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Action, Plot Emitter: Cordelia
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NPCs |
Human Cultists, Centipede Demon
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Factions |
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Music |
Darling Violetta, "The Catharsis of Sufferance (Sanctuary Mix)"
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Dawn tries to make peace between Angel&Faith, and Giles. Cordy walks in with a vision, leading a demon cult led by a Centipede demon, all shouting something about Glory to the Ficus. Or possibly Glorificus...
7/6/2015 7:00 PM
Hyperion Hotel Golden Gate Park San Francisco
The Hyperion Hotel[]
The lights are on, illuminating the area.
The California-Spanish building known as the Hyperion Hotel was built in the 20s. Through the cast iron gates from the sidewalk is a small front courtyard with a rectangular fountain and a mythological figure holding a bowl from which water flows. Greenery frames the walls and a large set of glass double doors open into a high ceilinged lobby. Dark red carpet descends the four steps to the lobby floor and climb the two sets of stairways that lead to the second floor. The green marble floors are accented with wavy red inserts, as are the walls have a complimentary red border running their length. A set of doors identical to those of the entrance lead to a small enclosed garden.
Cream-colored pillars line two sides of the room, holding up the second-floor balconies that look out onto the lobby and creating arches. Underneath one of them is a large plate glass window that looks into the hotel office - now used as the office and nerve center of Angel Investigations. Nearby, there's a wraparound counter with dark wood paneling and a top the same color as the floor. Behind it are filing cabinets and a pair of desks pushed together. A navy blue circular couch harkening back to a 50s design sits near the back of the lobby. A large wooden, glass-doored cabinet pushed up against the wall holds a large assortment of weapons.
Outside, it's overcast and warm.
Though she isn't supposed to come here for training anymore, Dawn has decided to try to put yourself into a peacemaking role between Angel and Giles. Probably futile, but she's decided to try. So, she's here today, talking to Angel, "... and if you just go talk to him, you might be able to work things out. Now that Angelus will never be coming back. And maybe it'll help, being able to talk to each other about stuff, like this weirdness around me."
Angel considers that. "I would like to make peace with him, and I'd like to hope the removal of Angelus goes a long way towards making that possible. But...even if Angelus is gone, I still wear the face of the man that tortured him and killed Jenny. Giles was able to logic out the difference between myself and Angelus long ago...but anger and hurt and betrayal aren't answered by logic."
"Angelus *might* never be coming back," Cordelia points out, closing her Macbook and pushing up to her feet. "But if I've learned anything in the time I've spent working with Angel, it's never to--ooh." She frowns and lifts a hand to her head. "Oooh!" Stumbling forward, right at Angel and Dawn both, she seems to have her surroundings visually replaced as she all but collapses like a house of cards.
Dawn nods to Angel, "I guess." She looks to Cordelia, and then blinks. She reacts quickly, though, stepping forward to try to catch Cordelia before she can fall. She's small, but she's strong, not that Cordelia is all that heavy to start with. "What's wrong?" She looks to Angel, "I'm not doing this to her, right?" Probably remembering how Lorne reacted to her.
Angel also moved to catch Cordy, but Dawn beat him to the punch this time. He was right there, though, with that reaction time of his. "No, it's not you, Dawn. Cordelia gets visions. They're basically my orders from the Powers that Be. It means somebody needs help. And we're going to help them."
It's a brief enough thing. Dawn's enough to support Cordy, although Cordelia does seem to be in some serious discomfort for the process. Once she's out of it, though, coming back to her surroundings, back to her senses, she looks much more exhausted than only seconds before. "Golden Gate Park," she manages, leaning heavily on Dawn. She may not be weighty herself, but right now the girl is effectively a crutch to Cordelia. "Skull...thing. Maybe a cult? Or just really unfashionable renfaire rejects. Somebody's gonna die in five minutes."
Dawn Summers blinks, but then nods, looking back to Cordelia and continuing to stand there and support. "Five minutes? Can we get there that fast? I guess we can, or they wouldn't have sent the orders, duh," she adds, answering her own question.
Angel grumbles only for a moment. "Knew I should've been patrolling the Park tonight. Let's go." With only 5 minutes to get there, Angel's gonna be abusing vamp speed the whole way there. "Dawn, with me. And RUN!" Angel dashes out the door, billowing trenchcoat behind him. That's why Champions HAVE super speed.
Being the only one without some sort of speed boost, Cordy's forced to more or less just jump in Angel's arms and hope he doesn't drop her. She's not able to grab her crossbow, at least not unless Angel manages to grab it for her, but she's determined to come along. She did combat training with Angel this week! She's at least twenty-five percent more capable in a fight now.
The park is very quiet, which helps when people need to find a cult. Even the cult and its members are quiet, though, chanting pretty much under their breath. There are a few snatches of occasional words or syllables that settle on the ear. Demon this, glory that, ficus whatever.
Wait, what?
"That's not how you pronounce that. Geez, I swear. Demonic cultists." Cordelia points out, although slightly indelicate in her proclamation. Because it's so quiet. Hopefully Angel wasn't trying to be stealthy.
There are about a dozen of the cultists, robed in black and red, with one of them -- presumably the leader -- in brilliant white. There are some kind of runes around the hoods and front of all of the robes. Candles are lit. A young man lies unconscious but still alive, visibly breathing, on a kind of plinth in front of the leader.
Golden Gate Park[]
The western side of the park features a number of athletic fields, open meadows, and lakes. Also located here are the Golden Gate Park Stadium in the center of the area and Murphy's Windmill near the southwest corner. By contrast, the northwest corner features the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden and the Dutch Windmill. This area also features a dog training field, senior center, model yacht racing area, bison paddock, and equestrian center. For fishermen there are the fly casting pools and Anglers Lodge, and of course the park has its own golf course. Amidst the more grown-up diversions, a playground can be found along the south side of the park. The western edge of the park stands atop the cliffs of the coast, overlooking the shimmering Pacific Ocean. The eastern entrance to the long stretch of Golden Gate Park is preceded by a block-wide strip of parkland extending eight blocks towards down. Here, a gate offers one of the many access points to the park itself. Major features in this area are the children's playgrounds and carousel, tennis courts, several sports fields, and the large Sharon Meadow. A bit farther in one can find the Conservatory of Flowers, the oldest glass-and-wood Victorian greenhouse in the Western Hemisphere and home to more than 10,000 plants from around the globe. Several buildings, such as the California Academy of Sciences and a few museums, are housed in the center beyond the Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers, and near the western edge of this area of the park is the Japanese Tea Garden. The park is a world away from the city, with enough trees to feel like a forest broken up by cobbled paths and dirt trails in between broad lawns and playgrounds. There are several large ponds or small lakes, and even a waterfall or two. It is cool and peaceful here, and it's large enough that even though the park is very popular there always seems to be room for everyone. The evening's stars are mostly hidden by dark clouds above.In summer, nighttime temperatures approach an average of 50?F. Plants and flowers are in full bloom thanks to the warm summer weather. It's overcast and warm.
Breaking into a run, Dawn follows, even laughing a little as she runs. It's not often, with the risk of exposure, that she gets to really run at her top speed. As they arrive on the scene, she doesn't think much of stealth either, just growing angry as she sees the innocent. "Hey," she shouts as they approach, "Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back?"
Angel puts Cordy down...and hands her that crossbow he cleverly managed to grab as he ran out the door. Good thing Angel has a perfect memory, and makes good use of it for combat. Angel takes point in this situation...the vision was meant for him after all, and while Dawn's great support, she's not a fully trained Slayer yet and he knows it. Cordy, at least, can hang back and snipe. A couple cultists take swings at Angel, but it's essentially goons against a superhuman warrior, and they're badly outclassed. But it takes him a moment to notice he's not the primary target here...and perhaps it's not even the man he was sent here to save...
It's night, so maybe even Angel wouldn't have lurked in the shadows for too long. There's something to be said for the advantage of surprise, but this is going to be more of a fair fight. Aside from the part where they're outnumbered about four to one, but then they do have a vampire and a potential slayer on their side. The cries of "GET HER!!" from the white-robed leader don't seem to need any clarification, and the cultists all seem to focus on Dawn, swarming at her like a bunch of bees to honey.
Cordy smiles as Angel gives her the crossbow. Yeah, these are humans. Probably. But she doesn't really care that much. She locks and loads a couple of bolts and takes out two of the robed goons rushing Dawn. "HEY! That's my frenemy's sister. I get dibs on catch-up time." Especially since she still can't remember Dawn, no matter how she tries. One of the cultists manages to grab Cordy from behind, but thinking fast, she throws her head back and...butts him. "OW. Oh god Angel, why didn't you tell me how much that hurts?" At least the cultist is off her though.
The leader, however, isn't ready for this to be done. He pulls the hood back to reveal -- a skull-like mask! Maybe that's what Cordelia was seeing in her vision? It starts to transform into reality, with warped horns and...muscle? Muscle tissue? It looks really disgusting. The robe bursts as it expands into a fuller form. Like some kind of skeletomuscular centipede. Like nothing even Angel could ever have seen before. And now it's headed for the sacrifice, but it has its eyes on Angel.
Dawn's eyes widen, as they all swarm at her. But, she fights, punching and kicking at each opponent who comes close. Still, they come, and she starts having to parry and duck from blows as well, pushing her still meagre training to the limit. "You know, there are three of us."
There may be 3 of them, but Angel's busy dealing with the leader who clearly has some powers of his own and eyes on the sacrifice. "Ya know, you kinda bug me." But Angel, at least for the moment, takes advantage of the time it takes his opponent to upshift to a fighting form to dash forward...and grab the sacrifice guy and get him out of the way. Not that he can spend much time on it...barely has time to throw the victim behind a bush before turning to face the unleashed demon. Angel takes a fighting stance, and, "Cordy, support Dawn. I've got this."
"Okay!" Cordelia calls out. She has to push the pain back. It's not like it's much worse than the migraine-level pain she feels with a vision, anyway. She picks up her crossbow again, kicking down the off-balance cultist that tried to grab her. Hurrying over to Dawn's side, she knees one of the cultists and throws him aside, then smashes into another with the butt of the crossbow and kicks her away. She really has taken a lot from Angel's training, even if it is more or less just trying to make anything on-hand into something to attack with.
The thing that was the leader, however, is a lot harder to deal with. It's at least three times Angel's size, and it looks like anything and everything it could make contact with will cause some serious bleeding, if not dire injury. And it has all those segments! It really is like an evil hell centipede thing. And once Angel's back from getting the would-be sacrifice out of the way, it's attacking him in a graceful and devastatingly fast manner.
And probably doesn't help that Dawn is holding back. Not a lot, but these are humans, so she's swinging with less force than she'd use against the vampire. Of course, she doesn't hold back totally. People usually don't die from broken arms and legs, so she's a little more violent when attacking those, aiming to quickly disable. "Thanks," she says quickly to Cordelia, flashing a smile before turning back to punch a cultist in the nose, and kick and others knee so hard it bends backwards.
Angel initially doesn't make any offensive moves against the monster. Anything that big was something he'd be playing defense again until he saw how its attack patterns worked. It was fast, but he was faster, and frankly, he did this for an unliving. But first, he's gotta use the environment against this thing. He dodges and sidesteps, not attempting to do much blocking against something that big, but he's also luring the thing towards a tree. And stands right in front of that tree. "Here I am..." And when it charges forward, he dodges one last time, letting its own momentum carry it face first into the tree. Now he just needed to find a weak point he can attac while it's distracted...gotta be something...
It's a little clumsy at first, probably from getting used to the new form, new plane, new everything. Soon, however, it's matching Angel for speed and deadly efficiency, and the lure works! Tangled in the tree, it's attacked and seems to feel pain from it. There isn't a singular weak spot, but instead there are a lot of vulnerable areas. Though it doesn't remain tangled forever, and when it gets free...it's ready to tangle with Angel.
Cordy smiles as she renders the two remaining cultists doing nothing but rolling on the ground grabbing the bolts in their non-lethal areas. She does wince in sympathy to Dawn's last kick, though. That's going to take some painful setting in the hospital, when they get there. "Dawn...we need to talk about--" But she stops herself when she sees the position Angel's in. "Later. Uh, what do you think about that thing?" There's a pause. "I mean, how do you think we can kill it?"
Dawn turns to look at the creature, and her eyes widen. But after a moment, she says, "The segments, between them is soft. Maybe shoot for that?" She doesn't sound entirely sure, this is still pretty new to her. Looking back, she says, "I wish I had a sword. Or a long knife, or something."
"Good idea!" Cordy lifts the crossbow and aims...fires! The first shot bounces harmlessly off a bone formation, but the second goes right between one of the segments. When the creature shouts out in pain, Cordelia bounces in place. "Yesss! Good idea! Uh...maybe you could...there!" Looking around frantically, she points to the ritual site. There are a couple of blades there, near the sacrificial plinth or whatever it was. "Go forth and kick thee some ass."
Angel notes one of the knives being pointed out...and rolls to grab one. "C'mere..." Angel wants the centipede's attention focused on him. If it hits him, at least he can take the damage. But if he can avoid taking damage, so much the better. He kinda wishes Faith here, Faith always had a knife of her own. "I really need to remember to bring swords next time."
Dawn cheers as Cordelia hits the creature, then turns to look in the direction she points. "Awesome, thanks," she says, running over to grab one of the knives. Then she turns back, and if the creature does indeed turned to face Angel, she runs up behind to try to stab the knife between the protective segments.
The trio seem to have things down just right. This thing isn't going to last much longer, as horrifying as it looks, if Angel and Dawn finish it off. Cordelia cheers from the sidelines. One of the cultists tries, albeit rather abortively, to engage her in combat again, but she just glares at him and gestures to what's happening, as if to say "do you mind?!"
So, while Cordelia picks up cheering again, the cultist just stands there kind of unsure what to do and ends up, ultimately, staring at Angel and Dawn fighting the bizarre creature.
Angel finds himself pressed by the thing...but the more it dives at him, the more soft spots Dawn will see to stab. Eventually, in a last ditch effort, the centipede lunges at Angel, and actually clips him. Despite being a great warrior, the laws of physics are against him here, and he actually goes flying back into a tree. To accomplish that, though, it wasn't defending its back at all...
With the creature's back revealed, Dawn moves in for the kill, twisting into the attack to add more power she stabs her knife was far into the creature's back as she can push it without getting sliced by its armour.
That seems to be all that's needed. Before the thing can press its advantage against Angel, Dawn's there and striking true. The thing cries out in a cacophony of terrible noise, more than just noise on one plane; it feels like it's screaming into everyone's mind before it finally vanishes, or turns to dust, or something meaning it's not there the next minute, leaving nothing behind but the very unpleasant memory of its existence.
Cordy winces at the scream. That really cuts deep in her mind, especially with the lingering migraine-like pain of the vision's aftermath. But it's more important to her that she make sure everyone's okay. She rushes over, leaving the now-unsure cultist just standing around massaging his temples. Maybe he's rethinking his life. He didn't really attack *that* enthusiastically.
Seeing that Dawn is pretty much okay, Cordelia goes to Angel, to look for the wound. "Are you okay? All parts intact?"
"I'll...well, not live, but I'll heal." Angel seems to have been clipped by a mandable, which tore a pretty big slash along his stomach. "Hate when that happens." But in his line of work, that happens every other night. Few victories are won completely cleanly, after all. Even for a Champion like Angel.
"Yes! Ow..." Dawn celebration turns into a flinch of pain as the creature screams in her mind. But then she looks to Angel, looking concerned, "We should get you back to the hotel, or someone might call an ambulance for you." She stops to wipe any bits of creature off the knife, then tucks it away, seeming intent on keeping it. Then, she steps over to offer support to Angel, should he need it to walk.
Cordelia looks around. Just the one cultist on his feet, right? But he's just suddenly...gone. Maybe he didn't want to be taken to the hospital either. It probably wouldn't have ended well for him, to be fair. "Yeah, let's get back to the hotel. No super-speed hijinks, we'll just take it nice and slow." She moves to Angel's other side, just in case he needs support from both sides, before pausing and looking back to the little ritual area. "...let's take the ritual stuff. If nothing else, we can hock it. But having some of that around might help me when I'm doing research. Can you carry it all, Dawn?"
Still, this was a lesson. "A wound like this would be worse for you, Dawn. Or even your sister. You've gotta be careful when you fight, even with Slayer healing." At least Angel's undead, and except for a very specific list of things, he wasn't going to get killed on accident. Not even by giant centipedes. Living beings, however, could and would bleed out from wounds like this. Angel accepts the support from both sides, and will be escorted off.
Dawn Summers waits until Cordelia has Angel supported, and says, "Good idea, maybe you can find out who that was." She steps over quickly to gather the ritual supplies, then carrying them on the back to walk along with Angel and Cordelia again. To Angel, she says, "Yeah, I know."
"You know Angel," Cordy points out. "Mister Sunshine and Lollipops." She pauses for a second, trying her best to support the much heavier and more solidly-built Angel. "Moonlight and Lollipops? Anyway, you know what I mean. I'm just glad we got rid of...whatever that thing was."
Angel, esorted by a couple ladies, isn't having too terrible a night "We'll have to look it up. I'm sure Giles can figure it out, even just based on a description." At least the centipede was kind enough to dust. Most monsters he fought here didn't.
Once they get back to the hotel, Dawn drops the stuff she's been carrying onto the front desk. "I can't figure out who that was, it seemed... I don't know, just weird, the way they were just there. That isn't even making sense," she adds, shrugging.
"*I* can figure it out. You don't have to call Giles when you have me back." Cordelia chimes in, only a little huffy in her response. "Maybe Wes is...off doing god knows what, but I have real experience in this and I'm *way* more fun." Once she's sure Angel can stand or sit or whatever on his own, she sets her crossbow down and hurries to get the first aid kit. Returning immediately, she takes a swab and starts to clean the wound. "Y'know, they seemed to really like you, Dawn. What's that about? Did you piss off an evil demonic centipede cult any time you can remember?"
Angel finds a place to sit, and he, as he said, would be fine eventually. At least the wound wasn't bleeding like it would on a living being. Among other things, Angel doesn't have a heart beat, so the blood isn't FORCED to go anywhere. It only goes when it has to. "Well, she's also a Slayer. Lots of cults want the blood or the heart or whatever of a Slayer for a ritual or whatever."
Dawn shakes her head, "I don't know!" To Angel, she says, "With Buffy, nobody usually knew until she started fighting. Unless they already knew who she was. But why would they know me?" She sounds frustrated as she says, "What is going on with me? I give Lorne a migraine, I freak out immortals, you don't remember me, Cordelia... And now this!"
Cordelia's quick and efficient with the first aid. It comes from doing it for a few years already, and she's very familiar with patching Angel up at least. "That's a point." Once it's cleaned and sterilized, then come the bandages. "Look, Dawn...I may not remember you, but I'm gonna need you to do something for me, okay?" She pats the bandaged wound, clean and dry and covered in white bandaging, before looking over to Dawn. "My friends call me Cordy. Need any patching up?"
And Angel is being repaired by his favorite Seer. Again. Must be a day ending in Y. "This...is kind of a Slayer's life, Dawn. It's not like your sister had it any better. She probably had it worse, because there were less experienced people around."
That seems to calm Dawn down, and she nods with a bit of smile, "Okay, Cordy it is. No thanks, I'm fine." She looks to Angel, and says, "Yeah, but when weird stuff happened to her, there was always a reason. Someone dreaming up a new reality, or a spell that made everybody think they're whoever they were dressed as for Halloween. So there's got to be a reason for this, too."
Cordy's been around for a while. She may be very much the kind of person who says what she thinks right when it occurs to her, but she's good at helping people feel better. Her smile slightly falters at the mention of another reality. "Had to bring *that* up," she mumbles, closing the first aid box with a click. "You're right, though. There's a reason...somewhere. But worrying about it all the time isn't gonna help. We'll just have to keep looking and see what we can find."