Recruitment Drive [Open]

That was...certainly an interesting experience. Marta found everything about that job horrifically unpleasant. The exposure to drugs, the people, the danger, pretty much everything about it was a rather unpleasant experience for all involved.

And at the end of it, there wasn't really any denouement. Everyone kind of just went his separate ways. Including Marta, who now had no idea what he was doing. He became a demon. Then summoned a demon. Then killed a demon. Or something?

He sighed. He was more or less on his way back to town, still confused more than anything else. The night was nearly over and he really needed to get out of this silly costume. Right now, it looked like he was some sort of absurd cosplayer.

As Marta walked into the city, he could faintly begin to hear a siren. Even as he passed by the Forest and into towards the city to Backlight, it was a significant enough distance to be spotted in his appearance. Because of the City's rigid stance on crime, the siren began to grow louder and closer to where he was. Eventually a squad car pulled up in front of Marta. The doors to the cruiser opened as police officers looked upon him with suspicion as they began to clamber out. One of them had their hand on the radio. While the other cautiously began to approach him. "Sir, stop for a moment, please. What are you doing here walking around like that?"

With Gabe being around the area of the backlight district. he started to sense the distortion disturbance that always seems to come around high demons activity. Whenever a demon starts to rampage and go about it's business of terrorizing innocent humans, Gabe kind of springs into action to ensure that the casualties are at least lessened. From the last time that he arrived late, he was unable to save that woman. However, he was able to at least get two people to listen to the cause of the platinum playhouse and get them to sit in for a while and listen to what he had to say about what the government was doing.

"Hope i'm not too late..."

With Gabe transforming, he started to head towards the scene of the disturbance in his terrorist getup as Shotaro. Moving along rather quickly, Gabe would run into another masked stranger, wondering who that person was. Strange getups were immediate to be assumed to be a terrorist, but were they with skelkers gang? Or was this person a newly awakened persona user? But first off, Gabe wanted to check if the person was alright.

He was only a few feet away, but he didn't want to startle the guy or any way.  However, hearing the police cruiser come around made Gabe quickly  turn around the corner evasively to avoid being seen. In a sense of sleuth like movement, Gabe was quite quick on his feet.

"Looks like he's in trouble.... or will be. No time for a grander approach since we are trying to be in the good graces of the city. "

Taking out his trap card, Gabe would poke out the upper half of his body in order to toss the card with amazing precision and speed to land directly between the fledgeling terrorist and the police as the uniformed officer began its approach.

Once it landed, it took effect and created a wall of fire between the officer and the boy, with Gabe acting quickly to call out to him to run.

"Hey! Over here! Be quick!"




Strengths

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stats

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Skills

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Marta turned around at the sirens and the flashing lights. Police? He wondered if they were going to run some mystical form of a breathalyzer on him. A magical drug test. That certainly wouldn't end well. He broke out in a cold sweat, but he remained calm. That he was good at. That was what he was trained best at. Even as the pounding headache and nausea, presumably side-effects from the horrific drug in the mission in the forest, ravaged his body. Worst of all, he hadn't eaten anything that day, which meant that nothing really acted to soak up the after-effect. He felt like he had the worst hangover in recorded history.

As the police approached him, he turned around and gave them a quick bow, even as it seemed to make his head pound, "Ergh, um, good evening officers. I was just returning from a costume party."

He thought about his excuse, "I admit, it might have gotten a little out of hand, so I decided now was the time to go back to be-eergh, urgh-"

Marta seemed to recoil a bit as his entire body erupted in nauseau and misery. He quickly rushed his hands to his mouth, giving a pained look, but his mouth sadly slipped out from under his hands and veil. Clearing a trajectory between him and the police officers.

He then immediately vomited up everything he ate up in the last day. Which was apparently nothing, which meant it was absolutely nothing but oddly rainbow-colored bile and stomach acids that came flying out at the police officers, splattering all over their unfortunate shoes and lower pants.



Marta seemed to give them a horrified expression with his mouth, even as the rest of his face wasn't visible, "Oh my Goddess Sirs, I'm so sorry about that. I think I really...need to go home to bed now...I me-"

Physically, he actually did feel a lot better. But it was a horrifying experience. There was nothing he wanted to do more than to run, even though his normal demeanor was to never run from a police officer.

Something completely out of his expectations seemed to upend the entire situation. A masked magician, who seemed both extremely gallant and fashionable, came soaring down, tossing what Marta saw was a card between the police officers and him. It was dazzling, making Marta feel slightly what old peasants felt like with Marian apparitions. This was...a Magician apparition.

He almost missed what the gallant man yelled out at him. He would normally not obey such a command. But a mix of the the presence of the man issuing the order mixed with the deep desire to escape from the men he had embarrassingly vomited all over.

Remembering his training from the horrific fight at the night, he simply...willed to get as far away from the barfy cops and towards the magician. And almost on cue, the boy's body shadow accelled towards the magician, ready to flee by following both him and all of his orders. "Um. Yes. Oh, what am I doing? Yes. Understood." He even seemed to talk himself through his lingering hesitation.

The officer who approached Marta raised an eyebrow at the excuse. But he didn't have much of a time to delve deeper on it when bile spewed out of the scarlet-draped individual. Not a single scream of anger escaped him, but a groan of exasperation. Great, dead end of the hour and they had to deal with some pretty-looking drunk. The officer angrily tapped the tip of his shoe to flick off the contents. "Shit--Dammit, my shoes! Son of a... Look, man. Whatever! Just get the hell hom--FUCK!""


The conflagration was sudden and a part of his pants were on fire. The screams finally released as he tried to smack the flames away to some effect and began to drop down to roll. Soon he had some prudence to begin stripping out of his trousers. The other officer by the cruiser drew out his gun and began shooting towards Gabe, but the first two shots easily missed as both hit the wall instead.

"Card--Shots fired! Shots fired! Psyche-Terrorists in the Backlight District near the edge of the district limits! This is Sergeant McDrew! Lieutenant McCoughlin is on fire! Call in the Cadets! Suspects are a Psyche-Terrorist as red as Carmen Sandiego and that Psyche-Terrorist from the broadcast!" He screamed into the radio while crouching down behind the open car door for cover. Soon more sirens were sounding off in the distance...

"Not exactly what had in mind, maybe I need a new card to add to my arsenal?"

Uncharistically, Gabe actually swore when he got caught up in something that he wasn't expecting immediate bad infamy. But maybe it was dumb of him to NOT expect that.  At the very least, he would have hoped that the man would have been alright and didn't get injured by being too close to the fire.  However, seeing the fact that they shot back meant that he probably got their attention, as well as the fact that this just might be on the evening news and this was the kind of thing that the cadets probably wanted of him in order to smear the platinum playhouse. Either way, Gabe wasn't going to initially attack the police or anything of the sort, he wasn't that kind of guy.

"Gambler Shotaro, you can give me your name when you have time. Well, I took my head out, so I'll take responsibility for you and get us out of this....somehow.  But anyway... we gotta run ok? We need to put some space between the police cars closing in and whatnot. Probably find a crowded place, then break our little getup.  It's a lot of risk in this escape, it's a gamble.. hehe.."

Either way, this was the kind of things that Gabe liked anyway. There was a risk in every game with the cards that were dealt. Of course, even surviving this would lead to some consequences he would have to deal with.  But however hasty Gabe was with his actions, he honestly felt like that kid was shellshocked or traumatized or something. He felt like the boy needed help.

"Well anyway... you got the basics down. It's called shadow accel... but if you are freshly awakened, you can probably only do a few more maybe.  But still, try and keep up!"

Right now Gabe shadow accelled again for the sake to see if they could try and escape from the alleyway in order to move away from the police cars and the sirens.


Stats

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used

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Marta seemed out of it for a bit. It seemed like his brain was squeezing, almost like it was being forced...to digitally remember everything he saw that night. Before he quickly turned his head, as if he immediately took in everything Gambler Shotaro was telling him.

"Oh...huh...I understand exactly..."

He still seemed a little out of it, largely due to another soul skill activating right at the moment of barf, but he was still ready to obey. There was fire, shots, screaming. Marta was a huge fan of calmly explaining things. This was not something that could be calmly explained. Especially since he really didn't quite understand where the fire came from, who this man was, how any of those cards worked, or anything. It's much easier for Marta to run from something he didn't understand. Especially when there was literal gunfire! Everything in Marta's mind was telling him that he should escape...immediately.

Admittedly, the ability to bizarrely teleport short distances seemed to make it a lot easier to escape. From very up close, he saw how Mr. Gambler seemed to teleport out one of the sides of the alleyway. However, it wouldn't have been quite visible where he teleported towards unless you were right behind him.

Thinking about that, while running, Marta made sure to kick an empty garbage can down the alleyway, which flew past the alleyway opening and into several other garbage cans on the other side down the alleyway, which created several toppled cans and a bit of a mess. Hopefully, the mess past the opening that Gambler Shotaro actually went out of could help trick some pursuing officers running down the alleyway into thinking that the masked pair had decided to keep running down the alleyway, instead of escaping the choke-point by going out the side. If the pursuers went down the wrong path, it would help the masked pair put a lot more distance from them. He wasn't sure it would actually work, but he figured it was worth a shot and it was the best idea his frazzled mind could come up with.

Marta then immediately teleported behind Gambler Shotaro, ready to follow his lead and hoping his little trick would at least someone down the wrong path. The teleportation made him a bit dizzy, but he tried to answer the best he could before following again, "Ah...um...yes, understood, Mr. Shotaro. I'll try my best."

Stats:

The sudden crash of the trash cans caught the attention of the officer residing behind the cruiser door to peek over just in time to see the trash sprayed over the alleyway entrance. It seemed for the moment that he was convinced the duo had gone that way. At least until the other officer who had just gotten his pants free yelled the truth while pointing at the retreating Psyche-Terrorists, "They went down the street! Call it in!"

He would begin to stumble his way back to the cruiser as his partner jumped back inside to the passenger seat. The sirens were still roaring in the distance, but they were getting closer. However, there were some options the two could take. Or really, Gambler Shotaro could take as he was leading the way. However, a whisper could be heard inside his very mind. It was beckoning him to point the gun at his new acquaintance's leg...

Noticing that the other mysterious companion that Gabe didn't know the name of  was trying to make some noise to throw a few garbage cans in order to throw off the officers, it seemed to be in vain as the police officers managed to  figure out the truth of the matter and see them go down the street instead.

"Nice try, but it looks like they are a lot smarter than that. However, we can't stay here, we need options.  Not in the street while it's out in the open. "

Instinctively taking out his magnum, Gabe looked at it intently as he checked how many bullets he had.  He had a few at best, and was a sharpshooter for the most part.

"Another lesson, no matter how bad it gets, always try to think of a way to uniquely use your gifts without actively trying to hurt the innocent. I don't believe that's why we have these powers for, it's to protect ourselves against the supernatural, our way of fighting back. But of course, that's my opinion."

But even though he said that there was a voice in Gabe's head that whispered to him, unsure if it was his persona or his will to survive emitting all sorts of desperation choices to take. Pointing the gun at Marta, he contemplated it, this man was going to slow him down if it was his first rodeo. But if that was the case, Gabe would of never poked his nose in it in the first place. The series of failures would have been as followed, not only with the bad press, but making him realize something about himself that he tried to bury away while taking on this persona as the masked terrorist gambler shorato. With him taking on this position, he wanted to believe that he could be a leader that could do right by his friends and make the right choices

"......"

Gabe would stare at him intently for a moment before smiling. He managed to swallow his strong feeling of self-preservation for the time being for the sake of his own philosophy. He had to, he didn't want it to be an accustomed feeling of it being easy to just give up on people. He didn't want to start to normalize it

"Even if the police do something like this, your shadow accel is actually capable of avoiding gunfire. "

Spinning the gun and holstering it, Gabe pat the man on the shoulder.

"I know that shot your nerves a little bit, but I just wanted you to be accustomed to the responsibility that you have with the powers you wield. Every decision you make counts, some you can't take back, you need to be careful in the future. But I'll think of something... "

Making an evasive turn for the sake of getting off the street and getting the police off of their tracks, Gabe would shadow accel in addition to that order to put more distance from the police cars and evasively maneuvering around the backlight.  


stats

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Used

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Choice- Evasive turn with shadow accel

Marta shrugged. The police weren't stupid. But they did go down the wrong hallway for a bit. At the very least, that ended up costing the police some time and putting extra distance between the escaping pair and the police.

Marta was almost indignant when the Gambler pointed the magnum at him. For one, it didn't make any sense to him. A wounded fugitive would only modestly slow down the police. The real method to slow the cops and allow the Gambler to get away was to simply have them split up in opposite directions, sowing confusion. The sense of indignation at possibly sub-optimal tactics was stronger than any sense of fear. Being sacrificed as a tactical gambit? That didn't offend Marta. Being suboptimally sacrificed? Well, that's just a waste. Marta didn't actually flinch until the man started giving helpful advice. Marta bowed,

"Thank you for the advice. That is extremely useful to know."

As a result, Marta was significantly less bothered by the notion of of collateral damage without innocents. Costs and benefits had to be weighed. And humans were indeed inherently valuable. But they were not priceless. One could a price on a human life, Marta's included. As mentioned earlier, he was only angered at the notion of being sold for too cheap a price. After all, by most interpretations, he was sold off in his normal life. And he thought this was a perfectly reasonable decision to make. Reason is what made people into people. Where would they be without reason? If he truly wanted to be free, he'd have to throw off reason. And who can say where that would lead him?

Marta continued listening, quite aware that the Gambler's note that every decision mattering and not being able to be taken back also applied to the Gambler himself. He certainly put himself at risk with that fire which helped Marta escape. Or try to escape, depending on how the next ten minutes went. In a way, that was an acknowledgement of some sort of value for Marta. At the very least, an acknowledgement that had to be paid back...one day.

"I understand. I remain in your debt."

Nodding, Marta quickly followed Gambler Shotaro's evasive turn, noting that the masked man was cleverly shifting into territory that would be harder to follow by car and presumably with less lighting, which would make their shifting even harder to follow. Marta also made sure to avoid stepping or tripping on anything that would make a sound, while trying to keep up with the fashionable Magician.

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Even as they maneuvered themselves to another part of the street, they were hearing the sirens closing in on them. The tell-tale red and blue lights at the distance was becoming brighter as each cruiser began to tail after them. There was still the one that was coming up behind them. However, new options were present...

With the officers starting to gain on the two and the police cars moving ever so closer, it was about time that Gabe was met with a new choice. looking straight ahead, Gabe saw a pothole cover that led to the sewer. Since he was upfront, Gabe decided to cut the pothole cover open with his soulbound cards, using precise and surgical-like accuracy by swiping away with his soulbound that took the form of playing cards. With the hole now in pieces, Gabe would slide down the ladder to enter the sewers and beckon his newfound companion that he was trying to help to join him.

"Not as elegant but please ignore the smell and slide down the ladder. You have to be quick my friend, no time for second thoughts, that's what dry cleaning is for. "

With the hopes that the man that was following him would still continue to follow him or not, due to the fact that these decisions needed to be quick and Gabe needed a precise action from him; after a few seconds of waiting for the man to arrive down regardless of the outcome, Pryoformer shotaro would then appear and use an aoe mabufu to recover the manhole pot with a thick ice blockade to stall the police officers for the time being.

"That should hold them off for a while, but it's no reason for us to stay still. Let's see if there is an alternative route out of here."

With that, Gabe continued to move forward rather swiftly into the sewers, beckoning his companion to follow.

"Why were you alone anyway? Usually, when awakening like this happen, there is always at least more than one person with you. Did you get split up from your comrades?"

Actions: Used soulbound (52 pickup) and dexterous rate in order to open the manhole pot to the sewers and slide down the ladder. Then used mabufu to close it up


Strengths

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Marta was just a little shocked at how easily the masked man cut through something with mere playing cards. In many ways, he began to realize that the masked man could have probably easily dismembered those police officers, but that he simply chose not to. For what it was worth, Marta agreed with the choice, even though he was not privy to the political motivations that the magician likely had in regards to not acting cruelly.

Amazingly, although the normal person on the street would recognize the magician as the famous man on the broadcast, Marta didn't actually follow current affairs very closely and amazingly did not. Which probably made it even more likely for Marta to follow orders. As soon as the man jumped in the sewer, Marta followed him with no hesitation, even before the man even finished encouraging Marta to slide down the ladder.

"Thank you, but please don't worry about that, I've unfortunately...sprayed, one might say, much worse onto a pair of police officers before. I'll be fine." Marta delivered that line in a mostly monotone, polite voice, almost as if the horrific incident he was referring to had not just taken place a few minutes ago.

He was surprised at the man's command of elemental magic. He wished he could add something to make it sturdier, but he couldn't. Instead, he thought to mislead further. He immediately tore out a bright red piece of his outfit attached to a golden button, and threw it a bit in the direction of the sewer (in relation to the sewer hole) that was in the opposite direction that they were running towards. He made sure to pick a part of his outfit with a button, so that it would have enough weight to be thrown.

Hopefully, the first few police officers to break through the ice (if they ever did) and slide down might try to follow the masked pair by following the literal red flag and dashing in the opposite direction that the pair ended up running towards. A tragic loss to the costume, but he could always fix it later.

Marta immediately then started following the magician as they ran, simultaneously answering the question, "Yes, there was. They left. I can't imagine I was or ever will be on good terms with them. I suppose none of them were as magnetic as dashing magicians. Marta did not clarify if his last clause was figurative or literal.

As Gabe and Marta descended down into the sewers, they'd find a thick darkness enveloping the area, and a thick silence to follow. In sharp contrast to the hectic rushing of feet, tires, and adrenaline that greeted them on the surface, the putrid caverns lacked any sort of immediate danger and excitement, but to replace it came a deepening sense of dread. The scurrying of squeaking rats and the sloshing of waste-ridden waters would prove their only company on their descent into the deep labyrinthian recesses...

Dungeon Key:

Information:

Meanwhile as the Cadet arrived on the scene, they'd be greeted by two officers who stayed behind. These officers would brief them on the situation swiftly, but before they could point to the alleyway and give what limited directions they had to the individual, their radio would ring out with a bit of static and a report from their fellow officer. It seemed that while pursuing the suspects and scouring the area for them their tire had been popped by a cluster of sharp ice sealing off a hole to the sewers that they drove over. Being an obvious sign of supernatural activity and far too convenient to be a coincidence, the officers currently with him would offer a ride to the scene, but if it was refused then they'd simply relay directions there to the Cadet and follow what orders they were given within the boundaries of reason.

When the Cadet arrived at the area, they'd be greeted by a crashed police car and several more officers, all of them surrounding a destroyed manhole covered in icy spikes. The officers would stay a careful distance away from the ice and ask the Cadet if they had any method of clearing it out. With the way down supernaturally plugged, there was no doubt there'd be no moving forward without their action first, and the cops would step aside without any complaint to let the professional handle the situation.

"Well, it really does get like that sometimes. With all of the people that you run into while searching for your own truth or reasoning behind having these powers in the first place, there is a good chance that you might run into a person that won't like you too much, or even may dislike you to a degree that it may become a little bit difficult to work with them. However, I'd like to believe that when you meet people of that kind, it's only to serve as an obstacle to the things that you would face in everyday life as well. Even though those kinds of individuals come with their own challenges, it doesn't mean that you should shun them or even un-include them from any interactions. What it could mean is that you would have to earn the person's trust, or better yet, learn to get to know them a little bit so that it wouldn't bother you too much that the personalities clash."

With the regeneration of his mana due to the other guy being about, he took this time to toss out a flame dynamo out before continuing.

"It's dark but let's try to make it out of here. This can't be the end, right?"