Nowhere to run from all of this havoc

[demjiin]

WHO: Kaz (who will eventually be an avatar of The Eye) and various people
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: October event
WHEN: 10/16 - End of October
WARNINGS: Probably this entire log will be riddled with CW but specific threads will have specific warnings so read at your own risk



For Tony
Between the giant eye floating above the entire city then a voice and something both speaking and a truly bizarre feeling which rocked through Kaz at the same time, and it was no surprise that Kaz lost consciousness. When he next woke it was to the sound of gunfire. Kaz knew that sound, though, and knew that he needed to find cover quickly. He recognized the sound of gunfire but it was coming from several sides. This wasn't one or two people firing. This was a warzone.

The sound of gunfire and deeper explosions that Kaz knew were mortars was barely muffled when Kaz found a way inside. The building he was in was barely more than the skeleton of a building and the roof had caved in on one side so that the floating eye was still visible beyond it's edge.

For Kyle
It felt like Kaz must be a mile underground by now. The way before him was getting narrower as he walked but the way back was either blocked off after a few steps or had become too narrow to walk through inexplicably. Just the tunnels themselves gave Kaz an unnerving feeling of being buried alive.

Now he came to what appeared to be some sort of chamber. It wasn't much of one and the walls weren't stone. They were the same as the things as the tunnels, just raw earth. If anything the chamber reinforced that feeling of being buried alive worse than the tunnels did.

For Kavinsky
The fire had come on slowly with blackening walls and smoldering plaster. But whatever had caused the ignition, Kaz watched as parts of the building he was in burned. It was smoke at first. Smoke that made Kaz's eyes water and his throat hurt from coughing. He wasn't able to find a window to get air so he was forced to lean against a wall and be lost in a coughing fit. But the wall was becoming hot to the touch so he had to blunder away blindly.

When he did find a window, the heat from the fire had broken out the glass, so Kaz gasped at the air it was letting in. It was still hot though, so it felt like trying to breathe in the hotter air from a furnace.

For Felwinter
It would have been a forest at night had their been folage on the trees, any sound beyond Kaz's footsteps or things like a moon or stars. Kaz couldn't use his cane on the soft forest floor so his limp was much more obvious as he tried to pick his way forward, being careful where he placed his feet.

Then something, maybe a sound or maybe a twig snapping that Kaz's feet didn't snap, made him pause midstep. Now the feeling the sound elicited made him look behind him. He wasn't sure what caused that feeling but he knew with absolute certainty that something was stalking him. The gloved hand around his cane tightened and Kaz was now being less cautious about where he put his feet as he picked up his pace. Soon he went from a slow walk to jogging, fast jogging and finally outright running. When he started running his limp was very obvious and now slowing him down considerably.

Open
Kaz could not see three feet in front of him for how thick the fog was. The ground was firm enough he could at least use his cane here but everything had the echoing open quality of being outside. Others might have the urge to raise their voice, but Kaz kept his voices volume as though he were talking to someone nearby. After all, he reasoned, being loud wouldn't do anything about how thick this fog was.

"Hello? Is there someone out there?"

Comments

[demjiin]

Kaz saw it, but the half-collapsed roof let out a long, ponderous groan. And while Kaz had ducked out of the immediate fire behind a brick chimney, he felt more than heard that groan. The roof was about to cave in out from under them. Having picked up his cane to duck behind the chimney already, he kept it pressed to his chest as he made his limping way to the edge of the roof and jumped onto the next. As he did the partly caved-in roof collapsed taking a lot of the building with it.

The next roof had a steeper pitch than he realized and he only managed to get one hand on the window's sill. He was at least trying to get enough traction with his feet to push enough for an ungainly flop inside it.

[in_extremis]

They absolutely did not have time to do this gracelessly, and the collapsing roof had Tony throwing himself bodily across the gap far sooner than he was prepared as he hesitated to watch Kaz and make sure he made the escape inside without any new holes. The new angle bested Tony as well, sending him slipping down and clear off the edge of the roof with a yelp, in a hail of dislodged shingles and a new crack of a shot striking where he had just slipped from. The roof trim he hung from groaned, and there was definitely another shot being lined up, either on him or on the kid, so Tony kicked quickly against the brick to vault himself back up and go charging up the roof where he had just knocked footholds through in his fall, bent over on his hands so it was his shoulder that he shoved up against Kaz's back to push them both through the window and send them tumbling into the darkened room.

The dust was still cascading down after them, and Tony hadn't placed all of his limbs yet when he heard a distinct click of a cocked gun from the shadows.

[demjiin]

The sudden shove in the back managed to turn an ungainly flop into an ungainly tumble of limb but they were both inside at least.

click

The sound of a gun being cocked made Kaz freeze midmotion so that he was on his hands and knees. His black hair was partly obscuring his face from above and Kaz used this to glance around for more than one pair of boots. He didn't see more so it was just the one. Whether or not he had a gun aimed at him or if it was aimed at Tony instead, Kaz acted. Fast as a striking snake he used his hold on the bar of his cane to use the crow's head handle like a hook and yanked the one wearing that single set of boots off of their feet. There was a spate of gunfire but the gun was pointed harmlessly at the ceiling. Without stopping in between, as soon as that person's body hit the floor, Kaz was sitting on his chest with his knees pinning the arms beneath them. There was no audible ratchet sound but between one instant and the next, there was suddenly a knife in his hand. Before anything could be said, Kaz used his knife to slit the soldier's throat.

The blood from the wound was forceful at first and spattered the front of Kaz's jacket and shirt but Kaz stayed where he was until the soldier was definitely dead. Then Kaz wiped his blade clean on the soldier, put the butt end of the hilt against his wrist, now there was an audible ratchet sound as the catch engaged, and the knife vanished up his sleeve. Once he was off the soldier, Kaz finished getting to his feet with the assistance of his cane.

"How do you plan to make it out of here and to the blinking light, then?"

[in_extremis]

There was no denying that the kid could protect himself. It happened so fast that Tony was still on his knees where he had fallen, both hands up like he might stop the action in the room and slowly lowering them, staring past Kaz to the dead man on the floor, eyes wide and shocked. He had barely said, "Don't--!," and only after he had recognize the sharp jerk of Kaz's elbow, and as he stared he wasn't sure if the command had even been altruistic. There was something that felt so bright and warm, a smooth drink soothing Tony's dry throat as Kaz knocked the man down, that had filled the room and then was gone just as quickly, slowly leaking out as the blood bubbled at the man's throat and he went still. It was dark.

Instead of answering, Tony gathered himself enough to slouch back on his heels then finally look up at Kaz again to demand, "Why did you do that? You had him under control."

[demjiin]

Kaz just looked at Tony like he'd grown a second head.

"You're kidding, right? Someone had a loaded and cocked gun aimed at you, made absolutely no demands, or said anything at all, and because I made use of the element of surprise you call that 'had him under control'?"

Kaz just shook his head in part wonder and part disgust.

"You can speak for yourself, but I didn't want to get shot."

Kaz used his cane so he didn't have to limp to the door then looked out of it.

"The stairs are intact in this place. You coming?"

[in_extremis]

They were clearly speaking incompatible languages because Tony stared back, just as baffled and horrified, and none of Kaz's justification lessened the divide. No, he wasn't kidding, Kaz had just killed a man he had already disarmed, and he was already turning away and unperturbed as Tony started to gesture toward the body, mouth open but finding he didn't have the words prepared to explain to someone why murder was bad. He hadn't considered this would be a problem.

"Hold on," he hissed, finally snapping out of his disgust and crawling toward the dead man. They had clearly interrupted his work, a long-barrelled rifle still set to point out over the street, watching those darkened buildings where Tony had seen the shadows move. Tony moved like he might only take the scope from it, then hesitated as he looked to the discarded handgun, clearly not the last one they were going to encounter, and took the whole rifle from its mount. "We're not killing anyone else," he warned even as he did, one finger raised to stop Kaz from thinking this was going to be a pattern.

[demjiin]

If Tony was going to have this much of a reaction to killing someone, then he had no business sticking with Kaz. Because Kaz had no conscience to feel guilty about as it stands. He was infamous for accepting any job regardless of danger or the ferocity of violence called for. Kaz himself would say he only has two rules: no kids and no slaving. Anything else up to and including murder was fair game. But Kaz would also admit he had no intention of killing anyone else, but he said nothing to Tony's declaration because Kaz also had no intention of using less than deadly force if it was self-defense. For the moment he was letting Tony and the rifle go first down the stairs.