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Late Night Visitors; [Closed]
Topic Started: Feb 18 2014, 07:16 PM (1,114 Views)
The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Ease of access was always an illusion. Any computer nerd could have told the Black Hoods that; it was a pity that Etsuko had no idea how to work one, or it might have occurred to her to say so.

Two quiet steps after the fifth step from the top creaked under the lead Hood's feet, Etsuko made her move. What she screamed was neither witty nor particularly insightful nor intimidating or articulate in any way. The entire time she crouched in waiting, trying to keep herself from shivering with either cold or fright, her heart hammered harder and harder in her chest, she could feel blood pumping harder and harder in her neck, and when the time finally came, her body, already as tense as any spring could ever be, exploded into action without her needing to actually tell it what to do. She swung the ratty, heavy blanket and its accompanying sheet out over the stairs like a parachute aiming to drape it right over the top of whoever was coming up as they came three steps from the top. Half a second later she threw herself up in a pouncing tackle-leap at roughly torso-level.

She screamed only when she finally jumped: it was equal parts fear and desperate fury, the latter to bolster her own courage against the former, more than anything else. If she managed to hit the man at the top directly, she would likely overbalance the man badly enough to send him toppling down the stairs onto his fellows.

Whatever the result, Etsuko's scream rang through the house, and in the bedroom, Masumi Suzuki snapped awake with a twitch and a gasp.
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Czernobog
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When the lead hood heard Etsuko's yell, he brought his left arm up in a shielding motion and tensed his right arm. On level ground this would have meant he could fend off an attack more easily. On the stairs it meant he was moving the distribution of his weight upward, ruining his balance. This did, however, prepare him to try to stab through the blanket.

The other two hoods performed a quick calculation and came to different results. The other man turned to the side and slipped past the ballistic adolescent and the flailing knife man, while the woman dropped the tire iron and tried to catch the tangle of limbs that were her comrade and the teenaged girl. She stumbled back a few steps, straining to hold up the much greater mass of the two people.

She retreated instead of allowing herself to fall, which in turn put her off balance, but she didn't fall flat: she was sandwiched between the knife man and the wall at the ninety-degree turn, and air exploded out of her lungs in a rush. She struggled to draw breath and immediately began coughing when she did.

The man with the crowbar shouldered his way into Masumi's room, crowbar raised up.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Etsuko had somewhat underestimated Masumi. When she saw one of the men shoulder past her, she was confused--she despaired. They were going straight for Masumi's room, they were going straight for Masumi. She wouldn't have time to wake up properly, let alone get her gun--but--she had magic? Could the magic save her?

The thoughts were wiped from the girl's mind by a searing pain in her upper left side, and she felt the familiar sensation of metal tearing a gouge in her flesh--but the blanket and the sheet and the sweatshirt all provided enough coverage that it was a glancing cut, not a full-on stab. Etsuko flinched, for just a moment--and then grasped one side of the blanked, wrenching it upward, attempting to drape it over both the knife-wielding man and the woman he'd collided with, hoping to buy a few more precious seconds for Masumi with however long it took them to untangle themselves.

It didn't help her efforts in this that the landing was rough--she'd been saved from any painful collision by the bodies of the two she had tackled down the steps, but she could feel a warm wetness accompanying the pain beneath her armpit. But Masumi would be okay. Masumi would be okay! She had magic--

Unbeknownst to Etsuko, she also didn't need magic.

Masumi sat upright and jumped to her feet almost as soon as she heard the scream. Her first reflex was to extend her Analysis range out as far as it would go, but she didn't need to do that, she could sense no less than seven non-users very close by. It hit her almost immediately that she had no way of telling one from another--Etsuko could be any of them, and that scream--

One was coming, coming for her--

When the man shouldered open Masumi's bedroom door he would see only for a second, in the dim light filtering through the curtains, the sight of a black-haired woman with frightened blue eyes dropping a cheap blanket off her shoulder, moving toward him from the direction of the futon. The arm he held the crowbar in, the moment he swung it down, would be caught by the wrist. Her other arm would, however, reach downward, and take him by the opposite leg, behind the calf. Using the weight of his own body, the woman wrenched one leg up and out toward herself, and let go of the crowbar arm. A sharp thrust of her forearm into his chest would send him toppling backward--likely to smack the back of his head into the doorframe, unless he caught on quickly enough to alter his own angle of decent.

Masumi wasn't cognizant enough to even think of either being gentle or of hoping that his skull would hit the corner of the frame hard enough to knock him out. All she knew was that the man who'd come through the door wasn't Etsuko, and that meant Etsuko was in the middle of the bunch of them, and it was hard to tell with only the light from outside to go by, but this guy was wearing black, black all over--

The fortune-teller shrieked a desperate plea:

"WAIT! STOP! ETSUKO! SHE'S NOT ONE OF US! DON'T HURT HER, PLEASE!"
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Czernobog
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Masumi's judo had almost the desired effect. With a grunt, he struck the door frame with his shoulder and dropped the crowbar. He fought back to his feet, and adopted a boxer's stance, eyes darting around the room for some hint at something that could give him an advantage. He would have to remain between her and the crowbar until she could be forced back and he could pick it up.

The knife man sprang off of the woman behind him, grabbing the blanket with his left hand before jabbing his blade toward Etsuko, dead for the center of her mass.

It was at this moment that Masumi shouted: "WAIT! STOP! ETSUKO! SHE'S NOT ONE OF US! DON'T HURT HER, PLEASE!"

He might have succeeded in stabbing her if the woman hadn't grabbed his upper arm in a white-knuckled grip that prevented him from completing the attack. She shook her head, brow furrowed. Though it was too dark to see her eyes, they were no doubt steely and frustrated.

Click.

"We do not harm civilians. Even samaritans," the electronically-distorted voice said.

With a frustratred growl, the knife man yanked at the blanket, attempting to pull Etsuko off balance
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Masumi could barely hear it through the open door, but the voice over the radio reached her ears nonetheless. And she couldn't sense any--

Ah.

Ah.

Then either that voice was a very powerful user, or...? ...She couldn't sense any feedback, so...?

The blanket had only been a diversion in the first place. If she'd pressed her offensive she might even have jumped on the man's knife for him. Etsuko, however, wasn't idiot enough

"Etsuko... honey, get in the bathroom!" the woman shouted, backing away from the man at the door of her room. Her eyes flitted down to the crowbar on the floor. If it were just her and this man, she would have made getting his weapon away from him a top priority. Etsuko pulled back just as soon the blanket had been thrown, and knee a moment of fear as he last gambit failed. But then a voice spoke on the radio and they stopped and she could hear Masumi above her telling her to get back in the bathroom?!

"Masumi--"

"Get out of their way, Etsuko! I'm the only one I want, don't you get it?" Masumi said frantically, backing up closer to the dresses at the back of the room but making no move that indicated it was her goal; her left leg was positioned in front of her, her right a bit behind, and her hands held up, toward the man, and open. But it wasn't a stance that warned of oncoming magic; it was one that was prepared to catch any offensive action and counter it with another grapple.

Etsuko didn't budge, just backed up to the top of the stairs, eyes flitting between the Black Hoods crowded in the stairway midsection and the hallway beside her--the one that led to Masumi's bedroom and the man who'd managed to pass her by.

"Etsuko," Masumi said in a low, insistent voice. "Go hide. Now. They only kill Persona-users..."

"Then they'll hafta go full-retard murderer this time, 'cause I'm not--ggh--"

But Etsuko's shaky protest died partway through, a grunt of pain, and one small step away from the stairs was followed by her right hand moving to her left side, beneath her armpits, a little lower than her chest. She grabbed her side to feel at the pain there, and her hand pulled away slick with blood. It was difficult to see in the dark, but a splotch of red wetness had bloomed on that side, where the knife had managed a shallow but sloppy cut in her side.

Masumi's eyes were fixed on her attacker's now. That grunt Etsuko had ended on sounded bad, but she couldn't afford to let this man take her down without making sure her daughter charge was safe, and Etsuko was too stubborn to get out of the way. Masumi knew her only hope now lay in the dresser behind her: the top drawer contained three items: her self-defense pistol in a small, locked guncase which only she knew the combination to; her cell phone; and the radio she had used while she worked with the Archangels. She had to get the gun, and she had to find an opening to make a call for help.

But she couldn't sense any Persona-users around her home at all. The only hope that any of her fellows would notice something was amiss was if that Seiji boy happened to check the ring Etsuko wore. If he did that, he might cotton onto the situation and post something to the Blotter, but it would take time for any users to actually respond. So that was really just a random-chance lottery with the unlikely prize being... some high schooler on the other side of town calls in help for her.

The chances were too slim. Too slim. And she wouldn't have time to open her gun-case while any of them were right on top of her.

"I don't want to fight any of you," she tried to say. "Can we talk? It must be possible to talk this out. We all want the same thing here, I'm sure of it. I can't do anything to fight you and I can confirm that none of the others are anywhere near here. Let's settle this with words, not bludgeons and bolts of magic." She drew in a slow breath, eyes still on the man in her doorway. "Please."

"Are you kidding," Etsuko growled low in her throat, barely audible to the people on the stairs, although it might still have possibly been heard over the radio. "A bunch of ninja assassins break in to kill you and you're trying to negotiate?! Stupid, just fight--!"

Insofar as the man's search for something that might provide an advantage went, the room was extremely bare. The only dangerous or valuable things she kept were in the dresser she'd backed up against, and it just coincidentally being at the back of the room anyway made that appear as if it were an unintentional action, as if the dresser just happened to be between the cornered woman and the corner she'd been backed into. There was a one-person bed whose blanket and sheet were missing (having been appropriated by Etsuko for the purposes of taking her body heat along with her to the bathroom, thank you very much), and there was a futon beside the bed. The coverings of that one lay askew across the side, discarded in haste by Masumi upon waking.

It was cold. Masumi's breath rose in a faint mist in front of her, drifting through the beams of light illuminating the room from the window.

"The light switch," she said slowly, "is beside the door on your left-hand side, about shoulder-height. You can reach back and turn it on if you want. I won't make any sudden moves unless you do."

Masumi, what are you doing?! Etsuko thought in panic, pressing her hand against the wound on her side to slow the bleeding.
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Czernobog
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The man didn't respond to Masumi's offer to turn on the light. He kept his head pointed in her direction, and slowly lowered himself to one knee, reaching down to pick up the crowbar. The knife man pushed past Etsuko, shoving the girl down the stairs, where the woman caught her, and lowered her to a sitting position on one of the stairs.

"Try not to struggle too much," the woman whispered, taking Etsuko's hand and putting it back on the wound, firmly applying a bit of extra pressure before releasing the girl.

The knife man entered the room, pulling a flash light out and scanning the room until he spotted Masumi and focused the beam of light on her.

Click.

"There will be no discussion," the distorted voice said, its tone harsh even through the distortion. "Innocents have been hurt and abducted. Our homes have been threatened. You and yours are responsible."

The voice went silent, as if considering things.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Masumi hadn't expected a favorable reply, especially not right off the bat. When she heard the rush of movement outside and Etsuko's pained cry, she almost screamed, and slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from doing so. She made no move to stop the man from picking up his weapon.

Etsuko's eyes widened at the man's rush-in--she froze up. She had no idea what to do in this situation and couldn't think fast enough on her feet to do more than let herself be shoved down the stairs, where she found herself in the arms of one of the black-clad assassins. Her first, gut instinct was to thrash, and lash out--the assassin, the woman, was too fast. Her hand was restrained--

...No, not restrained, held against her side. Stopping the bleeding. Try not to struggle too much--?! She was released as soon as she was caught. These bastards were trying to make sure she wasn't hurt? What kind of fucking retarded logic was that? Save some innocents, kill others? What the hell were they thinking?!

"She's the--only--family--I have! This is my home, asshole!" snarled Etsuko, backing back up the stairs. "I don't care why you're here, dammit! The only ones I see threatenin' anyone's home right now is all o' you!"

"Etsuko! I said go hide!" Masumi called out of the room. "...Please, just hear me out. There isn't anyone around who can interfere anyway. If you have some way of telling what our weaknesses are like my Persona does, then... you know that. I know about the park, I know about the abductions, and I know about the other tragedies, the sinkhole at the hospital, the disappearances... a lot of them, anyway... if you could just let me explain."

She couldn't help her eyes flitting to the knife. Would she have to use her powers against these people after all? Would she even be able to keep them all back if she did? She had to keep it from coming to that if she could. The only way to reason with them was to stay on their level. Magic was intimidating. Magic was an unknown. Even nonlethal magic, sleep magic, charm magic, oh god, especially that--it was the wrong answer. It would only make things worse. It would only get worse. It couldn't stay the same. Things had to change, because they couldn't stay the same, they could only change or continue the downward spiral into the abyss.

"...We all want to stop the tragedies from happening anymore," she said, a plea slipping into her voice. "All of you, me and my fellows, we want the same thing for Nagashima. We want peace, we want the troubles to end. We want to be able to sleep at night without fear. The ones who do those things, they're as hated by us as by you. If we stop fighting and work together we can make it better. If people keep dying like this it will only get more desperate for all of us, for your side and mine, you have to see that!"

It almost brought bile to her throat, almost. The thought of working with these people, who'd killed so horrifically. But she had been willing to work with Aleksandria Fyodor, for a time. Surely that was even worse, if she thought about it...
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Czernobog
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The woman stepped back from Etsuko, the tire iron held loosely in one hand.

"Geez. The words 'human shield' and 'stockholm syndrome' come to mind."

Click.

"Silence," the distorted voice came from both radios.

The knife man moved forward and to the right. He kept his knife forward, held in a defensive posture. His shifting brought the knife into the light of the flashlight he held and the blood on the blade was briefly visible. Etsuko's blood.

Click.

"What we want is for you to be gone. Kill her."

The knife man lunged forward, pulling his arm back and launching the blade forward toward Masumi's midsection.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
"...Stockhold-what now?!" Etsuko snapped, clenching her free fist and backing further up the stairs. The muttering sounded disrespectful as hell, and the unfamiliar term only made her feel even more irate about that.

The distorted voice's response, one word, just that one word, caused Masumi to despair. "Etsuko, please, run! I can't--I can't keep you safe if--"

But there was no time. No more time to try reasoning with her adopted daughter. The man with the knife moved aside, and Masumi gasped when she saw the blood. Her eyes hardened. "Etsuko," she said, in a completely different voice. Not one that sounded inhuman; one that sounded firm. "You're bleeding. Get in the bathroom. Now!"

"Fuck that--!" she heard Etsuko growl back. Stubborn to the last.

Masumi moved with less panic and more deliberation to counter the knife-wielder. There would be no magic, on that she would not budge. She wasn't a monster, she wasn't a witch that needed burning. She was a mother defending herself in her home, and these people--they had hurt her child.

If they insisted on killing her here, they would know that.

If they followed through on murdering her here, it would be an innocent human they killed, and she would make sure they remembered that.

If that knowledge, that guilt, made even one of them think twice about killing anyone else, then... it would be worth it. Wouldn't it?

She was fighting two on one, so she had to use the area around her to her advantage. They had weapons, she didn't. She was going to die here, most likely, almost certainly. The gun was in a combination case, so she couldn't use it, but at least she probably didn't have to worry about it being taken and used to kill someone else. Her cell phone was in a drawer, switched off and off its charger, to conserve that small bit of electricity it would consume if she left it on and charging. There was the Archangel radio as well. She could call for backup quickly with that, but even so there was little hope of them getting here in time.

Etsuko was going to be hurt by this in more ways than cuts or bruises and it was all her fault. No! Not hers. Theirs. Those who turned away from the voice of reason and refused to listen. There was no one to blame but them.

Her hand moved to catch the knife-wielder's hand, driving it to the side and pulling it back, toward the dresser, aiming to force it and the man's weight into the wood. If she succeeded, that would either slow the man or deprive him of his weapon--and if able to follow through on the throw, she would twist around him, force his whole body past her, his head into the dresser door hard enough to at least daze him. The one with the crowbar hadn't moved yet, though--if ever there was a window for a counterattack in a fight like this it was when one combatant caught an opponent in the middle of grappling with another combatant...

Etsuko was shaking now. Her hand was still pressed against the bleeding wound, her eyes on the woman. There were more people downstairs. Two of them fighting Masumi. She could go and try to help or she could stay here but if she tried to help Masumi the others would come upstairs and there were too many, too many, she couldn't do anything. Nothing. She couldn't do anything except stand here and wait and hope their we don't kill civilians rule, their stupid rule, their idiot rule, might give Masumi a chance at not getting killed.

If I had magic like Masumi, these guys would be so dead right now, she thought, impotent anger the only thing keeping her from recklessly running to Masumi or giving into terror and fleeing to the bathroom to wait out what seemed to be impossible to stop.

Etsuko glanced over at the room. There were no flashes of light, or--or strange sounds, or weird words, or anything. Wasn't Masumi going to use her magic--?!
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Czernobog
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Masumi's throw forced the knife-wielder into the dresser, which rocked back and forth. It seemed that his earlier reliance on the flashlight had ruined his night vision. Now the flashlight was rolling across the ground, casting funhouse-mirorr shadows across the bedroom.

The knife-man coughed, and forced himself back upwards, rolling his wrist. He fumbled around on the ground, trying to find his weapon.

The man with the crowbar moved forward, taking a low swing toward the center of Masumi's mass in an effort to disable her with an organ-crushing blow. Of course, the cramped conditions in the bedroom meant that the swing couldn't gather too much force.

The woman stayed with Etsuko, her brow furrowed. Obviously, she was troubled by something. Of course, since Etsuko was remaining relatively still, the woman also stayed motionless. The woman glanced back down toward the three in reserve, as if weighing her options. She didn't say anything, but did draw breath as if to speak.
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