The Dead Savant

[DeletedUser37114]

Giles
Giles was apparently curious about why Toby brought him to a quiet park. Really shouldn't have been surprising, considering. Toby finished off his ice cream as Giles spoke, just watching the birds and occasional person, enjoying the sounds and the feel of the air on his skin. "It's nice here," he said after a moment. "Open air, warm but not hot, and there's this wonderful... You know when it's quiet but not quiet? It's like that here. I wanted to share that with you. Y'know, for when times aren't this good. Helps to have a place to come back to in your head that's just... Happy. Though, think I'm kinda preaching to the choir on that one, being honest with myself." Toby sighed, shifting on the bench and looking up at the clear sky. "It used to be the people that made a place happy for me. Making some memories, laughing, leaning, loving, but... Not many people are around here. It's quiet. It's nice. And if you needed to run, it's easy to get away from anything chasing you. Plenty of room to air out some secrets, let them drift in the wind." He hoped that wasn't too much, that Giles wouldn't end up running. But some things needed to be said, before they ended up trapped inside forever.

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

There was a companionable silence between Giles and Toby for a few moments, allowing him to feel at peace. There wasn't any need to be afraid of the DPSR, no need to feel guilty about what had been his fault...just...relaxing. Of course, this was marred in a few moments by the guy speaking up about that this was peaceful, but not in any way that couldn't be recovered. A comfortable quiet, a place to feel happy. Which...yeah, now that he thought about it he could agree...this was a nice enough spot. Wasn't perfect by any means, but it was reasonable. Toby then got melancholic for a moment, mentioning how people used to be what made something happen for him, but now he liked the quiet, which was interesting, and that there were plenty of ways to run if needed, even more curious. The former aristocrat was about to ask about his companion's words when the last sentence, about secrets yet again, fell from his lips. Sighing, Giles shook his head. "I really don't know why you're so insistent about me telling you things, but...I just don't...fine, if you're really not going to let it go...here, I'll tell you what I've told Ra...my friend that you keep mentioning. At that point you'll know as much as she does...you'll be part of a very small group that knows, consisting of the three of us...sound reasonable?" Giles was quiet for a long moment after that, collecting himself. In a soft voice barely more than a whisper, filled with the anguish that threatened to overwhelm him every time he thought too hard about this, he spoke up. "I'm responsible for the deaths of two people who were close to my heart. Both of them are my fault entirely...if I had acted different, done more...they'd be alive. And I can never forgive myself for that." He closed his eyes, leaning back, wishing he had his hair spike to hide at least part of his face. Seeing as he was out in public though, he had his irritating short blond hair...good for nothing. He could resist crying. He'd done it before. Rachel had been a special case, he wasn't about to break down in front of Toby...he wasn't...he wasn't...

 

[DeletedUser37114]

Giles
That was Giles' cue to tell his story. Which was really nice of him, Toby hadn't expected things to go this well, if he was being honest. The level of trust alone was really flattering. At least well on his end, Giles didn't seem all that comfortable, speaking softly and seeming to be near tears. Oh, and he was apparently responsible for two deaths, which were totally his fault. Carefully, trying not to disturb him, Toby scooched closer and gently wrapped his arms around the older man. He found that hugs were an excellent way to try to calm someone down, help them if they were having a tough time. That, and he had the feeling it was the right thing to do. Which, of course, was important. "It's okay," he murmured. "No one's watching. And I'd need the whole story if I was going to agree with you that it's all your fault. Right now it just sounds like something horrible happened to you and you're trying to talk yourself into thinking you deserved it. Besides, second guessing yourself is keeping those wounds open. Don't beat yourself up over what you didn't see coming. If you're going to trust me on anything, trust me on that." And hopefully he would, it wasn't like he was talking out of his rear end on this one. Not that he really wanted to talk about that, much easier to talk out other peoples' pasts and problems than his own. Toby really didn't want to revisit that sad story if he could help it.

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

There were a lot of ways that Giles expected Toby to respond to his story. Disbelief was probable, shock and horror not outside the realm of possibility, and depending on how much his typical lack of filter applied maybe some laughter...after all, he had no reason to believe confession, and nothing the former aristocrat had done over the past few days in the guy's company supported his tale. Instead of any of that though, he found himself wrapped in an embrace, comforting words and calm demeanor washing over him. He felt something inside him break, and he wound up sobbing into Toby's shoulder, mad at himself in more ways than one. This was stupid...he shouldn't be like this, especially not around a near stranger...what had happened to his almost happy-go-lucky self? And to make matters worse, the guy was saying it sounded like Giles was trying to convince himself he deserved what had happened, which...that wasn't right. "No..." he managed after a moment, tears under control enough to speak, though he was still shaking, still crying. "I don't think I...deserved it...they sure as hell didn't...I could've...found a way...to save them...shouldn't have...broken my promise...shouldn't have...done the easy option...their deaths are my fault...hell...I...I...I killed him...did it myself...shot...just like...just like s...she...only minutes before...was told I had to and I just...saw her...her face when I...accusing me..." He broke off, unable to continue any further, sobs renewed. He'd just admitted to murdering someone to this guy he barely knew...he'd wormed his way into the former aristocrat's confidence neater than he would've expected, made it seem all too reasonable to trust him...well...if it turned out he was a spy for any group, he'd just condemned himself. Murder in the second degree...that was what he'd done to his own brother. Though if he was going to be punished, it should be for the other one...his true failure that day...

 

[DeletedUser]

From early on the second day, Liu and Trixie were on standby sitting behind a crate as they waited for the DSRP to inevitably arrive. Minutes felt like hours as they sat in almost dead silence, only occasionally shuffling in discomfort.

It was late in the afternoon when Liu tapped Trixie on her shoulder, a signal that she could hear people outside. The two turned invisible and stood up right before the door was opened. A group of four agents, plus Damon, entered the warehouse. This was less people than Liu expected, but still enough of a threat if they were all skilled Savants. One of the agents tripped over the piano wire, dropping the box on the group. Unfortunately for Liu, the box trap failed to achieve its goal as it was smashed away by one of the agents, the entire box breaking to pieces against the wall.

Right, so that one probably has Super Strength? Other three are complete wild guesses right now, although at least they don’t know we’re here. Damon’s standing behind all of them as expected. Guess I’ll stick with the plan then.

Liu silently took a breath, allowing adrenaline to flow through her body at the same time. With practiced motions, she drew four throwing knives, three held by the blade in her left hand and one more by the hilt in her right hand. The DSRP agents were around ten metres away, so the knives were almost guaranteed to land as long as they didn’t have any powers that dealt with them easily, although line-of-sight wasn’t perfect on the agents at the back. Liu took one more breath, held it, then threw all four of her knives in quick succession, one at each agent, aiming at the two black agents first.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Pressing the needle into the flesh of his little finger, Dante watched as several drops of blood fell into the container "A little late for this don't you think? If we were going to go all Manchurian Candidate on you it would have happened already" Dante spoke in a rather bored tone of voice as he handed the tube over to Tonya for delivery. The guy was getting on his nerves, then again a lot of people got on his nerves making it all part of that loving, caring package that was Dante. He rarely got close to people with Tonya and Angel being notable exceptions, with it being as much a result of his personality than his job and the fact that he was a Savant, though now that they had all been outed perhaps that wouldn't pose as much of a problem anymore, assuming of course that they weren't all wiped out by a genocidal maniac.

After giving Tonya a single affirmative nod the pair of them would jump to their stash; hidden within a storage room in a long abandoned mine, with a few light bulbs, a generator, steel racking and a pair of sleeping bags, because you never knew, making it into their very own Bat cave…minus the big red phone obviously. It had taken Tonya several trips to transport all their stuff down here but having a private armoury was well worth the effort and cost as you never knew when you'd be called upon to do a little wet work such as today or need a place to lie low.

After pulling on a tactical vest and a pair of black leather gloves, Dante would retrieve a machine pistol in the style of the old MP5K along with a couple of spare magazines, a butterfly knife and a pair of flash-bangs and a frag grenade before swapping out his .38 for a .44 revolver "did you miss me baby?" Dante quietly crooned to the weapon as he tossed away the cheap Saturday night special he'd bought in favour of his new hand cannon. Sure it didn't have the same rate of fire as the collection of automatic's Tonya was sporting and nor was it as quick to reload, but a single well aimed shot from this baby would put most people into the ground, especially with the hollow points he loaded it with.

Another jump later would find them standing in yet another nondescript warehouse filled with a sprawling maze of crates; their sole team mate comprising of a single sniper, essentially leaving Tonya and himself to do all of the ground work "Ok lets go and get into position" Dante said as he headed for the ladder down to the shop floor, leaving the sniper to do his own thing.

It was only once they were out of earshot of the sniper that Dante would gently take Tonya's arm and speak to her in a low, concerned voice "are you sure you're ok to do this? I don't want you freezing up on me Tonya babe" he asked, trying not to offend her but needing to know the answer, even if it was too late to do anything about it.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Trixie
The blades sliced through the air as Liu released them, whirling with impressive speed and precision. The two blades found their marks in the throats of the white agents and the duo slumped to the ground. One of the Black agents, caught by surprise, collapsed as blood spurted from his throat. The fourth agent, however, dodged the blade with inhuman reaction speeds. Damon’s revolver flew from his pocket and he fired a shot into the room blindly, missing Trixie and Liu altogether. Trixie growled, a savage, guttural thing. Before Liu had a chance to react, she had let go of Liu and had vanished altogether. As Liu suddenly appeared in the agent’s range of vision, she found the agent flying at her, with her own throwing knife slashing at her twice, the blade moving with extreme speed. Damon, meanwhile, backed up against a wall, his gun scanning the room. He opened his mouth and bellowed out a challenge. “Come and face me Trixie!”


Tonya
As Dante reached the bottom of the ladder, Tonya appeared beside him. A little up ahead, two men with balaclavas stood by the entrance holding what appeared to be AK-47s, waiting for the start of the fight. They, however, were out of earshot and as Dante pulled Tonya in and whispered in her ear, she grasped his hand. “I’m okay.” Her voice was shaking as she spoke, but there was a steely determination. “Once I get into the fight and the adrenaline starts pumping… I should be okay then.” Pulling two of the pistols from her waistband, she pulled back from Dante and gave him a wink and, for a second, she almost could have fooled him into thinking she was the old Tonya. With that, she was gone, standing on top of one of the crates for a bird’s-eye view of the action. After that, Dante didn’t have to wait very long. The door burst open and 20 agents rushed through the door, clad in black suits. 13 of the agents appeared to be identical, white blonde women and as the gangsters stepped out and opened fire, the figures disappeared in the hail of bullets. A loud crack sounded out through the warehouse as the sniper opened fire. As the immediate dust settled and the gangsters ran back to the next layer of the maze to reload, Dante could make out that most of the Mirages had gone, but not much else. One of the agents clutched their shoulder as blood dripped down from it but the only thing that truly stood out in the group was the man at the back, who was wearing a hoodie as opposed to a suit and who carried a compact SMG. From her position on high, Tonya gave a whistle. All Dante had to do was give Tonya the diversion and she could let loose.

 

[DeletedUser37114]

Giles
As Toby comforted him, Giles ended up breaking down into sobs. Not totally unexpected and probably not unhelpful. So as the older man cried, Toby just held him and rubbed a hand across his back, keeping quiet as Giles explained the situation a little better. The guilt was certainly there in full force, which probably explained why this was so hard for him to talk about. He apparently could have found a way to save them, had a promise he'd broken, taken the easy way just that once and gotten burned for it... Well, it wasn't like he couldn't relate. One death apparently was directly his fault, from a gun, reminding him of "her," the other being a "him." More than a little worrying. Toby had watched enough CSI reruns to know that he was an accomplice to murder if that wasn't reported and it turned out that there really was a crime. On the other hand, this sounded like duress, probably being threatened into it. In the end, it wasn't much of a choice as Giles continued to cry into his shoulder. The man needed help, he wasn't going to hurt anyone else. And it wasn't exactly like Toby owed the law anything. "It's okay, it's okay. Just get it all out. You can tell me the whole story later. Not going to turn you in or anything, you're safe." With any luck, he'd calm down enough to speak normally and start relaxing before the lunch rush hit and they got people in the park.

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

The only reaction Giles got from Toby was to be told it was ok, he wasn't going to tell anyone. Which...why was he being so nice to him? He'd just confessed to murder. That was kind of a big deal. If he was ever brought to justice for killing Dylan, if anyone found out that Toby knew and did nothing...he'd be in just as much trouble. The guy had known him for a handful of days, nowhere near long enough to claim friendship as a rationale for not turning him in. There was something wrong about this scenario, but for the life of him he didn't have the brainpower to spare on it right now. All he could do was try to get himself back under control, which meant locking the memories away again, throwing them back and working hard to forget about them, even if just for a short time. It took longer than he'd've hoped to manage this, but after a time the former aristocrat felt composed enough to sit up and extract himself from Toby, looking at him with red eyes, his expression hunted. "You...I shouldn't have told you that...you could get in so much trouble from that knowledge...wasn't thinking." He curled up a little, arms clutching his torso. "Damn it...that was stupid...lost control...I'm so, so sorry...I...I should go...just need a moment to collect myself, to get myself under control...I'll understand if you want to just get out of here and not see me again...probably for the best...I'm sorry, Toby...I wasn't strong enough...again. Knew I couldn't tell anyone...should have resisted...should have..." Giles broke off, fresh tears making his eyes look too bright. He turned away from the guy, still sitting on the bench, so that he could leave without any perceived danger of offending him. He'd screwed up and had lost Toby as a friendly face, he knew it...best to not make him feel bad about leaving...

 

[DeletedUser37114]

Giles
And it looked like Giles was calming down. Great, if he was still feeling bad they could go grab some ice cream or... Oh, he was having second thoughts now, apparently. Dang. He'd just have to reassure him that... And now he was going on about how he wasn't strong enough, how he couldn't tell anyone... What in the world happened to this guy? The question was more frustrating than he really wanted to admit. He knew he couldn't do anything to help Giles unless Giles was able to help himself, at least a little, the older man should know better than to tell lies to himself like that. Should have been stronger? Shouldn't have talked? Toby got up off the bench, bouncing a little to try to dissipate the anger he felt building in his chest. Frustrated self-righteousness wasn't going to help right now. He needed to stick to the path of being understanding instead of blowing up at Giles for a completely understandable reaction. Otherwise... He didn't really know what would happen. It would be bad, and they'd have two sad people instead of two happy ones. Sad was bad. Reason and understanding, then. "Giles," he said, trying to toe the balance between calm and firm. "Look at me." He wasn't looking. "Look. At. Me." There it was... "I'm not worried about the cops. I'm not going to turn you in. And I'm not going to judge you until I've heard the whole story. But if finding a new friend and getting that off your chest means you're weak, I don't want to be strong. You're strong enough to open up and talk about it, strong enough to put those painful words out there instead of poisoning yourself with them. Strong enough to trust me with your secrets. Don't ever think that talking makes you weak. So take a moment, collect yourself, do whatever you need to do. I'm not going anywhere."

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Giles could feel the bench shift a little as Toby stood up...yeah...not unexpected. After a revelation like that, who would want to stay? It was why he hadn't told Rachel, told any of the others...he couldn't deal with them abandoning him too. He started a little then as the guy spoke his name in a tone he hadn't heard before, asking him to look at him. What was the point, it would just make him leaving harder, and that would oh hell that was a little intimidating. Toby being authoritative felt weird...really, really weird...what the hell was up with him? The former aristocrat found himself looking over, a little worried about what Toby was being so insistent about. He was expecting condemnation, maybe shouting about how could he have brought up the murder...instead he got understanding...the cops weren't an issue, he wasn't going to turn him in. Which...ok, Giles supposed he could take that at face value, but...the rest...about not judging, that if what he'd done was weak then being strong wasn't worth it...that was crap. Strength wasn't burdening others with what had happened...strength wasn't throwing someone he'd just met under a legal bus where he could be implicated in the obvious, harsh crime the former aristocrat had committed...even if it hadn't been the worst thing he'd done that day. Some secrets had to be kept to the owner for the good of everyone else, and turning someone into an accomplice in the murder he'd been forced into crossed that line for sure...why didn't Toby get that? All the same, it seemed that the guy was ok with standing by him for the time being...which...in the craphole the world had turned into, was getting kinda rare. He wasn't about to throw that away, but all the same...he had to ask. So after he'd collected himself enough, Giles turned his reddened eyes to Toby's. "Why? You walked into my life a couple of days ago, we've talked for all of an hour at most across our encounters...why are you ok with all of this? Hell, I freaking told you I killed somebody...most people would have gone straight to the police after that, especially for someone they know so little about. You've been wanting me to open up from the beginning, caring far more than a random stranger should. I just...I want to know why. Why me? What makes me so special you've wasted so much time trying to get me to explain what happened to me? You're only here for a week, right? And yet every day you've gone out of your way to run into me, using whatever it is you have to find me. It doesn't make sense to me, Toby...so please...tell me why the life story of Giles Alexander is so damn interesting to you." Rather than getting more heated throughout, as a speech like this would normally cause, the former aristocrat had gotten quieter, a slow misery exuding from him. He didn't look close to tears anymore, but he was without a doubt a far cry from happy as he waited for Toby's response.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Despite what she said Dante was still having a hard time believing that Tonya was ok to be in a fire fight, he just hoped that she'd wait until was all over before having a breakdown, assuming of course that one was on the cards, after all perhaps this was what she needed to snap her out of her current mindset?

Some how Dante doubted that, but it was far too late to anything about it other than keep an eye on her and hope for the best.

They'd just about reached the firing line set up by the pair of AK wielding gangsters when the DSRP made their entry; the mass of dopplegangers within their midst quickly disappearing under a hail of gunfire. Stepping behind a nearby crate, Dante watched as the gangster fell back to another part of maze whilst Tonya moved into position atop of the crates. Pulling the flash bang from out of his pocket he held it up so the the girl would see what he was planning to do before pulling the pin and letting it float up into the air whilst firing a few rounds from his machine pistol so as to keep the agents attention away from the explosive hovering overhead.

Once the device was in position Dante let it drop, the device getting to about eye level before detonating with a blinding flash in front of the hooded man's face to be then followed up by another hail of gunfire from Dante's machine pistol before he too fell back into the maze of crates leaving Tonya to make her move.

 

[DeletedUser]

Three of the blades hit their target, with the box trap helping catch two of the agents off-guard. The last one was caught by the remaining agent at an inhuman speed. That’s... not good…

Suddenly a gunshot rang-out, the bullet ricocheting off the concrete floor to their side as Damon fired blindly into the room. In response, Trixie growled before setting off on her own, leaving Liu slightly bewildered as she suddenly turned visible again. Before she could even try and voice her complaints about not having given a signal, the opposing agent was already almost in front of her. This left Liu barely enough time to jump backwards to dodge the two - almost simultaneous - strikes, even with adrenaline heightening her reaction speed.

As she dodged, Liu drew her combat knife in her right hand and her pistol in her left hand, having decided that she needed something faster than usual to deal with her opponent’s speed. She could only fire upwards or downwards, on account of not knowing where Trixie was at this point, but it was better than being outpaced completely. Still, there was no need to finish her opponent right now, as her job was just to stall until Trixie killed Damon. Liu took a stance and prepared for her opponent’s next attack.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Tonya
As she saw the flashbang float into the air, a wry grin crossed Tonya’s face. In a moment she was back up in the box and stood and watched as Dante laid his suppressing fire down, manoeuvring the grenade into position. The loud bang reverberated in the walls of the warehouse and as Tonya reappeared on top of the crates for the second, assessing the situation, she winced at the noise. Then, with remarkable efficiency, she got to work. The two pistols had barely been pulled from their holsters when she had appeared behind the first Savant. With clinical brutality, she pulled the trigger and vanished as their brains sprayed across the crates. She warped across the group, executing four different Savants, including the source of the doppelgangers who snapped out of existence. She placed the barrel of her pistol to the fifth and pulled the trigger. A look of surprise registered on her face as the bullet fell back harmless. The agent, who had been covering their eyes, brought back an elbow that slammed into her ribcage which shocked her and she stumbled backwards, vanishing back onto a crate. Lifting her pistols she fired a shot from each pistol into the group but they bounced harmlessly off of a force field. The group formed up back to back. Tonya’s tactic wouldn’t work twice. As she teleported away, she slid the pistols back into their holster and drew the spare pair from her legs, deciding to let Dante and the others make the next move. The main thing that Dante could easily notice at this point was the fact that the sniper had yet to fire after his initial shot. Looking at the stacked crates, the reason swiftly became obvious. As the group had moved forward, they were covered from a direct shot. With Tonya out of the way, it was up to Dante as to whether to take the remaining Savants personally, or to try and open up a way for the rest of his allies to strike.


Trixie
Liu’s jump backwards came just in time as the blade sliced through where she had been standing less than a second earlier. As Liu went on the defensive a series of further attacks would be sent in her direction, the blade constantly slashing. It was avoidable, but only just and as she remained on the defensive, Liu would find herself being increasingly pushed towards the back wall of the warehouse as she dodged, with the occasional nick or cut. Her opponent was deadly fast, that was for sure. If she couldn’t find a way to slow them down, Liu’s days were numbered.
Trixie moved through the warehouse. Damon scanned the area nervously. The gun he was holding trembled in his grip and Trixie smiled to herself. Damon was cornered and they both knew it, but she was going to make sure that his last minutes were spent in terror. “It’s not so nice when you’re the hunted!” She dodged to the side as a bullet flew in her direction. There was a part of her, the part of her that had died and become something else amongst the rubble all those years ago, the inhuman part, that was enjoying this. She continued to goad Damon as she slowly approached, always from a different place, always frustrating him. He had backed up against the wall of the warehouse and the gun was pointed ahead. In desperation, he loosed off one bullet, then another, and another into the void of the warehouse, firing again and again until the hammer hit home on nothing. Damon scrabbled for a magazine clip as Trixie continued to advance and his efforts were brought to a sudden halt as she launched a roundhouse kick that sent the gun flying from Damon’s hands. She shimmered and flickered in and out of vision as she came in to contact with Damon giving the man a chance to grab her shoulder, the girl involuntarily flinching as he did so. He forced his face over hers, but Trixie squeezed her eyes shut and shoved the blade forwards. Trixie felt the blade pierce Damon’s chest and the feeling was that of sweet victory. The blood began to flow from his chest as Trixie pulled the blade out and stabbed it in again, in the lower left chest region. As Damon stumbled backwards, falling back against the wall, the knife slid in and out again and again. Trixie stabbed and stabbed, tears streaming down her face as the knife brutalised Damon’s body. By the time she was done, the wounds ran from his bloodied throat to his stomach and Trixie’s blood-soaked clothing stuck to her skin. As his blood and guts spilled out on to the floor, Trixie remembered she was not the only one with a battle to fight and her elation turned back into the hardened determination she felt in fights. She glanced around quickly, trying to gauge how Liu was doing.

 

[DeletedUser37114]

Giles
Things escalated. Giles got angry, said some things he probably didn't mean, asked some pretty pointed questions. Lots of whys, lots of subtle self-putdowns, lots of misery and mistrust. Toby had expected a little heat and questions at some point, but this was more than just that. Less like a can of soda hissing open, more like a geyser erupting. Honestly, it hurt. It hurt to watch Giles be sad like that, try to push someone away and demand answers to questions that he knew weren't straightforward. But he was kind of the one who started it. So instead of blowing up back at him, Toby took a deep breath and let out a sigh, looking away. "Why? Because I was curious. Because I saw someone in pain and wanted to know why, wanted to know if I could help. Because I know enough about you, see enough of what you do and how you act that I'm going to question why you might have killed someone. Because even if my life it on a schedule, even if I can't stay too long in one place, I can choose what to do with the time that I have, pick the battles I fight even when I'm running away. Because I want to be more than just a coward." He stopped talking for a moment, staring away, thinking, then turned back to Giles, looking squarely at him. "Why am I helping you? Bottom line? Because I want to. And there's nobody in the world who can tell me otherwise."

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Toby provided a fairly passionate response to Giles' minor outburst, which was interesting. So he considered himself a coward, running from something on a consistent basis? If the former aristocrat had met the guy four months ago, he'd've seized on that topic and gotten...him to...dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit. He would've done more or less the same thing Toby had done for him. Only without the uncanny amount of knowledge, which would have meant even more prying than what had happened. What right did he have to criticize Toby for doing something he would've done if the situations were reversed? He was just being a friendly people person...like Giles used to pride himself on being. Dammit. A chastised expression spread over his face as he looked at Toby, shaking his head. "I'm sorry...you're right...all of it...can't blame or judge you for it...would've done the same in your shoes. Just...feels odd, being on this side of the fence." He sighed and looked his companion in the eye. "I don't blame you for what you've done and said, and if you've come this far I'm not gonna stop you from pursuing more answers...hell...you're probably right, talking about it should help...just...it's hard even thinking about a lot of what happened, certain topics bring me to tears if I bring them to mind even a little. It...it was the worst day of my life. Hoped for so long I was dreaming, that I'd wake up and it'd be before we went to that damned building. Because then they'd still be alive. Then I wouldn't have failed two people..." He sighed and broke off, turning his head and blinking rapidly for a few seconds. "Sorry...like I said, it's hard even thinking about some things. I...don't know if I can talk about it...not even from just a 'don't want to' perspective, but a 'physically can't' one. I...it's...I'm very much not proud of what I did that day. Any of it. It was all bad. I didn't help anyone. I just made things worse." Another pause to recover before continuing in a quieter tone. "Toby...I don't know if I can do this. There's too much pain. Too much guilt." Giles wasn't crying, but he was close, eyes gleaming far too bright and blinking more than anyone needed to. "I...I really don't know if I can...weak...know I am, just...it hurts too much..."

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Ducking back behind the crates Dante pushed his fingers into his ears moments before the flash bang detonated with the mercenary waiting until he was sure it was safe before stepping back out from cover to watch as Tonya executed several of the agents with brutal efficiency before finally being stopped by one of the agents.

With both his and Tonya's follow up shots ricocheting harmlessly off of some kind of a shield Dante ceased firing to instead explore a different option.

Raising both hands out towards him like some kind of post apocalyptic mime artist Dante focused his mind onto the nearby wall of crates, they were heavy but whatever Raypool had done to him had made him so much stronger, even stronger than his army days when they'd been putting him through his paces meaning that with a little work and a whole heap of effort he was slowly able to shift the stack off balance before letting gravity do the rest. The creaking of straining wood would be the first and only warning that the agents would get that something was wrong before the crates finally gave way and began falling towards them "Deflect that" Dante drawled with a satisfied grin on his face as the warehouse reverberated with the sound of crates full of guns crashing to the ground.

With a cloud of dust obstructing his view it was unclear as to how many, if any at all he'd taken out with that little stunt but all the same he should have opened up an avenue of fire for their sniper to start picking off any survivors. Drawing his revolver Dante saunters over towards the scene of devastation he'd created whistling a jaunty tune as he went.

 

[DeletedUser]

As Liu took a defensive approach, she found herself constantly being forced to dodge and deflect her opponent’s attacks, with no time to get a counterattack in. Her opponent’s slashes occasionally landed a slight cut, but her adrenaline-high meant that Liu couldn’t feel the pain. At the same time, Liu took her time learning her opponent’s tells, listening to small changes in breathing and slight glances left and right in her opponent’s eyes, associating each and every slight movement with a different attack and picking up patterns of attacks.

By the time Liu had her back foot against the wall, she was prepared for her counterattack. Changing to reverse grip with her knife in her left hand, Liu pushed off the back wall with her back foot, parrying her opponent’s downwards swing with her knife as she did so. Liu used the momentum from the her kick off the wall to duck past the position of the parry, landing right next to the agent. Using this chance, Liu aimed upwards towards her opponent’s chin and fired with the pistol in her right hand without hesitation. Judging by her opponent’s previous reaction speed, the agent would probably be able to dodge the shot, so Liu aimed to trip her opponent as he did so, before going for the kill with the knife.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Dante
As the crates began to waver, a worried look passed over the faces of the agents and the remaining four scattered as they slammed down. As the dust cleared and Dante made his way along, he could see another two bodies on the ground. That left two. One was the one who had survived Tonya’s bullet to the head, who was standing up and brushing off his suit. Another of the crates, however, was still hovering in mid-air, slightly above its intended target, the traitor. The crate meant that the sniper still didn’t have a clear shot on him but Dante was distracted from these thoughts as he heard a roar. The man who had survived the crates falling tossed his pistol to one side. His suit was ripped and the pistol was mangled, but there was not a scratch on his body to tell you he’d just absorbed the impact of a falling, splintering crate. As he charged towards Dante, Tonya appeared mid rugby tackle and slammed into the man, sending him stumbling sideways. The girl vanished with the man, leaving Dante alone in the warehouse with the man. Before he had a chance to react, the crate that had been hovering suddenly flew straight towards him.


Liu
As she went on the offensive, Liu could see the agent was unprepared to go on the defensive. He recoiled backwards as she landed and his head jerked back as the bullet flew up towards him, slamming through the bottom of his jaw and exiting through his cheek. His hand flying to his face as the agony began to register, the agent barely responded to the remainder of Liu’s attack. The agent slammed down on to the concrete as Liu made her move, vulnerable. Unable to respond, he was open to Liu’s blade and it would only take a single stab to a vital point to end his life. As he breathed his last breath, a deathly quiet settled over the warehouse. Trixie stood up and limped away from Damon’s body, the knife held in a reverse grip in her hand. Her head stung from where Damon had grabbed it and she felt slightly delirious. Wobbling for a second, she fell to the floor, the knife clattering out of her hand. She snorted for a second at the absurdity of the situation and then, before she could help herself, she was in fits of laughter, rolling over the floor with her sides hurting from how hard she was laughing. They had won. They had actually done it. Damon was dead. She was free. She was covered in blood and the stench of death as beginning to fill the warehouse, but they had actually done it. Trixie continued to laugh, her voice echoing throughout the warehouse, as she struggled to regain control of herself. That, however, wasn’t going to happen anytime soon and the laughter continued to spill out of her uncontrollably, engulfing the otherwise empty warehouse.

 

[DeletedUser37114]

Giles
Thank goodness, Toby seemed to have gotten through to him. Or at least, that was what Giles' words and expression told him. Something about how he would've done the same thing in his shoes. Which was, in itself, reassuring. Not that he'd really had any doubts, but getting to hear for sure that Giles was a good person felt nice. The fact that the trauma was apparently pretty thorough wasn't as nice, though. If just the thought was bringing tears to his eyes, Giles really needed to talk about this. Didn't necessarily need to be a talk with him, but this was apparently a little easier than talking with his friend. And that last bit... Toby sat back down next to Giles and wrapped an arm around him. "You can do this," he said, voice quiet. "I know you can. You survived I don't know how long without anyone else, and you know you have people to support you now. Don't call yourself weak just because you can't talk about them right now. You're taking your time talking, and that's okay. It'll stop hurting one day. At least, I hope so."