A Touch of Brimstone Log 1
Jan. 13th, 2015 05:53 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsJohn and Marius, recovering on Muir, make a frightening and unwelcome discovery
It was the proverbial dark and stormy night. One of the winter storms notorious to the North Atlantic had descended on Muir Island and the rocky islet was under siege from icy rain and howling winds. The power had been flickering on and off for the past half hour, so it was no surprise when it finally cut out altogether. What was a surprise was the failure of the backup generator to start. Which lead to two young men braving the dank and chilly basement area, to find out what was wrong.
“This is bullshit.” To think John could have been somewhere in Costa Rica or Maldives or anywhere warm and sunny, but instead he’d decided to stick around for a little while longer and had opted to forego getting that much needed vacation. Well, that had seemed like a bad idea from the start.
“I’m telling you, it’s rats. Giant — stinking rats,” he muttered as he lighted up a cigarette before using the flame from his trusty zippo to light the way as they reached the entrance to the basement. “Ladies first.”
"Ever the gentleman. Fear not, I'll be certain to reserve you a choice rodent." Marius' train of thought was travelling a similar track. Recovered or not, consenting to spend a few months with his family would at least have placed him somewhere warm. Now he was in the bowels of Muir because Moira had heeded the weather forecast and taken pity on the maintenance staff with family on the mainland.
"Not a conducive environment for small-talk, is it?" Marius remarked as he swept the torchbeam ahead of them. "'So, how does this dank corridor compare to your previous experience in similar dank corridors?'"
“Well, I never had a walking, talking dictionary for company so this is new.” John hadn’t had much of a conversation with Marius before, but already he had several nicknames for the guy based on that first impression of him from a few years ago.
“So you got any idea where we’re supposed to be headed, Shakespeare? Left? Right? Left…” Aside from not knowing the layout of the basement, he also had zero knowledge of how to get the building’s generator up and running. The good news was that he did think to carry a screwdriver and there was hoping that handy data plan on his iPhone would still work down here for googling purposes. He’d left the toolbox upstairs. No need to be extra ambitious or anything.
"Left, as it happens." Marius glanced at the directions they'd been given to confirm. "You know, I cannot help but feel we've been selected for this task based solely upon our possession of a Y chromosome. I would not be surprised to find the generator also on top of something high and surrounded by spiders, positioned in such a way that we are required to perform heavy lifting to assemble a sort of tower in order to reach it. Perhaps in a tightly sealed jar."
"Hang on." John held up his hand, shushing Marius for a moment. He had thought he'd heard something.
The sudden screech of bent metal made them stop. At the edge of their sight, they could see a shaft of light come in and enlarge as a metal panel was finally tore away. A figure stepped through, outlined by the electric light. The hard faced young black women was instantly recognizable as Frenzy, one of the newer Brotherhood members.
Marius stifled the appropriate exclamation just in time. Hurriedly clicking off the torch, he dropped back behind a corner with John.
"What are they doin' here?" hissed the Australian, as if there was any sort of chance the other man kept up a subscription to the annual Brotherhood Newsletter.
"Not sure but I doubt it's a social call." John said quietly, watching the group.
Frenzy stepped aside as two other men stepped through. They didn't recognize the younger Indian one, but Bloodhawk was immediately identified. They moved quietly along the corridor, heading away from Marius and John's position. However, just before they moved, a last figure stepped through, gaunt and mad eyed; Abyss.
That was more than enough for Marius. He and John might have had a chance against two or three, even with the array of mutations he could identify, but he seemed to recall the last man had once enveloped an entire hospital. He had no idea if he would be able to counter a personal pocket dimension, and while he'd have been happy to be proven wrong he had doubts pouring fire into it would be particularly effective.
Their apparent odds were incidental, however. Far more pressing were two very important questions: just how many others were there, and what the hell were they doing on Muir?
"Whatever's going on," Marius said quietly, "it is my personal opinion this is a bit more than a two-man job. Yourself?"
John nodded. "I think we need to make a long distance call."
It was the proverbial dark and stormy night. One of the winter storms notorious to the North Atlantic had descended on Muir Island and the rocky islet was under siege from icy rain and howling winds. The power had been flickering on and off for the past half hour, so it was no surprise when it finally cut out altogether. What was a surprise was the failure of the backup generator to start. Which lead to two young men braving the dank and chilly basement area, to find out what was wrong.
“This is bullshit.” To think John could have been somewhere in Costa Rica or Maldives or anywhere warm and sunny, but instead he’d decided to stick around for a little while longer and had opted to forego getting that much needed vacation. Well, that had seemed like a bad idea from the start.
“I’m telling you, it’s rats. Giant — stinking rats,” he muttered as he lighted up a cigarette before using the flame from his trusty zippo to light the way as they reached the entrance to the basement. “Ladies first.”
"Ever the gentleman. Fear not, I'll be certain to reserve you a choice rodent." Marius' train of thought was travelling a similar track. Recovered or not, consenting to spend a few months with his family would at least have placed him somewhere warm. Now he was in the bowels of Muir because Moira had heeded the weather forecast and taken pity on the maintenance staff with family on the mainland.
"Not a conducive environment for small-talk, is it?" Marius remarked as he swept the torchbeam ahead of them. "'So, how does this dank corridor compare to your previous experience in similar dank corridors?'"
“Well, I never had a walking, talking dictionary for company so this is new.” John hadn’t had much of a conversation with Marius before, but already he had several nicknames for the guy based on that first impression of him from a few years ago.
“So you got any idea where we’re supposed to be headed, Shakespeare? Left? Right? Left…” Aside from not knowing the layout of the basement, he also had zero knowledge of how to get the building’s generator up and running. The good news was that he did think to carry a screwdriver and there was hoping that handy data plan on his iPhone would still work down here for googling purposes. He’d left the toolbox upstairs. No need to be extra ambitious or anything.
"Left, as it happens." Marius glanced at the directions they'd been given to confirm. "You know, I cannot help but feel we've been selected for this task based solely upon our possession of a Y chromosome. I would not be surprised to find the generator also on top of something high and surrounded by spiders, positioned in such a way that we are required to perform heavy lifting to assemble a sort of tower in order to reach it. Perhaps in a tightly sealed jar."
"Hang on." John held up his hand, shushing Marius for a moment. He had thought he'd heard something.
The sudden screech of bent metal made them stop. At the edge of their sight, they could see a shaft of light come in and enlarge as a metal panel was finally tore away. A figure stepped through, outlined by the electric light. The hard faced young black women was instantly recognizable as Frenzy, one of the newer Brotherhood members.
Marius stifled the appropriate exclamation just in time. Hurriedly clicking off the torch, he dropped back behind a corner with John.
"What are they doin' here?" hissed the Australian, as if there was any sort of chance the other man kept up a subscription to the annual Brotherhood Newsletter.
"Not sure but I doubt it's a social call." John said quietly, watching the group.
Frenzy stepped aside as two other men stepped through. They didn't recognize the younger Indian one, but Bloodhawk was immediately identified. They moved quietly along the corridor, heading away from Marius and John's position. However, just before they moved, a last figure stepped through, gaunt and mad eyed; Abyss.
That was more than enough for Marius. He and John might have had a chance against two or three, even with the array of mutations he could identify, but he seemed to recall the last man had once enveloped an entire hospital. He had no idea if he would be able to counter a personal pocket dimension, and while he'd have been happy to be proven wrong he had doubts pouring fire into it would be particularly effective.
Their apparent odds were incidental, however. Far more pressing were two very important questions: just how many others were there, and what the hell were they doing on Muir?
"Whatever's going on," Marius said quietly, "it is my personal opinion this is a bit more than a two-man job. Yourself?"
John nodded. "I think we need to make a long distance call."
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