Rains of W.A.S.

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Oh, ok. Living was good. The other man mentioned San Fran, but something was off about it, like it couldn't really be San Francisco.

He let his mind wander as he was carried to the helicopter, and simply held on, eyes roving to take in as much as he could. Streets this empty...

It would have been nice, if not for the sort of welcome he got and the promise of nukes. A small nuclear explosion can expose areas as far as a 410 meter radius to lethal amounts of radiation, and a larger can cover an even wider radius.

The facts ran through his head, as well as the effects of radiation poisoning on a human. It started with hallucinations and ended in a painful death from organ failure and rapid decay of internal organs, and the poisonous effects of any belongings which would have to be disposed of. The magical effect was much wider, and could even lead to people being unable to use it for the rest of their lives in the aftermath, which meant...

Those poor fuckers who got within a kilometer radius would end up just like him.

He didn't have much to really do BUT think about the worst outcomes.
 
Cross had been jogging for a few minutes now, and even if the sounds of gunshots were dying down, there was still a presence in the air that disturbed the area. The soldier was no stranger to the activities of demons, though this one was unorganized, undisciplined. It seemed more like cultists fooling around than proper summonings and rituals.

They continued out, down a street towards the helicopters... But something roared into the streets, something that sounded like the screams of tortured souls that rotted deep in the pits of hell. Cross looked around, not spotting anything initially.

"We might be getting some action, kid." Cross said, coming to a sudden halt. From their right, within an alleyway came a large, bone like spike that just raced across the air in from of them and into the one of the buildings. Cross turned his head to notice there was something there; the thing was the size of a large transport truck for sixteen wheelers... It was nothing by bones and muscles fused into a strange humanoid beast with long, cony claws and empty eye sockets that had nothing but darkness within it. The creature screamed again as it charged forth.

"Close your eyes, now." He mentioned rather hastily as he let go of one side and reached for a weapon on his belt.
 
K frowned. "Why?" He did though, and turned his head to bury it against Cross's shoulder, to be doubly certain. His mind flashed to a scene he'd walked past from a movie where everyone who didn't close their eyes melted.

It had made him feel tingly all over to watch that, and he still didn't understand why. It hadn't been fear, though. It hadn't been empathy, since he didn't have that.

Either way, he didn't want to have his body melt away from his skeleton.
 
The questions itself hadn't been answered. Instead, the sound of a high-powered handgun went off twice, which a horrid scream of what could only be described as a victim of torture being opened up and still going through the process. Without his sight, little could truly be interpreted for what they truly were...

What followed was the sound of crawling, with the subtle movement of whatever weapon the man had being placed back into its holster. This continued with the man moving again, stopping only after a few steps. This is when he began to speak.

"By the power invested in my by our Lord, I condemn you back from whence you came. Return to your eternal damnation to suffer the punishment your sins." Another wail of agony, followed by a wave of intense heat... Seconds later, the man began walking once again. "You can open your eyes."

What was left, oddly enough, is what seemed to be a ring of ashes and cinders; no blood, no demon, no dust... Just ashes and cinders. "You're attracting them." He simply added as the walk became a jog again.
 
Demons where he was from didn't... He breathed heavily, then opened his eyes and looked. All that was left was char. "Curious." He murmured, wanting to study their attraction, but also preferring not to be killed.

Demons didn't look like that at all. "Not demon." He indicated the char spot. "Corpse golem. Demons..." He trailed off. "Black. Mineral-based." They also couldn't leave hell without a contract-bound host, and had to then take on a human appearance.

His hands gripped the soldier's shoulders more tightly as he looked around for more of the strange 'golems'.
 
The man on Cross' back spoke few words, but it was nothing he could come to ignored. The fact that he understood anything about demons of any kind was somewhat impressive... However, those were not the demons of this world, or more, no the demons this world recognized. It would be a point to bring up to the superiors. For now, survival...

"Don't know what world you come from, but here, demons come in all shapes and sizes." They still had a little ways to get to the helicopters, which meant plenty of time for more demons to appear and chase them. "You must have something they want, or you're just emanating something which catches their attention." The man seemed rather relaxed and used to this, proceeding without much concern now.

"What's your story, kid?"
 
"Went to hell." His eyes darted about as he took in the surroundings. A different world? Interesting. "Didn't find answers. Escaped." Simple enough a story, though there was more to it. he didn't like speaking verbally, though he could babble like nobody's business when he was nervous, but with someone he trusted.

This was not that sort of situation. He was nervous around a stranger, trying to pretend he wasn't touching a person, and wanting nothing more than a bath to cleanse himself of all of the germs all over him from so much contact and gore. "Have notes." He shoved an arm forward and pulled his sleeve back, to show several jotted notes in smudged ballpoint ink, dusted with fine red particles: dust from hell.

~*~​

Back at the portal, before the machine could close it, a woman emerged into the empty room and through drawing symbols on her clothes, made a protection spell.

'Clothes' was rather generous, given the woman was nude, save part of a shirt or dress that hung over her breasts and one arm. The edges were torn and burnt, but she seemed unharmed. Scars marked her face, and gold piercings shone against the dark skin of her face and ears. She pushed her tangled mat of black hair away from her face, then walked from the room as she prepared another spell, this one formulated and held waiting for release in a bead on one of her earrings. She rubbed it, and walked past soldiers unnoticed, her presence seeming like it belonged, and forgotten in moments. None stopped her as she looked around, then began to walk in the direction her magic told her the creature she sought had gone.

This world was not her own, she realized. It wasn't even properly linked to her own hell. Her other 'apprentice' would handle things at home until she found a way, but until then, she had to find it.

She soon spotted K and the man who carried him, and hung back, keeping her 'invisibility' high as a demon charged out, only to be dealt with quickly.

Where were they taking her creature?
 
Went to Hell had been bells ringing in Cross' mind. It wasn't uncommon for those who knew of the worlds beyond to seek out the powers of Heaven, Hell, the Abyss, the Void, so on and so forth. However, these stories typically never ended well. Cross could tell you as much...

"You're lucky to still be alive. Escaping Hell isn't easy." Though, there was one member of the W.A.S. who was capable of a feat most would find absurdly impossible, and yet, he defied the cycle every time. Even the most prestigious members of the W.A.S. weren't going to try and instigate a conflict with him. Cross himself didn't like the guy, but he was effective.

The notes were ignored, simply for the fact that he needed to keep his head up and aware... And what would you know; four more of those strange, flesh-like demons dashed out of the alleyways.

"Well... It's no going to be easy." Cross already reached for the firearm on his belt, revealing a silver and gold plated revolver with clear Christian symbolism on it and fire off his rounds. He'd need to reload, but it was never a big-y. He just needed to keep moving... Shots of bright white light pierced through one of them, slowing it down drastically, while the others suffer only minor injuries.

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The line of soldiers was slowly backing up, stopping the advancement of the demonic horde, which really stayed near the pentagram. The tactic was clear, but the soldiers couldn't take any chances. The less that chase, the better. Vordan had been busy at work with coordinating the retreat. The trap had already been laid, so they just needed to get out to be safe.

Axal, who had been by Vordan's side, felt something... It came from that same portal the other kid had come out from. It didn't feel demonic... because Axal couldn't get a good reading on it. His eyes set upon the building which it came from, the contacted Hades.

"Hades. Something came out of a Hell portal. Need to know." The sniper scope of Hades was already lifted seeking the location of the suspecting danger. He let his eyes close and let the spirits talk to him, whispering a scenery for him.

"Hmm...." Hades knew SOMETHING was around; the spirit of the dead could tell him that much, but there was no further detail, except that it was going past them. "...Cross, keep an eye open."
 
K held on and watched as the demons took the shots. Most of them seemed to shrug off most of the damage.

Honestly, there was little he could do to help short of staying out of Cross's way. "How stop?" He asked as he watched them, taking in all he could.

~*~​

Quiet footsteps followed after. The woman sped to catch up, and stayed behind the pair as the demons appeared, and the man shot them. They looked like golems, but she saw no sign of 'instructions' on them, and opted to simply watch, to see what the abductor would do about them.

She kept still, quietly waiting.
 
Out of bullets... Cross needed to perform a reload, but he doubts he would have the time. Two of them dashed forth, claws begging to sink into his skin. Cross did a few quick and precise back steps, narrowly avoiding them. It was to say, he needed a proper solution to this... And since they only really seem to want to claw him out right now, he put the revolver away.

"Many ways, kid." The man again, got out of the way of a claw... And now all three surrounded the two. They began circling them... This was enough time for Cross to reach into a satchel on his thigh and pull out... a cross?

"Lord, grant me power and strength to defeat the foes of mankind!" He spoke loudly, followed by the demons charging. A brilliant white light came off the cross, followed by a pulse, centered on Cross, that had the demons bounce off an invisible barrier and scream in pure agony as they continuously tremble violently on the ground. The beings eventually became consumed with a pure white flame, leaving, just as before, a pile of ash and cinders. The cross that was in the man's hands hand turned into dust.

"There's one way." The man actually was catching his breath, seemingly drained fort he experience.
 
K gripped Cross more tightly as he looked around to see that they were surrounded. He'd managed confrontations with demons before, but only because he could run like hell, and then keep moving even when his body wanted to give out. Those were pretty much his only non-intellectual talents, but the way he was now, back suffering from what he assumed was heatstroke and sunburn, he could barely manage a wobbly walk, and had leaned against someone for support to get onto this person's back.

He gripped more tightly as a a pulse came from the man's crucifix, and it repelled, then incinerated the demons. They screamed, and he closed his eyes to shut out as much as he could of the sensory overload. When he opened them at Cross's comment about 'there's one way, he saw the remains: ash and cinders. "Fascinating." He managed through a tight throat.

~*~​

Behind the pair, the woman stroked at the spell bead and tilted her head. For once, her creature used the correct word when reacting to something, but she doubted his interest was the same as hers. These demons, they looked like the sort described in a popular book from home called 'The Bible', which she mostly ignored. They were what people imagined, roughly, when someone said 'demons' rather than the elegant mineral-based creatures she'd watched her creature encounter in Hell. These were organic, or at least looked that way. They looked the part of mindless tormentors rather than intelligent and cunning beings that did their jobs with complete efficiency, and then went home in the evening to spend time to themselves.
 
The encounter was over, yet it still felt like there was something out of place. It was only because of the warning from Hades that he still held this unconscious weariness about his surroundings. Going back to the helicopters and assuring this person's safety came first before trying to get rid of whatever he was warned about.

"There's much more to this world, young man. I hope you are ready for the atrocities of life, as God predicted." The young man had been in Hell, so he must already know what the atrocities of this life was, but would he come to understand how much THIS world was in peril? Regardless, he continued his jog back towards the helicopters... with the silver cross on his necklace now exposed. "Keep your eyes out. Something's around."
 
"Nothing." He muttered as he looked around, to indicate he saw and heard nothing, though he did smell faintly the scent of the Hell he'd known, but he couldn't... Immediately, he discounted the scent as unimportant. Probably his own stink. His mind refused to care about it, to the point that consciously, he wasn't even aware of it anymore, and already forgot about registering that brief scent.

Suspecting nothing, he held on tight. "Further?" He asked, referring to the helicopters. He wanted nothing more than to shower and be clean and not have someone's death-germs all over him. Disgusting!

~*~

Well, she was definitely around, however normally people had no idea she was there. Their minds simply dismissed her and anything about her. Her eyes narrowed as a curious smile grew, and she began again to follow. If people were aware of her at all, then this world quickly became very, very interesting.

However, she had to be cautious. Her shielding spells protected her from magic, not from bullets. She would have to make it clear she had no harmful intentions immediately when she let down the spell, or she would surely become something like a sponge.
 
"Not too far." Cross knew they weren't too far from the helicopters, though it was still concerning that there was something around him that he couldn't see. He could call forth his Lord's blessing to reveal the truth, but it was not a dire situation. It was only when he was sure he was dealing with something that threatened humanity that he could ask for strength from his Lord. All he could truly do for the time being was run forth until he reached the helicopter and then maybe deal with it with the equipment that was back there.

After maybe thirty to forty minute of uninterrupted jogging had them come into sight with the helicopters. The pilots waved as they saw the man come back, with two soldiers going to help him which whoever they were carrying. One of them had already asked about who the person on his back was.

"A displaced, non-hostile human being." Cross said, "We need to get her out as soon as we have the men around." The soldiers nodded, but before they could leave, Cross had one more request. "Get me the multi-vision goggles too." He requested as he started to slowly make his way to the choppers. "You're safe now, kid. We'll get you somewhere appropriate soon."
 
K held on in silence as Cross bore him onward over what felt like an hour, and drifted to unconsciousness briefly along the way. He woke to questions from someone and looked up, staring dead-eyed at those around, confused about what was going on now.

Not far behind Cross, the woman stood still, then let her magic slowly ease away from the spell bead, allowing the soldiers to start to notice and remember her as she lifted her hands over her head. "Please don't shoot. I'm the one who was following you. I come in peace. I wanted to be certain you were not planning to harm the one who came out of hell before me." She spoke plainly, her voice clear as she made certain to enunciate clearly. "I'm not here to hurt anyone." High adrenaline kept her fingers from shaking, but she could feel the anger from when she entered Hell returning. Leaving Hell meant returning out the way you entered, unless you'd taken damage.
 
Cross certainly wasn't the first to notice what was happening behind his back; two of the pilots, once seeing something manifest out of nothing, immediately reached for the handguns on their thigh holsters and raised it towards whoever had made their presence clear. One of the two was about to speak up, but whoever the lady was had already asked not to shoot and announced she was actually the one following.

Cross turned, holding no weaponry in hand, but had suspicion written in his eyes. He came to a stop, looking over the woman before he brought his fingers to his earpiece. "Sir, we have another displaced, non-hostile humanoid being. This one isn't in a deplorable state and had been following us."

The voice of Vordan could nearly be heard by K, from where he was. "We need to bring her in, just like K. I'll leave it in your hands to settle whatever is going on. You have full permission to do as you need." Left in the hands of a religious man with little care for the feelings of humanity and their pitiful stories... To a certain degree. First world problems were a great irritation to the holy man.

"Hey, kid. You recognize this woman?" He asked at first, but before he could answer, spoke to the lady in question. "Are you willing to come to our base to make sure you aren't an extra planar entity trying to plague our world?"
 
K looked toward the woman, a slight frown on his face.

The woman pulled her hair back from her face and held it in a messy ponytail, then waited for K's answer.

"Yes." He tilted his head, confused why she was there, but said nothing about how he knew her. "Recognized."

"I am willing." She smiled briefly at Cross, full aware her usual tactics of 'making friends' wasn't going to work with guns pointed at her. She let her hair fall back down. "I don't suppose one of you has a towel I can wrap around myself?"
 
Good thing K was able to identify the woman who was nearly bare to them, or else it wouldn't have played out nicely. By the reaction too, it didn't seem like it was a threat, or K surely would have been a little more responsive to the sight of her.

The soldiers that had their weaponry up all looked to Cross for orders, as he had control over the situation. With a long sigh, the man motioned for the soldiers to lower their weapons.

"Non-hostile and cooperating unidentified displaced; get her a blanket." Cross said as he began walking towards the helicopters. One of the pilots, female by the looks, even with the mask covering her lower face, ran to the chopper and came back to the displaced lady with a small blanket.

"This should cover you up until we get to base." The woman said, her expression mysterious as her mouth was covered.

Cross walked all the way to the nearest helicopter and turned his back to it so he could sit K down comfortably on the edge of the transport area. "There ya are. You should be safe here. We are just waiting for the other soldiers and we should be out of here."
 
K slipped from Cross's back and sat, though not without a grimace at the unfamiliar seat under his rear. "Thanks." He murmured, then looked around. "Water? Food?" He shook as he forced himself to remain upright as he slowly looked around, head turning as his eyes lingered on things for a moment before moving to catch up with his head. His stomach still hurt from too much water, but his mouth seemed filled with sand.

The nude woman accepted the blanket with a warm smile. "Thank you, dear." Half-lidded eyes offered an unspoken invitation, even as she pulled the blanket around herself to hide her lower half.

She didn't mind showing off, but she assumed based on how everyone here wore clothes, they likely preferred it, or the environment was hostile to bare skin. Either way, those parts she hid were sensitive, and she wasn't into pain.

"Any place you want me to be while we wait for... The other soldiers he mentioned?"
 
Food and water... Yeah, it seemed he would be in need of something in him. Cross reached to his belt, pulling off his canteen and into one of the pockets to his vest to take out two protein bars. Not the most appetizing things, but they definitely had enough nutritional value. They were just in case, or when he needed a nibble.

Cross took off part of the wrappings from both, along with the lid of his canteen. "Here you go. Take it slowly, alright?" He could take whatever he wished first, and he would stay near him just in case he needed anything else. Strange to see a human coming out of Hell...

At the question, the soldier lady motioned towards one of the helicopters that wasn't near Cross and K. "You can take a seat in one of the two. I got an ETA of a few minutes before the remaining soldiers will be in view. Then, we'll have to make sure the Bio-Disintegration device was properly activated before leaving." The soldier lady offered as much information as she could, knowing that more was either classified or didn't need to be heard.
 
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