Paragon begins to move, Bullet gestures, "Chen, look... she's okay." And Bullet tosses a small pebble to clang off of Paragon's armor, "Hey Para. Chen here's a little mad that Necro-Tard here turned you off. Ninja boy seems to have him well in hand... and I taught him what wall tastes like but... Can you talk some sense into our sausage loving friend here?"

Shoro sees that Paragon is moving..coherent, but not close to 100 percent. "How long until she is herself?" the mask reforms over his eyes hiding any view of his face. He focuses more chi into his fist, and tightens the grip a fraction..which is plenty.

Chen hears the sound from behind her and spins around. She reverts to Chen and jumps forward, extending her arms to hold and hug Paragon, "You're alive!" she says. Then she looks at Bullet and says "Thanks. It was all a bluff of course. I wouldn't have eaten him. He'd probably taste rotten anyway." Now she's acting. Her rage and intent were genuine. But no reason to let Paragon know that.

Paragon still doesn't quite understand what's going on, but tries to follow along with Bullet's help and the comments of others. As Chen holds her, she tries to hug back, but can't quite coordinate as much. But she's doing decently for one who is mostly dead. With concentrated effort, she lefts her right hand and lightly plunks it down on Chen's head to ruffle her hair. "'course I am, kiddo. Why wouldn't I be?" she grins behind the faceplate, but she sounds tired. She looks over to Bullet. "Sense? She seems fine to me."

The necromancer's breath is cut short by Shoro's grip. "A few minutes? A few hours?" Magic, not always a precise science.

Stopping her frantic blocking movements, Bullet slumps down on the ground, her speed aura fading away as she starts sucking in great gulps of air. "Okay, works for me. Now.. Go ahead and Ninja that guy into a cell somewhere. Oh... that book.. why did you want it so badly?"

The nercromancer chooses now to exercise his right to remain silent, ignoring Bullet's question.

Shoro continues the grip. "Answer her." a fraction more on the grip.

"You know, I really don't have the energy to stop anyone from killing you anymore Necrotard." remarks Bullet. "So, it's up to you...

"Aghh! For its power! It's a magical tome," The necromancer gasps out. "I did as you asked. Let me go, or take me to jail."

Shoro says, "What about this?" he asks as he lifts the amulet he tore from the necromancer's neck. "What does this do?"

Chen remarks while still holding Paragon in her arms, "The amulet. Has anyone taken that from him?"

"I think the ninja... ninja'd it." says Bullet, looking to Shoro with brows raising inquitively.

Paragon's head tilts upwards ever so slightly to Bullet at her talk of stopping people from killing, then it slowly pans to Shoro as she continues to piece things together.

The necromancer growls out reluctantly, "A magical amplifier."

Nevermind the fact that Chen may be able to shapeshift wounds away, but Bullet is still bleeding from the cut along her arm and shoulder. It'll heal.. but she doesn't have that.. stupid fast regen stuff. She takes a deep breath and stands, "I'll take 'im to the authorities." Then she grins at the guy, "I hope you like speed." she remarks as she reaches for the guy....

Shoro keeps the amulet tight in his hands, "You mean My magical amplifier."

"Seriously. I got this." remarks Bullet. She grins to Shoro, "Thanks for being so Ninja and Chen, keep an eye on Paragon, eh?" That said... if allowed, she'll take hold of the guy and say, "now, I do have one weak arm, so, if you bounce once or twice off of the sidewalk, I apologize in advance."

Shoro says, "Hold Speedster..I'll help you." he throws the necromancer on the ground hard and turns to heal Bullet. "I can heal you, just give me a few seconds..""

Chen nods to Bullet. Turning to the necromancer she warns him, "If you ever do that to my sister again I *will* kill you. I won't let anyone stop me. I will find you and I will kill you. Do we understand each other?"

And raising a brow... the speedster just shakes her head, "My name is Bullet, as in faster than a speeding..." She takes a breath, her aura back on. She taps her foot, looks at her fingernails, glances upwards and then when the guy -finally- heals her, she grins, "Took you long enough." she remarks before she whips the guy up over one shoulder and then... WHOOSH!

Shoro shakes his head, and moves over to Paragon and Chen. "Are you two ok?.." his hands still glowing ready to heal..

Chen tells Paragon, "Patrol is over for tonight. I'm taking you home." She looks at Shoro, "Thank you. I owe you one. A big one."

Chen's right side is marked by blood spread over a large area. "I'll heal. Can you do anything for my sister?" she tells Shoro.

Shoro shakes his head, "No Chen..neither you nor Paragon owe me anything. We don't do this for debits and credits. There is no bank. We do what we do for the right reasons. I am simply glad I was able to help."

Shoro kneels. "I can try..."

"But..but I didn't overdo it. Honest," Paragon insists as she tries to stand up. She makes it to her feet. For a moment. Before she wobbles and slumps against the wall. "Oooookay. Maybe no more patrol." She stops fighting her instinct to try and do more. "Don't tell Porter." That's her next concern. She would never live this down after he warned her particularly this night.

Chen smiles, "My lips are sealed, Paragon. You didn't overdo things. You just encountered a guy who could use your nature against you."

Shoro lays his hand's on Paragon's shoulders and takes a deep breath, summoning more of his own life force, he draws it in, again the full body glow comes and can visibly be seen transferring from him to her.

Shoro puts one fist on the ground supporting his weight. The transference of his energy to her seems to have taken a lot out of him, but conversely should have put a lot into her.

Paragon's occasional breathing becomes less worn and ragged. She feels some strength return to her as life energy is returned to her weakened body. "That feels...a -lot- better," she says as she pushes away from the wall, able to stand on her own now. She looks down at the palm of her hand and wiggles her fingers with more coordination, happy to see that her body will once again obey her mind. "Thank you for the help, Shoro. And Chen," she smiles behind her faceplate to her sister. "So...what did I miss? And you weren't serious about that killing talk, were you...?"

Chen grows a second set of arms so she can support both Paragon and Shoro. "I think both of you need to rest and have a hot meal. I'm not as good as you in a kitchen, Sis, but I know my way around one. Let's go back to Bayside and let you both relax and rest."

Shoro accepts the help from Chen..able to stand on his own with the help. "He simply needs to know there will be consequences for his actions Paragon. That's all it was."

Chen turns a troubled gaze to Paragon. "I'm sorry. But yes. If he had killed you he would not have lived to enjoy it, Paragon. I try to be good, to follow the rules. But I'm both Wolfguard and Dragon."

Chen adds, "Neither of which suffers slights gladly."

Paragon's eyes dim slightly. "You know I wouldn't want that...right?" she says softly.

Shoro nods, "Hopefully it will act a deterrent. Hopefully we will never have to balance the scales between vengence and justice."

Chen says, "I know, Sister. But I wasn't thinking all that clearly."

Shoro pulls his holo and calls the cops explains what happens, hopefully they can get in touch with Amy and let her know what happened. o (I might have to get a security system in place for her shop).

Paragon's head pans from Chen to Shoro. "I'm surprised you think that's an acceptable consequence..." she murmurs in surprise. She looks back to Chen and ruffles her hair once more if allowed. "I'm sorry. Let's go to Bayside, shall we?"

Chen picks up both Paragon and Shoro if they allow it and grows wings to take the direct as the crow flies route back to Paragon's home in Bayside.

Shoro cocks his head to the side. "Paragon, I did not say it was acceptable, I simply said it was a consequence." as they are flown back to Bayside. "Had he not returned you back to us, I do not know if I could have stopped Chen in any case."

Paragon frowns gently behind her faceplate. "If Chen will be unable to stop herself, I will just have to hope someone else will before she does something she regrets," she says softly.

Shoro says, "God grants life, it is man's arrogance that believes they have the right to take that which god has freely given." he says to Paragon, "Or so my old master used to say." They are near Colonial Heights when Shoro says to Chen, "This is where I get off...I have more work to do tonight." he allows the mask to cover become a cowl and smiles to Paragon. "I am glad I could help." and with a Blue Pop he is gone."

Chen thinks as she flies, and finally tells Paragon, "If he had killed you the only regret I would have had is knowing you wouldn't approve. I would not have regreted the act itself. Not then. And not later. Some people have no place in this world."

Paragon's eyes blink off and on a few times. Chen's words worry her. "I hope I can get you to reconsider some day. I would not want a life to be taken because of me." She remains quiet the rest of the way home, saving her energy.

All Hail the Carrion Queen