Dixie Dead Shake - Log 14
Sep. 5th, 2024 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_dominion posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsSelene finally gets what she asked for.
"I'm certain you children have what you think is some kind of masterful stratagem up your sleeves. Some plan in which you manage to subdue me, save your friends, and walk off into the sunset. Now, allow me to show you my version of the future, Mattie Deveroux. The one that your feeble bog witch trickeries and cheap cards failed to reveal to you. In it, I don't react in the way you expect and I'm sure your plan hinges, by pulling your souls out with my powers and magic. No, in this future, through those doors, my elite men will come through, warded against magic and carrying very ordinary guns. And they will make sure the great Tante Mattie dies for good, along with this insouciant Guild trash. And while Colbert's assassins might cost me a man or two, she too will be shot. Not to kill, but so that her continued life is entirely dependent on my whim. And, my former Rook, the only way for her life to continue is for you to submit to my magical indoctrination. You remember just how thorough and permanent it is." Selene said, her smile thin and cruel.
"And in death, Deveroux, you'll get what you want. I'll leave New Orleans, but only after my men have harvested the life forces of your pitiful community for my power. Oh yes, more than enough to bond the most useful of the Guilds to me forever, and the perfect powerbase from which to reclaim my rightful place as the Black Queen. This world's sad iteration of the club is weak and soft; ripe to be mine again. That is what I see in the cards, and it starts now." She said, raising her hand and motioning.
The side door opened but to Selene's shock, instead of her elite cadre of armed men, Kane walked through in his full Mountie dress.
"You're dead." Selene said dumbly.
"I guess it didn't take, eh?"
***
Earlier, Selene's gunmen waited in their position. The witch and her friend had entered the mansion and they had their orders. Marcellus gave his men one more check over, weapons at ready. He'd trained them personally, using everything a decade in the Marines and a second decade as a mercenary had taught him. Unlike the typical muscle on the street, they looked and acted like a professional unit, and Selene had been clear to him that her plans for the future not only required a greater army, but also a general to command it for her. He stopped near the door and adjusted the brown Stetson; a trophy taken from the man that had been killed in the arena. He liked to stand out just a little.
"That's not your hat, eh?" The voice came out of thin air, and Marcellus and his men jumped, searching for the source. "And since you're wearing it, I guess that makes you the big man here. OK, so we start with you."
There was a flash and suddenly the Canadian emerged from behind the illusion shrouding him. He moved fast enough to almost blur as his first blow took Marcellus in the junction of his chest and shoulder. The bones snapped like toothpicks, rendering his right arm dead and useless. The follow up - a brown leather boot - shattered his left knee, dropping him to the ground in screaming pain before he could so much as twitch.
The men gaped for a moment at the commander now writhing on the ground in pain as Kane reached down and placed the hat on his own head.
"I told you to give me my hat back." They opened fire, but the bullets impacted against an invisible force a foot ahead of Kane. He shook his head. "I also didn't come alone."
Adam appeared behind them, hands moving in a series of complex gestures, maintaining the initial shield and a second spell, which turned the metal of the weapons white hot for a moment, burning them as they dropped them. A white flash went past him and a man screamed as the wolf - Gord - hit him full force and brought him down with his teeth in the man's throat.
The fight was short and brutal. Neither Adam or Kane used lethal methods, but they weren't gentle either. In moments, the squad was down, limbs shattered and broken, alongside several victims of the wolf, who wasn't hesitant to kill. Above the door, a light went on and Kane looked over to Adam.
"Looks like Selene is ready for us now."
***
"Oh yeah, you're going to need a new elite squad. We kind of broke them." Kane said, ignoring the cold fury radiating off Selene.
"We? She hissed.
"Oh right. How rude of me, right?" He said as what had been a passive illusion dropped and Adam stepped forward.
"Really? Strange's whelp is here?" Selene groaned, all but dismissing Destine. For his part, Adam was unfazed, gesturing as he built layer after layer of magical defenses, preparing for her.
"That's a death I will avenge, Selene."
"It doesn't matter. You don't matter." Selene drew herself up from her throne, mustering every inch of the regal presence she'd built over her years as the Black Queen. "None of you matter. I have enough men here to take care of you all, even if I'm forced to get my own hands dirty. I should actually thank you. Forcing me to kill you myself will make this more pleasurable in the end."
"You're welcome. Oh, one last thing-" Kane said and a flash of fiery light bloomed in the windows behind him. "Like you asked... we brought you the cheerleader."
The windows and the walls all around them crumbled, disappearing easily like sand on a beach. As the building fell away, the outline of the Phoenix burned across the sky, igniting the branches of the trees along the skyline. Jean floated in the center of the raptor, arms outstretched.
"Round two."
"I'm certain you children have what you think is some kind of masterful stratagem up your sleeves. Some plan in which you manage to subdue me, save your friends, and walk off into the sunset. Now, allow me to show you my version of the future, Mattie Deveroux. The one that your feeble bog witch trickeries and cheap cards failed to reveal to you. In it, I don't react in the way you expect and I'm sure your plan hinges, by pulling your souls out with my powers and magic. No, in this future, through those doors, my elite men will come through, warded against magic and carrying very ordinary guns. And they will make sure the great Tante Mattie dies for good, along with this insouciant Guild trash. And while Colbert's assassins might cost me a man or two, she too will be shot. Not to kill, but so that her continued life is entirely dependent on my whim. And, my former Rook, the only way for her life to continue is for you to submit to my magical indoctrination. You remember just how thorough and permanent it is." Selene said, her smile thin and cruel.
"And in death, Deveroux, you'll get what you want. I'll leave New Orleans, but only after my men have harvested the life forces of your pitiful community for my power. Oh yes, more than enough to bond the most useful of the Guilds to me forever, and the perfect powerbase from which to reclaim my rightful place as the Black Queen. This world's sad iteration of the club is weak and soft; ripe to be mine again. That is what I see in the cards, and it starts now." She said, raising her hand and motioning.
The side door opened but to Selene's shock, instead of her elite cadre of armed men, Kane walked through in his full Mountie dress.
"You're dead." Selene said dumbly.
"I guess it didn't take, eh?"
***
Earlier, Selene's gunmen waited in their position. The witch and her friend had entered the mansion and they had their orders. Marcellus gave his men one more check over, weapons at ready. He'd trained them personally, using everything a decade in the Marines and a second decade as a mercenary had taught him. Unlike the typical muscle on the street, they looked and acted like a professional unit, and Selene had been clear to him that her plans for the future not only required a greater army, but also a general to command it for her. He stopped near the door and adjusted the brown Stetson; a trophy taken from the man that had been killed in the arena. He liked to stand out just a little.
"That's not your hat, eh?" The voice came out of thin air, and Marcellus and his men jumped, searching for the source. "And since you're wearing it, I guess that makes you the big man here. OK, so we start with you."
There was a flash and suddenly the Canadian emerged from behind the illusion shrouding him. He moved fast enough to almost blur as his first blow took Marcellus in the junction of his chest and shoulder. The bones snapped like toothpicks, rendering his right arm dead and useless. The follow up - a brown leather boot - shattered his left knee, dropping him to the ground in screaming pain before he could so much as twitch.
The men gaped for a moment at the commander now writhing on the ground in pain as Kane reached down and placed the hat on his own head.
"I told you to give me my hat back." They opened fire, but the bullets impacted against an invisible force a foot ahead of Kane. He shook his head. "I also didn't come alone."
Adam appeared behind them, hands moving in a series of complex gestures, maintaining the initial shield and a second spell, which turned the metal of the weapons white hot for a moment, burning them as they dropped them. A white flash went past him and a man screamed as the wolf - Gord - hit him full force and brought him down with his teeth in the man's throat.
The fight was short and brutal. Neither Adam or Kane used lethal methods, but they weren't gentle either. In moments, the squad was down, limbs shattered and broken, alongside several victims of the wolf, who wasn't hesitant to kill. Above the door, a light went on and Kane looked over to Adam.
"Looks like Selene is ready for us now."
***
"Oh yeah, you're going to need a new elite squad. We kind of broke them." Kane said, ignoring the cold fury radiating off Selene.
"We? She hissed.
"Oh right. How rude of me, right?" He said as what had been a passive illusion dropped and Adam stepped forward.
"Really? Strange's whelp is here?" Selene groaned, all but dismissing Destine. For his part, Adam was unfazed, gesturing as he built layer after layer of magical defenses, preparing for her.
"That's a death I will avenge, Selene."
"It doesn't matter. You don't matter." Selene drew herself up from her throne, mustering every inch of the regal presence she'd built over her years as the Black Queen. "None of you matter. I have enough men here to take care of you all, even if I'm forced to get my own hands dirty. I should actually thank you. Forcing me to kill you myself will make this more pleasurable in the end."
"You're welcome. Oh, one last thing-" Kane said and a flash of fiery light bloomed in the windows behind him. "Like you asked... we brought you the cheerleader."
The windows and the walls all around them crumbled, disappearing easily like sand on a beach. As the building fell away, the outline of the Phoenix burned across the sky, igniting the branches of the trees along the skyline. Jean floated in the center of the raptor, arms outstretched.
"Round two."
