Cross Effects- The RP

[OPOI]

You're still welcome to come back with us.  You can make sure that Isa and her sister are settled in nicely and get some rest.

Shirou heard-no felt Forest's voice echo in his head. He mused over it, before sending back,
"Depends on the twins and how the rest will take it. I'd rather not risk a confrontation which could otherwise be avoided."

He smiled and nodded his thanks when he heard her message about the revolver. Strangely enough, he was getting a bit attached to the gun, something which hasn't happened before.

Shirou then walked slowly towards the twins, having noticed Vanessa beckoning him earlier. It was a good opportunity to ask their opinion, and check on Isa's condition.  The overly energetic girl had Hakuno  trapped in a one-armed hug, bombarding the poor girl with random questions. To his amusement, he noticed Isa trying her very best to stop her sister, clearly embarrassed by her behavior.

"You know, if you squeezed Hakuno any tighter, you may actually hurt her. Then I'd have to defend you from her over-zealous Servant," he remarked dryly, though he could easily tell Hakuno wasn't in any danger except becoming over-flustered.

With a smirk, he turned away, before kneeling down to Isa's level.

"Hey there. Look at you, you look like you're going to die of embarrassment," he quipped, poking her forehead with a finger. In a softer voice so that Nessa couldn't hear, "I'm glad you're doing well."

[Mordalfus Grea]

The Don looked pissed, he was pissed as he listened to this no-name punk ramble about some man who came back from the dead and was killing off his old gang one after another which sounded too much like Ghost Rider's actions to him and he did not want Mephisto's hound on his ass.

"...God! Oh God! He's gonna get me. He's gonna get me" the punk was panicking like death was after his ass, which considering this guy that was after this punk made some sense.

The Don took a drag of his massive cigar, a drag that would have choked any other man and puffed a massive cloud in the face of the punk thus bringing his rambling to an end in the face of the smoke "Shut up Punk!" the Don barked at the coughing punk.

The Don sat up straight and his grey eyes bored into the punk's own to eyes "Now here is how things are going to go, I am going to set you up in a motel safe house and you are going to stay silent or" a massive arm shot forth from the shadows that concealed the Don's appearance, said arm was covered by expensive the sleeve of an expensive red pinstripe suit and the hand covered by a large white silk glove which grabbed the punk's head "I. Will. Kill. You. Myself." the Don punctuated each word by lifting the punk off the ground with ease as if the punk was weightless "Do you understand me?" The don asked the punk, who was now scared even more as he shook in uncontrolled fear.

"Y-y-yes s-s-sir!" the Punk grounded out, fearing for his life before the don set him back on his own two feet.

"Good" The Don stated as he released the punk from his grasp and signalled to a man in an expensive white suit "Get him out of my sight!". The Man in white nodded before tazing the punk and signalled to a pair of commonly dressed men, picked the punk up before leaving the room.

The Don signalled to the man in blue and a woman in a beautiful red dress, both of whom stepped into the light "O'Donnell. Scarlet. I want word of this punk's safe-house location to be common knowledge in the streets along with his old gangs name" the Don instructed to the blue man, O'Donnell, and the woman, Scarlet. "The Punk is a danger and I want him gone, when the man hunting the punk arrives at the safe-house have the boys take a break."

"What for boss?" O'Donnell asked the Don in a respectful tone, the Don grinned darkly from the shadows and crossed his fingers "I intend to see this hunter in person and see what I can expect from this newcomer" the Don replied honestly to O'Donnell's question

"With or without the girls, Joe?" Scarlet asked in calm and seductive tone, the Don noted the boredom in her eyes and smirked lightly from the shadows "With them of course, I've been meaning to go out for dinner and I'm certain the girls could do with some excitement"

"I'll tell the girls to get ready" Scarlet spoke in an eager voice before she exited the room in a hurry, O'Donnell's eyes following her as she walked "Go on O'Donnell, I'm sure you wife is excited and you will need to settle her down if she is too get anything done" the Don told O'Donnell, the man in blue nodded before leaving the room in a hurry to catch up with his wife.

"Things are getting interesting around here" The Don spoke to himself as he stood up from his massive chair before reaching over to a nearby rack to grab his massive black coat and his equally massive fedora as he donned both of them before stepping into the light "Very interesting indeed" he muttered as his took another drag from his cigar before puffing out a cloud of smoke.

[Arch-Magos Winter]

Lawrence's trip through the rather seedier side of the nexus bore fruit. A prostitute mentioned something about an out of towner holed up in a motel downtown somewhere. The clues started coming together as he could hear the Redheaded Driver begin to grow eager. Oh, he was here alright.

Spill his blood devour his soul an eye for an eye revenge vengeance shoot him kill him- The mental voice crackled with a noise like napalm igniting, with an undercurrent of a sputtering engine.

'Patience. We'll find him soon enough.'

Soon.

The mental voice crackled with a noise like napalm igniting, with an undercurrent of a sputtering engine.

Soon was right; the gangbanger had decided to go to ground under the protection of a man known only as 'The Don.' Not such a big man without his crew was he? Lawrence remembered his face, that sneering sense of power the man had held in that clarifying moment of death as the bullets flew into Lawrence's body. This was it. After this, he'd hopefully never need to kill again, whatever he told his Geist - he was in the driver's seat, not him. This was his body, his choice.

---------------------------------------------

The Punk was growing antsy in his room. Was he coming? Maybe he'd lost him? Maybe he'd escaped? No, no, that was impossible. Santa Muerte would protect him though. She was with him, he could feel it. This Reaper Man wouldn't get him as well. And if he tried...

The Punk's arms cradled a Skorpion. The bastard that tried to break through that door would be filled with lead if the Don's guards didn't get to him first. It was a good gun - he'd used it many times before, and it had never failed him before. It wouldn't fail him now.

After the lights suddenly went out and the radio started crooning in an eerily distorted version of a Johnny Cash song however, that little bit of confidence went out the window.

----------------------------------------------

Lawrence had checked in for a couple hours, in a room close to where he'd parked his black Firebird. He'd figured out the room rather quickly, there were a few bored looking thugs hanging around close to it. Now was the time. Laying down on his bed, he unlocked the Gate to the power of the dead.

The Industrial Boneyard swept through the entire hotel, a few machines escaping his utter control, but those that did... he witnessed the drug deal going on five doors down, the tawdry love affairs of several couples, and there he was - armed, but that hadn't saved the others. The Redheaded Driver was visible as well in this sight peculiar to the dead, the Twilight of the world showing his true form - his iris's replaced with the reverse of NATO shells, his body wreathed in napalm and body seemingly consisting of parts of a car rearranged into a humanoid shape. Lawrence could smell the cordite on him from firefights and the Geists own likely death.

That wasn't important though.  With a thought, Lawrence unlocked his target's door, killed his lights beyond repair, and turned on the radio to broadcast on a channel the Twilight knew well - they didn't call it suicide music for nothing. He dispelled the Boneyard afterwords, chambering his .45 and shoving it in his jacket pocket.

Time?

'Yeah, it's time.'

Lawrence noted the missing thugs and blessed his luck - must be on break. He'd need to move fast now. Throwing open the door with the .45 already in hand, he noticed as if in slow motion his killer raising his gun to shoot him again... only to not fire, as Lawrence willed the firing pin to break from another twist of the Key. It was tougher than he believed it would have been, but it worked. And that was enough for Lawrence as he twisted his second Key, his Geist roaring in approval at the action. The Curse of the Stigmata took hold - and blood sprayed out in a gory fashion as the Punk screamed in pain, feeling nails driven into his entire body, leaving him a writhing mess on the ground as he heard thousands of voices screaming into his ears.

"Just... just... kill me..."

Standing over his prostrate and begging killer, Lawrence raised his .45, leveled it straight between the eyes, and without a hint of emotion besides the Redheaded Driver's eager laughter, pulled the trigger.

Santa Muerte's blessings didn't defend from the already dead.

[The Man With All The Cute Boats]

Inferno Cop woke up in a hospital, lying down on a comfortable bed while a nurse walked around his bed being a nurse and doing medical things.

The happenings of his last visit to a hospital still ingrained in his mind, his first thought was to throw himself out of bed and the window with a shout, which he did.

He fell down seven stories onto the ground, landing with a soft tap.

“Phew, that was close,” Inferno Cop told himself, looking up at the building in relief. He couldn't afford the medical bills, after all. He turned around, off to seek some crime or other that was bound to be happening in Jack Knife Edge Town, but instead saw something else entirely.

Giant cubes of Jell-O, with the occasional filling of human bones, trash and independent music CDs, surrounded him from all sides.

“Wh-what the hell is this?!” Inferno Cop asked himself, wondering if he was somehow in the future again.

“Inferno Cop,” one of the cubes said, its voice low and mellow. “We can’t let you leave the hospital before-”

“Whaaaaaat? You can talk?”

“You have to go back inside, Inferno Cop!” the cube insisted. It wobbled threateningly, signaling its attack.

“Fuxx that!” Inferno Cop said, and he pre-emptively fired his gun. A very convincing display of fire and explosions later, the cubes were all gone and Inferno Cop’s way was no longer barred. He made a run for it.

“Where the hell am I?” he asked himself while he ran, as it was obvious from the layout of the streets that he was no longer in Jack Knife Edge Town. He stopped only when he saw a familiar sign on the outside of a building.

A sign on which it was written: POLICE.

Outside of the ragged-looking building, there was a man behind a desk wearing a cop uniform and a real cool pair of aviators.

Inferno Cop didn't have many good experiences with normal police officers, as they were mostly the type to watch illegal anime and sometimes skirt on punishment for shoplifters because the crime ‘wasn't that serious or worth the paperwork.’

He realized however, that in recent events he either had to wait for someone to make a dynamic entrance and cause a huge amount of trouble for him, or he had to run into someone that would move things along for him so that his life could move forward. If he let the latter go with this little encounter and ran into the former, he might get caught in a trial, sent to hell or abducted by aliens again.

But forgetting all about those little facts, he also realised he was fairly hungry. Recently beating up a pregnant lady had really taken a lot out of him. He approached the police officer.

“Hey, do you know where the nearest bakery is?” He asked the cop, intent on finding himself some delicious, delicious black bread.

The silent cop’s Aviator’s gleamed in the streetlight ominously.

[Bloble]

Axe Cop looked at the fiery person before him and frowned, pushing his eyebrows together. Unfortunately the action was invisible behind his glasses, leading to him appearing completely still to any passer-by. However, upon spotting the police hat on top of the man's head-skull-thing, Axe Cop nodded.

"There's one in the station. They built it that way so officers wouldn't have to walk to get their food."

He'd have to remember that when he got home. It was an ingenious idea, and whoever had designed the Nexus police station had known what he was doing. The bakery was there in the entrance, so anyone coming in could buy food. There were dozens of donuts steaming in the  empty building, with no one to eat them. Best of all, even civilians could buy food, giving more revenue for the station. Maybe his bakery could stock candy canes and fruits and anti-gorilla specialized bananas.

Axe Cop scanned the stranger again.

"The food's free for staff," he added, prodding the sign on the desk.

[The Man With All The Cute Boats]

"Ah, thanks," he said, and rushed into the building before the statuesque cop could say anything. He found the bakery easily enough, and seeing as no one was manning the cash register, he dropped the appropriate amount of money onto the counter and helped himself to a single loaf of black bread.

He felt absolutely awful, because even though he had executed it in a way that let no harm happen to anyone, he was still shoplifting, which was terrible. So. absolutely. terrible. And yet, he had to eat some of that bread.

He shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

"DELICIOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS," he screamed, loud enough for the entire building to shake and its foundations to growl in protest.

He stepped back outside the police station, where the cop was still sitting. His words 'free for staff' still rung inside his head, and the 'TRYOUTS' sign was still sitting where it was before. Any reservation against police officers was gone, and their reasons long forgotten.

Inferno Cop knew what he had to do.

"I'm here for the tryouts," Inferno Cop said, determined more to stay close to such delicious food than do his profession.

[Mordalfus Grea]

The Don watched the motel from a nearby alley, he had given the girls each an unlimited card, a curfew of 3:30 AM and his personal limousine to have a night on the town at his expense. He took a drag from his cigar as he began a slow but steady stroll towards the Motel puffing cigar smoke as he walked, his luxurious walking stick tapping on the ground as he drew near.

TAP TAP TAP

The Motel owner peered out his window but upon seeing the Don slowly approaching at a leisurely pace, the man closed the curtains and hid himself away from sight. The Don was here and he meant business, everyone feared the Don for good reason.

TAP TAP TAP

The Don blew out a thick cloud of smoke as he walked, passing through the smoke as he walked unfazed by it as he went on his way and towards the room in which the punk had been holed up in. Too bad the punks life wasn't worth shit in his city, the punk was a liability and liabilities were dealt with all in the same way just like the old police force had been.

TAP TAP BANG TAP

The Punk had met his end, he knew this wasn't Ghost rider in the least bit but that didn't stop the Don at all in his approach as he blew out a cloud of smoke. He looked at the closed door in front of him, now he would break the door down as if it were soaking wet cardboard but he was here for business not a beating this guy into the ground and he raised his hand to the door and knocked.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

[Bloble]

Axe Cop nodded.

"You can join, but you need to have previous experience fighting dinosaurs or zombies, or be able to transform into a different form. Or have a name that ends with Cop."

[Arch-Magos Winter]

THUNK THUNK THUNK

'Oh, oh SHIT!'

Someone had obviously spotted him. A big someone. Doing all this spook stuff had also tired him the hell out plasm wise - he'd need a day or two before he could use the curse again without coughing up an absurd amount of blood and being bedridden for a while. That hadn't been a fun day for Lawrence. This day was likely going to be worse. The Redheaded Driver was busy shredding the ghost of the dead gangster to oblivion, and the spectral screaming was not a fun thing to listen to. It wasn't a pretty sight either.

Cautiously advancing to the door, .45 still in his hand, Lawrence opened it tentatively. There was lots of things he was expecting on the other side of the door - an FBI task force after him for being a serial killer lately, the manager with a sawed off, a Kerberos that wished to claim the dead man's now destroyed soul for punishment - but a very tall man in a massive three piece suit and matching fedora and classy walking stick wasn't in the cards.

"Errrrrr.... can I help you?"

[The Man With All The Cute Boats]

"Uh, hrm," Inferno Cop reeled a bit. He had run away from dinosaurs before, and he had been overwhelmed by zombies before, and he used to be able to turn into a racecar. Somehow, the two first didn't really qualify as fighting, and the last one he couldn't even do anymore.

And his name didn't end with Cop, it was just Cop! He couldn't get in with such a fact against him.

The black bread beckoned to him, however. He could hear it calling to him, in the voice of an old friend and sidekick.

So, Inferno Cop decided to lie about his name.

"Haha! Well today is my lucky day, I happen to be called InfernoCop!" he bluffed, and if he had any sweat pores left in his face he'd be soaking wet.

He just had to hope the cop in front of him believed him.

[Mordalfus Grea]

"That is a bit far fetched" A voice spoke from a nearby tree, Kusagari was sprawled out in the tree with his trusted Longarm held in his hand "Would fighting off a gang numbering in the hundreds infesting my old home city, fighting an army of ninjas, a guy that wouldn't stay dead and the man who killed off my entire clan count instead?" Kusagari asked lightly, though his eyes narrowed slightly.

This officer was a little off but not much, if he was anywhere near as dedicated as Sheriff Judd had been in his run as 42 years of lawmaking in Caldera City then he would not have to worry much.

==========================

"Errrrrr.... can I help you?"

"In a sense" The Don spoke calmly, he noted the slight look of panic on the kid's face "I see you got your target" he stated revealing his identity as the DEon to the Kid.

"From what I can see you are good at dealing with problems and as a man of the darker side of society, I have plenty of problems that I can't dirty my hands to deal with but you on the other hand could do that for me" The Don said calmly before indicating with his cigar to the kid's .45 pistol "You'll need something much bigger if you intend to shoot me, something closer to a tank round than what you've got in that peashooter"

"Now before you go trying to talk your way out of this, I got a job for and it pays high" The Don spoke just as calmly as before "As to how high? Well for dealing with this liability, Twenty Grand right off the bat" He said as he pulled out and dropped a thick package of unmarked hundred, fifty, and twenty dollar bills on the nearby bed.

"So what do you say?" The Don stated as he puffed out a could of smoke, blowing out away from the kid to be polite to a possible future employee

[Bloble]

"Hmmmmm."

Axe Cop could tell if someone was lying. There was a built in detector in his spleenomicus that did the job perfectly. And the person in front of him was definitely making him sweat, a sure sign that he was a liar. Then again, it could be because Inferno Cop's head was on fire. Yeah, it was probably just that.

"Okay," he decided. "You're in. I'm Axe Cop."

Axe Cop flipped up his axe. It swung upward, making several flips through the air before Axe Cop caught it with one hand and rested it on his shoulders. He extended his other hand towards Inferno Cop.

"Let's go," he said, and finally allowed himself to smile. "Grab some bread and pack your lunch. We've got bad guys to kill."

Then he looked at the new guy who'd been hiding behind a tree. He didn't look like much, but... memories of a certain ninja sprung to mind. If this guy had been fighting people like that, then he couldn't be weak.

"You come too. You can be an intern until you get to fight your first dinosaur."

[Mordalfus Grea]

"Very well then" Kusagari said calmly as he leaped down from the tree and holstered his trusted Longarm in its holster, before following the officer "Do you know where I might find the shooting range? I feel the need to ensure my skills do not get rusty" Kusagari asked calmly.

[Arch-Magos Winter]

"Now before you go trying to talk your way out of this, I got a job for you and it pays high" The Don spoke just as calmly as before "As to how high? Well for dealing with this liability, Twenty Grand right off the bat" He said as he pulled out and dropped a thick package of unmarked hundred, fifty, and twenty dollar bills on the nearby bed.

Lawrence had just been about to do that - before the bills hit the blood splattered bedspread. Now that made him stop. Twenty thousand dollars. That, for someone who'd barely qualified to be an automotive mechanic, was a lot of money. But he could see the color of it in the Twilight, along with the massive man in front of him. A few ghosts were dragging at his ankles snarling, but they were fading away - the man's willpower was simply too much for them to try to break through. This man wasn't someone to screw with. He'd ordered men killed, homes wrecked, lives ruined, all for the spiritually blood stained money.

"So what do you say?" The Don stated as he puffed out a could of smoke, blowing out away from the kid to be polite to a possible future employee

The Redheaded Driver knew what he wanted.

Money for Blood. Just what we want. Just what we need. Don't need money, just want them dead...

'Hush.'

Lawrence was finding it hard to say no, though it'd be hard to say why. Maybe the pull of violence from his geist, or the fact the man was offering him cash up front for this.

"Well... it depends. I've only killed my ow- my friends' killers. I... I'd need to think about it. It feels sorta... wrong to kill, and get money for it."

Lawrence looked down at his own splattered surplus boots and shrugged noncommittally. This man in front of him felt very dangerous and for that matter, towered over his own form in bulk and height.

"Maybe if I was killing other killers, but... otherwise I don't think I could do it. I'm sorry."

[Mordalfus Grea]

Lawrence looked down at his own splattered surplus boots and shrugged noncommittally. This man in front of him felt very dangerous and for that matter, towered over his own form in bulk and height.

"Maybe if I was killing other killers, but... otherwise I don't think I could do it. I'm sorry."

"I can accept that kid, I may not look like it but even I got morals" The Don smiled lightly, the thought of when the holidays came around and how he'd support the many orphanages in the city for the sake of all the kids he left parentless "I don't kill kids, it isn't right you know? And I don't deal in slavery either, enither of them sit well with me at all"

"I am willing to let you only go after those outside of my control, the wild ones that kill without regard or orders. They are loose ends that are slowly becoming too dangerous and hot to hold on to." The Don reached into his side pocket and pulled out a card, he flipped the card on the package of money "If you change your mind or are in need of more money, call me and ask for Mister Fixit"

The Don exited the room without looking back at the Kid, his walking stick tapping on the ground as he walked away puffing out smoke as he went.

TAP TAP TAP