We could probably use you... (Mostly Nikki)

Evening approached in the broken and battered city. The demons had come in and destroyed many parts of the city and the rebuild was still early on getting things back to the way they once were. Craters marked over the terrain of the urban landscape, here and there, large scabs yet to be healed indicating where the demons had wounded Sai City. The city’s police forces as well as the Division took heavy tolls during the devastation of the dramatic event, meaning it was harder to protect the city. The forces that were left were stretched thin during this rebuild process and on top of that, demons seemed to think that the city was easy pickings in various parts due to the current weakened state of the city’s defenses.

There is the sound of feet slapping against the pavement as a woman runs through a broken urban terrain holding her daughters hand. She runs from something very real that shouldn’t be real… a red imp about the size of a man, hovering across the ground on thin and wiry bat-like wings twice the span of its body, flaps after her and her child gaining ground. A grin forms on its mouth full of large protruding jagged teeth as its hands, ending in elongated sharpened nail, reach out in order to snatch up the woman as if to carry her off. The woman screams out, hoping that anyone in the area, hopefully police or a hero type, would somehow rescue her from a fate of dying and being separated from her daughter.

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Reference: Imp

With the city in a state of emergency, most of the policing forces would be monitored, if not controlled by the Division since the commissioner of the Division would be dead set on reclaiming the city back; as such, though the Division and police couldn’t be everywhere at once, they were somewhere. With the current demonic activity, and not all demons staying to their spiritual forms, it was getting harder and harder to hide the fact that demons and spirits were a very real threat and not just folklore and superstition. But, with intelligent members within their ranks, demons understood that not all humans were able to see and or touch spirits in their spiritual forms. With this said, two more demons much like the first red demon, flew in the sky and witnessed the slaying of their brethren. Angered by his death, they rush down and crash onto the pavements to the front and rear of Nikki, but as they do so, their forms disappear from the sight of human eyes as they shift into their spiritual form. Speaking out to Nikki in a bellowing and resounding voice, one of them growls, “what have you done here to our brother?” There is a snarling noise that accompanies his speech as he continues, “we will surely have you pay and revive his body with your blood!” With the words, there would be no attack that would come yet, just a sinister type of cackling as they move about her and watch her response to the threat.

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The anger quells a bit from the ominous imp demons as they notice the confusion from their prey as she shows a weaker form than she did a moment ago. Her falling to the grown creates grins in the serrated mouths where scowls were previously placed and succeeds in lowering their guards a bit. They knew that though they were in spiritual form, they could become physical and attack her from anywhere at any time. They were cocky in the fact that they held the high grounds in this and that the woman should be helpless to their tactic; after all, she was simply another normal human. They begin to take steps towards her, to close in on her position, but suddenly, the sound of rifle fire echoes in the air and bullets rip through their position, affecting their physical bodies and causing skin to rip and blood to fly. Though the attack was harmful, none of the shots fired were fatal, but the assault caused the demons to revert to their physical bodies as one projected a shield in front of them while the other leapt back, pushing his wings against the winds, moving into the air. A large man (Tapp), with an equally large gun; a member of the Division’s special ops forces, continues his shooting coming to Nikki’s side with his aim and attention to the air. “Get up,” he coaxes her in a serious tone, “you can’t see them but they’re there if you look hard enough. These bastards don’t play fair…” The gun continues to make a ruckus held tightly in his grip as the demons take evasive maneuvers in the sky, pulling back and gathering energy. At a height of several stories, they launch down balls of explosive energy towards the ground. The male warns, “we’ve got to move now, let’s go!”

300 / 817

Ooc: So… I just realized you are a Hitorinji so you should be able to naturally see demons… thus turning this into your artifact activation quest.

Spoiler:

There would be an explosion to their rear as they made it away from that area with the onset of the attack from above. Now gaining a break in being attacked, the two demons regroup and turn their attention to a counter offensive. They both shift their body in a downwards position as if to swoop down, but one is stricken with a resounding blow as chucks fly from its back and its body is plucked from the skies. About a half block away, a sniper crouches on a rooftop, a back up for the large male who had gone in first.

Around this time, a black hummer looking vehicle dubbed an Enforcer by its manufacturer slides to a halt in front of the large man and the young lady to answer her question. “We’re safe now,” he offers as all indications pointed towards him going back into the fray of the battle.

The second demon, having lowered itself to the ground in order to avoid the line of sight from the sniper, hurls another ball of energy directly at the male, Nikki and the SUV parked in front of them. The large wad of energy explodes several feet before reaching them, outlining an invisible barrier around the vehicle as it disperses. After a loud and clunking reload, the large male resumes fire, striking the demon several times and causing its body to rivet before the gunfire lets up and it falls to the ground. With a sigh, he lowers his smoking weapon and the immediate battle seemed to be over. A nerdish figure from within the Enforcer reports, “no more enemy units detected in this quadrant; we should be safe for now.” The large male nods and turns to Nikki whom he smiles and greets, “good job saving those civilians, officer.” She would be able to see that they were extracted safely, “I’m Lt. Tapp of Division 12. This area looks clear. Need a ride?”

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“Heh, yeah, Division 12,” Tapp chuckles lightly to the response received from the young lady. Glad to hear that she would take up the ride, he steps back and brings his hand to the rear side door of the Enforcer and pulls it open for her. He gives a head nod towards the Hummer and advises, “hop in.” After those words, the male in the driver’s seat, now visible to match a face with a voice, turns around to the opened door and greets, “heya.” It was obvious that he was a technical type and not one to be in actual combat; his role was supportive. In the vehicle there was a middle row and a back row that held some type of technical set up that looked like some sort of workstation. He assures her, “I’m Michael, you can sit anywhere if you want. Watch out for the equipment in the rear, though, it’s my baby.” During this time, Tapp would have casually turned around as he held his finger to the side of his ear and speaks over the COM line to the sniper who was dispatched a ways back. He thanks, “good shot, Ted. You made things easier on me. Hey, we picked up a city shield, we’re going to give her a ride back. We’re coming to pick you up, be down stairs. You’re still up by one in the kill count.” There is a pause as he walks towards the rear of the vehicle, before he grins and says, “okay tough guy, see you in a minute.” He opens the Enforcer trunk, which opens out much like a mobile armory.

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Michael chuckles lightly at the reference to the poor woman and looks in the rear view mirror towards Tapp who was in the back closing down the trunk of the car. “Don’t worry,” he assures, “we’re going to ‘take care’ of you as soon as we get to the harbor…” He turns around with a joking grin to realize that she seemed to have fallen asleep across the middle section of the Enforcer. His voice immediately hushes before his attention is drawn to the driver side door, which is pulled open as Tapp juts his thumb in a backwards motion, speaking, “out, I’m driving.” With a sigh, Michael complains, “it’s the squadron’s vehicle not yours.” He pulls himself out of the front seat and out of the vehicle before making his way around. With a smile, Tapp teases, “you know how long it took me to be able to drive it? If the Capt. hadn’t been promoted to Commissioner, you’d still be in the back seat.” Michael opens the front passenger door and gets inside answering, “uh huh… whatever.” Tapp situates himself in the driver seat and pulls the SUV into gear. “Plus,” he points out, “you never let me touch your workstation.” Michael jokes back, “you’d probably eat it, you lug.”

The enforcer pulls away from that area and drives for a while to the next stop, which would be the building where the sniper had been positioned. He meets the vehicle at ground level and walks around to the side door. Sliding it open, his eyes come upon the lying Nikki. His eye twitches for a moment before his gaze shifts up to a grinning duo of Tapp and Michael. Michael speaks, “can we keep it, Ted?” The silent figure, a serious type with short hair and an artificial right eye, shakes his head at the silliness and proceeds to make his way to the back where he holds his sniper rifle in its bag across his lap. The vehicle continues from that position and moves on. While driving Tapp comments to Michael, “did the boss say we needed a new rookie for the team?” Michael confirms, “yeah, something about new people being easier to brain wash.” It is countered, “or unbrainwash…” Michael turns around and looks at the girl as he comments, “she did fight against a demon just then… looks like she’s been working hard these past few days. Maybe we should just take her by the commish’s office and see if he likes her. She’s got nice assets.” There is a grin and a twinge at the end of that statement as type of a double meaning to like. Tapp jovially returns, “If it weren’t for Izumi, I wouldn’t think the commissioner even liked women…”

The van eventually comes to a halt in the secured underground vehicle depot of the Division’s HQ. As it comes to a stop, Tapp speaks loudly as if to wake Nikki, stating, “Last stop! Gather your guns and id badges, we’re here.” Of course, he didn’t mention where here was, but if she had really been asleep, they would tell her what she needed to know as things progressed.

529 / 1947

There is a sharp whistle as Tapp looks to the top of the hummer where her head hit. He jokes, “good thing that’s armor plated.” Michael gives a slight chuckle as he opens the passenger door and steps out of the vehicle stating, “your epidermis is showing” playfully. Ted moves past her area, opening the door and exiting the vehicle first. Tapp closes the front driver door behind him, walking around to her side as she slides out of the vehicle. As she asks if she were in some type of trouble, Tapp’s face would become much more serious as he frowns, “we’re going to need to secure your weapons. Please hand them to Michael.” Getting it, Michael nods and holds out his hand. Ted was no help, as he always seemed serious and silent. Tapp continues, “we’re going to just bring you in and ask you a few questions… Ted, can you get the cuffs…” Deciding to go ahead and go along with things, Ted reaches behind his back and pulls out, then tosses a pair of metallic cuffs to Tapp who catches them and opens them up nodding towards Nikki stating, “I’ll need your hands please… this is for your own protection.” Michael comments, “ah, and the blind fold… we should get that.” Tapp nods, “mm, good thinking.”

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The cuffs are placed around her right wrists and then her hands are moved to the rear of her back as they are connected to one another there. Tapp reaches into his vest, pulling out a bandana he often used when he rode his motorcycle; this red pattern bandana would be clean and unused. He would folds it up and then steps forwards to place it across her face and tie it at the back of her head. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes as he cuts off her vision, “but you’ve seen too much. Now your fate has to be judged by The Commissioner.” Michael echoes ominously in a low and regretful tone, “it’s very regretful… maybe he’ll have mercy on your since you’re cute and just brainwash you instea…” Tapp cuts him off with a sharp, “hush! You’ve said too much!” Tapp holds her by the arm, firmly, but not aggressively, as he comments, “come on, let’s go…”

Then the walking would start.

There would be walking, stopping, the floor would rise up signifying they were in an elevator, and then more walking. There would be the sound of people passing by on either side. The sound of boots would click against the floor in the areas that weren’t carpeted and then would be muffled in the areas that were. Suddenly the walking would stop and there would be a knock against a dense structure. A door would open and Nikki would be lead into an area; this would be Izumi’s office that separated the Commissioner’s office from the general visitors. If Izumi were in, Tapp would hold his finger to his lip as if to say “shhh” but make no sound. If not, they would proceed as normal. Coming to the door to the Commissioner’s office, Tapp would stop and turn to Nikki, asking, “are you prepared… to meet The Commissioner?”

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“Ah, that’s right,” Tapp recalls on the question of Izumi. He explains, “she’s the bosses secretary… she’s also his woman. Odd workplace mechanics there, but she’s pretty hot. It was her stuff you were throwing around upstairs.” He gives a bit of a chuckle at this information. When they come to a stop in front of the women’s locker room, they nod and tell her to take her time; there should be someone in there taht would be able to help her if she had any questions.

Michael rests his hands on his waist as he looks to Tapp and grins, “so we’re tour guides now?” Tapp chuckles lightly and scratches the side of his beard as he shrugs, but then admits, “she’s pretty hot.” Michael laughs lightly and comments, “yeah she is. She’s much easier on the eyes than Ted.” Seemingly the only one having realized that it doesn’t take three people to lead someone around Ted looks for a moment as if he were going to go, then again, the commissioner had asked him to show her around and Tapp and Michael merely tagged along. He would look to the both of them with a slight annoyance, though they would think it was about the joke made.

During the wait, Tapp gets pulled into a pickup basketball game in the gymnasium across the hallway from the locker rooms. Michael would enter through the large double doors and watch Tapp play the center position in the five on five scrimmage of guys off duty. Losing interest in the game, he would pull out his phone and access and begin working on his home servers. Ted would be the only one to remain as his back would be pressed against the wall, seemingly with the patience of a sage. During this time, he would receive a call from the Commissioner’s office, telling him that the battery was set up for Nikki tomorrow. When Nikki comes back out, his gaze shifts to her and he nods seeing that she was able to find a suitable uniform to wear for the time being. She would be assigned enough for a week when she was actually activated, but this would due for now. Pressing off of the wall, he walks a step towards her and speaks, “show up in the lobby at 8 am tomorrow morning and show your access card to the guard in the lobby. They’ll take it from there.” As if having nothing to say and concluding this, he would walk as if passing her to continue on to wherever he would go unless she stopped him to ask a question or something.

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Ted pauses at the question and looks at her. He shakes his head and informs simply, “no” before moving on as she allows. Back on the court, Tapp would have fully come out of his work attire by now, wearing only his wife beater as well as his slacks. It was obvious he hadn’t come prepared to play, but still didn’t pass up the chance to be in the game. As a large man, he wasn’t too agile, but he took up a lot of space and defended the goal pretty well.

Immersed in his phone, Michael shifts through the holographic interface with his hand and goes over the protocols, inspecting his packet flow and optimizing his network. When the blow comes to his ear he immediately straightens up as a shiver takes hold of his body and he lean forwards sharply while turning to see who or what that was. The blow was too direct to be the wind… He sees Nikki’s face and a blush takes hold of him as it was obvious that he was caught off guard. “Oh my god,” he admits, “you’ll give me a heart attack.” Noticing the cleavage… or rather the new uniform on the clean young lady, he nods and admits “looks good on you. You find everything okay?” He was still kind of coming down from the blow and composing himself.

230 / 6710

Looking at his phone and back to the seductive Nikki, Michael comes to the conclusion that telling her what he was doing would make him seem like a total loser and nerd. “Um… just work stuff,” he makes up as he closes the apps on the phone and closes it shut, “system analysis and stuff…” The proximity threw him off guard as he didn’t know if he should move over, or if that would be rude; it wasn’t like he was complaining about her being so close, though. Tapp catches the back as she calls out to cheer him on. Hearing the voice, the dark and almost equally large male guarding Tapp glances up, sees her and loses focus. Taking this opening, Tapps large body pushes him back and to the floor as he follows up for a simple layup, scoring for his team. With a grin on his face, Tapp looks to Nikki and calls, “thanks partner” as he walks to the other big man and looks down, holding out a hand to help him up. Pulling him up, he pats him on the back and passes as the man turns and says, “that bitch is fire, yo.” Tapp chuckles it off as the ball is inbounded and the progression to half court is made. Michael turns to Nikki, looking at her body a bit, feeling a bit inadequate next to such a bombshell. Trying to find something to talk on, Michael, motions towards the court and asks, “are you good at sports?”

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The game continues on the court with the opposite team looking to score to catch up. The game seemed like a healthy way to get people’s minds off of things since the devastation of the city was so close. Though the game would temporarily remove their minds from the events, it would only be a band aid in the situation. The game comes to a halt with several members of the opposing team are called out into the field via pagers and cells. The shrill noises signal that the city was in need and their mind’s R&R had come to an end. Break time was over, and in remembering the atmosphere, the city was still reeling from the attack.

Hearing the question from Nikki, Michael thinks about the things he does in his spare time and wonders were his activities really something to discuss with a lady. He shrugs, “nothing much… work… keeps me pretty busy?” After saying it, it seemed like a pretty lame thing to say. By this time, Tapp would be making his way back, smelling just like he’d played a game of basket ball. His belt and utilities are in his right hand with his work shirt in his left, as he uses it like a towel to wipe his head. As he walks up, Michael looks down at his phone that chimes a message had come in. Looking down, he frown and murmurs, “the boss wants to know if we’re still showing her around.” Looking to her, Tapp speaks, “yeah, it’s probably time to get back. People need us out there.” Looking to Nikki, he comments, “you’re pretty much free to go for the day. I’m not sure if Ted told you, but you’ve got to be here in the morning pretty early…” He would wait to see how she would respond, but for all practical purposes, it was time for them to get back to saving people and protecting the city.

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Tapp nods with her words and says, “yeah, we’re going to have to get the rest of your uniform tomorrow so our guys can stay on task… and for your own safety.” There is a teasing tone in his voice before he looks to Michael reference the request for a ride home. He nods to him and says, “go ahead and drop her off. I’m going to get in contact with Ted and Ingel and take the Enforcer with them. Since you’re able to track it, just meet up with us in the field. I’m going to try to hop in the shower real quick too.” Michael nods and confirms, “got it. Yes you need to” before realizing where he was going and with whom. Tapp laughs and play punches Michael in the shoulder, almost toppling him over as he walks past shaking his head, “this guy here…” Michael winces slightly as he rubs his shoulder and watches him go. His gaze shifts back and around to the sexy young lady who was adjusting her pony tail and he instantly gets nervous wondering if things with his new teammate would be easier to deal with if she were a guy. “All right,” he says, “this way.” With that, he would lead her to his pick up in the parking garage and proceed in making sure she got home safely.

229 / 7520
WC goes to Nikki
PWC goes to me, of course.

Sent to UYB.