Logan Street Magath
| Logan Street Magath | |
|---|---|
"I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!" | |
| Players |
The mail train magath that was down by the North Side fires in the Underground is back. It's bigger, badder, and madder than ever. |
California Station. A claustrophobic, irregularly-shaped room. On the left it has a booth with a bullet-glass window; the ticket agent sits there. To the right? Shitty old transit card machines that beg the question of why there is a ticket agent at all. Left of those? Turnstiles. Heading through (or over) the turnstiles brings you to the platform that heads downtown; it starts in the sun but dips underground quickly. Last night, *something* weird happened at this station. Man-sized piles of mail were just *spewed* into this station, nearly filling it to the brim. They were smoking and ashy, filling the air with soot and staining the walls, though nothing precisely *burned.* Like it was on fire when it was spewed in there, but like the fire couldn't sustain itself. Most of Chicago is, after all, built for fire now, and linoleum, concrete, and bullet-proof glass aren't super flammable. But it was a mess; it did have to be cleaned up, and the train was late. And anyone who went into the Undercity to put out fires on the North Side a few months ago? Would have found the tale to be eerily familiar. Sometimes, when a spirit isn't hunted down and destroyed in the Hisil, it just reforms and comes back. Sometimes, when it's a magath, it comes back bigger, meaner, and even more of a pain in the ass. But hey. One of the things that certain research revealed about it was that it *must* follow a pre-determined route so...at least they can probably figure out exactly when it will be making its way back around to California Station. Round about a few minutes from now, given the time stamp on some security footage that got dug up. Real late at night, after everything's shut down for the day. Rolling along with the rest of the Steelmaws, Nick comes walking along with his hands in his pockets as he seems to hum Crazy Train. It's not the first time he's seen this thing, and the last time wasnt enjoyable by far. "I wonder if this is going to go like last time. If so, my head is going to hurt and I know it.." he shakes his head and sighs slightly before grinning "but at least it will be absolutely enter-training." Scarlet had heard about the fires in Chicago, but hadn't been here long enough to be intimately familiar with the locations and practices. Now? Well, alls he knew for sure is that something was rotten in Logan Square and that couldn't fly. She didn't *looks* like she was prepared for a fight. No weapons to be scene, but she looked determined. She wore a pair of frayed shorts with a black tank top and a ratty flannel that definitely doesn't belong to her. She approaches near with the others, keeping an eye out. "Is it even a fight if your head doesn't hurt when it's over?" Curiosity has been getting in Wolfe's way a lot lately, and so when the pack outing came up involving burning piles of mail he was curious enough to tag along to see what could be seen. And to act as back up and another pair of eyes, because he's certainly not here to fight. Though the hidden holster under his loose green button up shirt isn't exactly empty either. Hands tucked in his jeans he strolls towards the back of the pack, where it's probably safest. "Did you just.." He starts as he stares at the back of Nick's head. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." A dumpster skitters out of an alleyway, juices leaking out of it, rats skittering away. A low-pitched sound thrums from the blackness behind it, and the dumpster lurches again. Metal shrieks. Then a large, hairy hand reaches up to grab the brick throat of the alley. "..ummff..." Another growl. Bandages wrap up the fingers, up the hands and wrists. A large man in a flanel that is far too large, and unbuttoned. Pants that barely fit. His head peeks out from the alley with gleaming eyes, and a jaw that lurches back into place -- teeth sawing as his eyes wander the growing group. A long sniff of the air. Flint gasps as his ribs fit back into place, "Ah...AH!" There's a lurching of those fingers, and Flint walks - barefoot - towards Scarlet. "If we're gonna do this, let's be quick about it, huh? I'm missing out watching rats beat the shit out of each otherrrr." He means it, too. "You ever seen them little fucks swarm?" A shiver, a demented grin, and soon enugh the Mennina is joined by the Suthar Anzuth. Raven finally catches up with Nick. She walks beside him and gives him a pat on the shoulder before saying, "Don't worry Nick, You got me here this time. Guess I'll get to see what you came up against then?" She is almost excited but is warry about the coming flames! Once everyone is gathered, Scarlet draws in a breath and grins to the group. "I think we've all been waiting for this for moment. Whether we've been here since the beginning," She nods towards Nick, "Or we're just coming in when things are getting good." She grins then, motioning to herself as an example. "We're all here for one thing. To send this fucker back where it belongs!" As she talks, she is drawing on her essence, focusing on herself, on the group. "And with Luna's guidance we will make sure it never troubles our city again." "Let's just make sure we finish it off this time. I enjoy a hunt, but a repeat hunt of the same prey is not something I relish. Keep your mind focused and...watch out for its letters." Nick inclines his head towards Scarlet as he folds his arms across his chest as the rite is completed and takes a deep breath before letting it out with a small smile, "This is where the fun begins." While everyone is busy cheering or greeting, Flint's rolling his wrists, rolling his shoulders. The large man stands behind Scarlet and, as the joints pop, his forearms grow. Muscles twist - violently - around the skeleton of his face. The jaw begins that side-to-side sawing motion of excitement as the man enters his Dalu Shape. But it doesn't stop there. Moving forward, the man grunts in a sudden spike of pain. His chest lurches with bone-crunching sound. "Ffffff...uck." And when he falls to all fours, the fingers curl, claws form. Hair grows. Teeth separate into fangs and the Great Wolf shape of The Destroyer is before them, lengthening, preparing to maim. To hurt. To eviscerate. While Scarlet speaks, those claws dig into the pavement, forcing the Rahu to clench his still-growing maw or break silence. Greys. Tans. The fur of the beast grows thicker. Muscle on muscle. Wolfe listens to the speeches with a blank-faced passivity. He pulls his gun free from it's holster and gives it a once over, checking the clip and the chamber before finally flicking the safety off. He's not sure how much it will help, but it seemed sensible to come along at the time. He looks over to the rest of his pack and gives a slow nod, keeping himself a bit away from the tracks to where he can take some cover behind benches if need be. Raven nods to Nick and looks around to the rest of the group. She sees Flint's transformation and says, "Well if the fun is about to begin." She follows his idea and shifts her form in an explosion of muscle and bone into her all grey Urshul form. She stands near Nick and Wolfe as the rite is completed and looks around, waiting for this other fire spirit that's been troubling the city to appear. At first there's no sound. Nothing even very exciting happens. A piece of trash that didn't get picked up in the earlier clean up gets stirred by some wind, bouncing across the tracks towards them. Then the group feels the Gauntlet sort of ripping like tissue paper as this thing comes barreling through. Immediately those who saw it before will notice it's undergone some changes. It probably found the spirit of another train to eat, because it's *bigger now*, and the words CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) have been painted across its length in jaunty red, white, and blue. For those who have never seen it before, here's what it looks like. Imagine a thing that has made a face out of something very like a pair of dumpsters to form its jaws, only that says "Mail" very faintly on the rusted sides of each. Now imagine a long, centepede-like body, serpentine and gleaming metallically, with some various similar dumpster-car things stuck on its back like ridges. Imagine someone took train tracks and used them to form 6 sets of legs on either side of the body. Imagine it is cheerfully stomping and clomping down the tracks while absolutely spewing mail out of its back ridges. Imagine it yells, cheerfully, oh so cheerfully, as it turns its head to look at the group: "I'm back, baaaybees! Now OUT OF MY WAY!" It inhales deeply; it's probably about to do something nasty. But Raven's faster... Raven feels the rumble of machine and death coming down the tunnel, she sees a thing? Steel monster? Fuck it, whatever it is she doesn't give it a chance to attack and lunges for one of it's many legs. She chomps into it with her mighty jaws snarling and growling at it. She twists her head to stop the leg completly, not wanting to go for a ride just yet! Raven at least doesn't close her teeth around metal. It's more like...very hot, very squoogy, solid jello that makes the back of her teeth ache a little as he jaws clamp down. As she gloms onto the front leg just below the creature's ability to get to her, the thing writhes and stomps its other feet in a fury. "NO FAIR!" it snarls. It swings its head towards Nick. "You don't play FAIR," it snarls. And then WHOOOOSH. It breathes fire like a dragon, sending a great ball of it Nick-ward, close enough for the Cahalith to feel the heat of it before it leaves a big scorch mark on the back wall of the building. Look ma, I'm a train bandit. But really, Wolfe doesn't have much else to go up against this thing with, and hopefully the gun in his hand will do something. So he raises it up, not really bothering to take aim. It's a moving target, but it's also a big target. One squeeze of the trigger and the shot echoes through the station. Scarlet's eyes go wide as the spirit manifests. A thrill of excitement ran through her as the quarry was made manifest and she shifts into her Urshal form as well. A large red wolf with bright orange eyes and sharp teeth. Enough to give a normal person nightmares for a night or two if they had to come face to face with it. She tosses her head back, letting out a howl in preparation for battle. Fur bristles, claws scratch against the asphalt, starting to surge forward towards it "I've had a really bad month" Nick says as his lips pull back into a snarl "and the last thing I fucking want to deal with is you again!" Taking a running start, Nick leaps into the air as his body warps and contorts landing as a large black dire wolf. Midnight and...howls. A reverberation echoes from his body that ripples through spirit and flesh alike..even across the gauntlet as it leaps towards another leg, sinking teeth into the appendage. The child of Skolis-Ur clams down and twists. Gunfire. Teeth. Fur. As each person joins The Hunt, Flint hangs back. He's slower. Bigger. DESTROYER. This isn't just an embelishment of ego; the Blood Talon is huge. His claws bite into the pavement of the road. His muscles shake. His teeth make this awful creaking sound as those fangs press together with such visciousness, the great wolf cannot actually make a sound. He's coiling. His spine shifting upwards, almost like a cat growing angry. The fur stands on end. The eyes begin to glow this awful red as the Rahu reaches deep -- DEEP -- and when the Red Wolf joins the fray; his Essence bleeeeeeds from soul to flesh. The Marks of Renown burn brightly. Broken silver blades on in his paws. Burning fire around his throat. More, and more. Purity. Honor. Glory. Then Skolis-Ur is leaping forward, and Winter Wolf cannot be alone. Flint, who now appears as Destroy Wolf finally makes a sound -- the jaws open, spittle fires in every direction and while Wolfe fires his guns, Flint, or Fenris-Ur, leaps forward right at the Mangata's fucking face: Biting into the metal, throwing his bodyweight with a corkscrew-twist, to send the spirit crashing into the ground. This is the awesome power of Wolves and Wolfbloods working in concert. The thing is already looking ultra messed up. Wolfe's shot took off an impressive chunk of spirit gloop, splattering something very like ectoplasm all over the tracks before it just fades out. Raven and Nick manage to snap two of those twelve legs at odd, funky angles, even as Scarlets howls urge them to glory. And then Flint comes in like the Rahu's Rahu, and by the time that fast and furious flurry of fang has finished...this train is basically on its back like an unhappy bug, legs and arms wriggling like an insect's, mouth opening and closing in shock and fury. Raven takes joy in rampaging against this monster with her fellow wolves and her packmates. She sees the hole it came through and utters in the first tongue with some dificulty, ~Drag it, take it back through. We end this!~ She begins to pull with all her might after making eye contact with Nick for a brief moment. She attempts to help move it towards the tear it created. Scarlet joined the fray, massive teeth going for another leg. It was near death's door, she could sense it and she was sure the others could too. At Raven's suggestion, she doesn't hesitate. She begins to drag as well to help move it back through the hole so they could all finish it off for good. As the spirit is knocked down, Midnight begins to back up as he drags with the others towards the small wound. Cold anger and irritation radiate off of the Storm Lord as he pulls. This is going to be a story, thats for sure. VIOLENCE. Flint crashes to the ground on his side, ribs fracture. Body-Breaker. Metal tears. Flint. Fenris-Ur. DESTROYER. Rahu. Without meaning to, or without resisting, The Great Wolf starts to tear at metal. At wires. At Corpus; spittle, slobber, even as the others start to pull on the struggling Spirit one of Flint's clawed paws raise up to thrust down into its body and press down -- there's no real /words/ but the hulking Destroyer glares around with fire-filled eyes, snarling: MINE. No understanding. Not yet. Flint smashes, Flint does not think, instead as the spirit is dragged -- the Great Wolf will bite into its flesh again and try to PULL BACK, gleefully tearing into metal, into Corpus. Breaker. Ripper. Biter. Tearer. Slasher. As the wolves go to work, Wolfe just lowers his gun, watching them tear apart the spirit with a small shake of his head. Well, no point wasting bullets now that they seem to have everything under control. Instead he keeps an eye out around them, it never hurts to be on alert. And they do more or less have it under control. It's almost completely down to a spark by the time they get it dragged in, Flint tearing all the way. It does not, in fact, provide the world's *greatest* meal as they do. What's left is this tiny little thing crying "Don't eat meeeeee...." Before it is, of course, eaten. The Gauntlet is so thin in places down in the Underground that Wolfe probably *could* follow, but as he hangs out on the platform in the physical world he gets to see one tiny thing. A piece of somewhat scorched mail, one final piece, drifting down from where the train burst out of. In an elegant hand, a bit of the name on the front is still visible, along with an address that probably doesn't even exist. Is this piece of mail addressed to a "Mr....-illo" even readable? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's definitely a smudged and charred piece of history, dating back to some period between 1906 and 1908. | |