Task's headband glowed and his head began to throb, and a feeling of desperation began to ebb through him.

<..-un! Get awa->

Voices. he heard a voice. Where?

<-t! He's comin-...-ot ready, you must->

Who was coming? Seemed like there were already alot of being coming after them already...

It was then, that Task's eyes felt guided up and to the back of the car, where there seemed to be a light following them.

Task was overwhelmed, his mind reeling, and he wished he were somewhere else right about now.

He drew both weapons and stood in his seat to face the oncoming force. There was no time for warning, no time but to react. His mind was too overwhelmed to make sentences, so he made a word.

"Laurella!" He called to the mother of hell, a warning that would serve no use to her even if it was heeded.

The Twisted Burning Wreckage OR Better Dead Part 1
 

Rick pulled himself out of the wreckage that was the car, dragging his bag with him. Wish I'd been wearing my seatbelt… what the hell happened?

He looked up in time to see the angel fly off toward the Mustang. He looked around, Martin didn’t appear ready for much yet, but looked alive. Jacob appeared to… Jacob?! Rick started to run toward the body and saw the wounds, gray matter and blood oozing from the new orifices. Rick hung his head. Everyone I work with... He turned around.

His ride was gone, and he couldn’t run as fast as a leaper. He was stuck between the remaining hoard of undead, demons, and people who all wanted him and everyone he was with dead. There was no way for him to catch up to the Mustang and help Laurella, at least, no way he could see.

Rick threw on his backpack and pulled his blindfold out. Well, I guess this is it for me; their priority is to save Laurella, my priority… He placed the blindfold over his eyes, carved the sigil in his left hand and drew his sword. I might as well buy them some time.

Shori, I guess I’ll be joining you soon!

((OOC: Looks like I’m waiting for either someone to pick me up or permission to write a “Bad-ass death post”.))
((OOC: [EDIT] OR "Bad-ass 'Left for Dead' post"))

[OOC: to make things a BIT easier, Zack decided that riding on a bike would be a bad idea, since you're exposed to the wide open spaces and hence, danger, and chose some silly car to ride in.]

Alicia was just slightly to the front of Martin's car when it swerved. The bumper almost clipped the back of Alicia's wheel, but she'd ensured a hefty distance between her vehicle and his, knowing it would be too nasty to bunch up.

The air displaced with the fallen landing caused Alicia to swerve instinctively. Alicia didn't dare look back, but the slam and grind of tortured metal made her glance around her shoulder and stifle a groan.

Martin's beat-up was a wreck skidding to a halt at the mercy of the Fallen, revealled in all its ... unglory.

Swearing under her breath, she hit her bike breaks and screamed to a halt, swinging around.

The roadblock was certainly creating confusion behind them, delaying the grounded enemies but not the demonic monstrosities that skimmed around easily, nor the mighty Road Rex bulldozing everything in its path, spitting fireballs as it went.

But that was not what caught her eye.

Martin putting three bullets into Jacob's head made her heart skitter. Alicia's face, however, was hidden by the visor which had slid down over her helmeted, emotionless visage as she revved the engine and burned tire tracks into the road. The bike leapt forward again, this time towards the cleaved car wreckage and Martin, aiming to pick him up and out of harm's way.

Her rescue fell short as spikes erupted from the ground, trying to stab at Martin who evaded as fast as he could. The Fallen almost copped a face full of the Rex as it roared past, before disappearing to harry other prey. Alicia didn't bother finding out. She wanted to avoid the Road Rex as much as possible and focus on...

Rick climbed out of the half of the car wreckage, and Alicia swore mentally. There were three people now, including Alicia, and her bike could only hold two. Alicia flicked on her comm switch.

"We've got one man down, peoples, and two are stranded with no vehicle. I can possibly pick one up. Who's willing to risk their ass for the other?"

As Rick put on his blindfold and muttered something into the air, he felt the soft whisper of five shadowy bolts fly past his face and lodge themselves into the oncoming leapers. The sound of a motorbike sounded horribly close, as if it was about to land right on top of him.

And then Alicia was there, trying to pull him behind the bike with one hand, other hand on her Delta crossbow, launching shadowy bolts at oncoming enemies. Distracted with the enemies, Alicia tugged at Rick.

"I'm savin' your ass again, Ricky man, and this is how you're going to repay me. Take off that silly pink blindfold of yours and seat yourself on the passenger seat."

Ready for death, Rick was a little more than ready to react, ripping off the blindfold he had meticulously put on and swinging a leg over the bike.

"What about Martin?"
"You were closer to me. Besides, I've called in to the others. Slinger'll stay alive long enough for somebody to pick him up... hopefully," Alicia shouted as the bike jolted forward, causing Rick to grip onto Alicia's waist tightly.

"Right, you steady now? Ok. Grab the handle bars and keep them there to steer the bike. I'll handle the rest. I need more ammo for my crossbows."
"...What?!"
"You heard me! Do it, person that-might-live-a-little-longer-thanks-to-Alicia!"

Confused, Rick complied and Alicia instantly hunched down on the seat, giving Rick free reign to steer, while Alicia rummaged around in her pockets, gave a small grunt of approval and withdrew a small wooden cube with a sigil on it.

Riding the bike and accelerating towards the rest of the crew, Alicia began to chant, bent over the cube which began to emit a small humming noise and glowing, while Rick tried to steer and keep the bike on the road towards the others while in the passenger seat.

At least Alicia was doing all the footwork.

Laurella held back her tears of frustration upon seeing the Fallen. Crying wasn't going to get her out of this mess. Actually, she wasn't sure if anything was going to get her out of this mess. She could only drive faster, but that thing had far more speed than her Mustang could push. Laurella briefly considered clipping one of the bastard's wings, but the only thing she had at hand that could do that was her rapier, and in order to maybe make a strike, she'd have to put her car in cruise, climb on top of the car and try to duel with him.

If anyone interferred with the battle between her and the Fallen, they would likely end up dead to buy Laurella a minute (two if their antics amused the Fallen). All she could do was pray. Pray that everyone would make it through. Pray that the Fallen would show mercy or just fuckin' die. Pray for a miracle. But would God listen to the prayers of the Mother of Hell? Well, it's worth a shot.

“Laurella!” Duncan yelled. “Ninja boy! Take us down!”

Duncan cupped his hands together, and chanted an incantation. As a sphere of energy gathered in his hand, he threw it. “Plasma bolt!”

The incandescent sphere cut through the air, leaving an ionized trail in it’s wake.

The Fallen seemed less than concerned. With a swipe of it’s sword, it cut the bolt cleanly in two, causing the bolt to spilt around him.

Duncan cursed. “If I live through this, and you guys wreck my car, I will kill you!” he yelled as he opened the door and jumped out. As he descended through the air, he chanted under his breath, “air become think, gravity become weak, allow me to land in safety…feather fall!”

With the spell, Duncan managed to land safely…if you could call being the path of a Fallen angel safety.

As he landed, Duncan reached inside his suit jacket with each hand, and pulled out a total of eight small throwing knives, each marked with a sigil.

“Wrath of the heavens,” he incanted, “strike down my enemy! Lightning!”

He threw the knives. He didn’t throw them accurately, but he knew that he didn’t have to. As the blades left his hands, the spell took effect, and the blades turned into the carrier of pure energy.

In for a few brief seconds, the eight tendrils of electricity arced towards their target.

“REFLECT!”

Duncan had mere seconds to register what happened. The lightning suddenly curved away from the Fallen…and back towards him. Time seemed to slow, as Duncan found he had seemly had time to ponder what had just happened. It was theoretically possible to reflect a magic spell back...but to do so would require an unheard of amount of power, as you would literally have to wrest control of the magic away from it's caster and bend it to your own will.

Instinct took over, and he yelled the first defensive spell that came to mind. “Earthen Barrier!”

At his command, a wall of earth shot up from the road, barely blocking the lightning. However, the wall shattered under the force of the attack…the shockwave was enough to lift Duncan off the ground and throw him a few feet away.

The Fallen flew over him without even sparing him a glance.

“Fireball!” Duncan yelled, cupping his hands, and a ball a fire flew from them. He knew it was futile…the spells he had already thrown at the creature were well beyond this simple spell. The Fallen didn’t even bother to acknowledge the attack, even as the fireball caught up with him and exploded…and Fallen emerged unscathed through the flames.

Above the Mustang, the last gunship was going in for all it was worth. The crew had seen the Fallen appear on the scene, and had seen the destruction it had wrought in a few short minutes…and they became very convinced that the only way to prevent the end of the world was to kill the Mother of Hell before it got to her. Its last rockets streaked towards the fleeing vehicle.

((OOC: I threw in Duncan's little train of thought on reflecting magic so that one one would get the idea that they could do it.

Because you can't.))

"Aw, fuck me with a rusty, barbed scythe!" Laurella swore and searched for anything that could save both Task and her ass in this situation. A Leaper spared them from the first rocket by trying to jump onto the car and catching the rocket in its back during its leap. The result was a midair explosion and her bullet-riddled, dent-covered Mustang with a skeletal forearm holding onto the exhaust pipe getting slapped with wet Leaper innerds and a messy demon skeleton coming to rest of the car's front like some freakish hood ornament. "Task, you're my anti-air. Please gun down those rockets somehow!" Laurella shouted, wanting to apologize right after for asking Task to do something that was probably beyond his abilities, especially since he was likely just as soaked with stinking Leaper juices as the rest of her car.

Duane felt that while john had done a good job with the mines his heart (or equivalent) wasn't really very into it, so he had settled for rapidly stopping and accelerating, flattening a few Striders. Then The Fallen came by.

"John, I don't suppose Demons have some kind of super attack against angels? Or even a grudge? Because that would be a big help right now." He swerved the van as close to where The Fallen was as possible. Duane decided to give him more incentive. "Also if you have the time try and get me a sample of the Road Rex or The Fallen, I have an idea which may clear up your health problems."

"Yeah, that should work just fine.

Task heard Laurella's command, knew it to be impossible, yet made an attempt. It would possibly be futile, even if he succeeded, but he had to try.

He pulled the lighter out of the mustang and hurled it ahead of him, sticking the next rocket dead center, exploding it equally dangerously close to the car as well, but the next one was impossibly close for anything Task could do to stop-

The missile exploded and the heat that poured over the car fused the license plate into the vehicle and singed Laurella and Task's hair.

Task was amazed. It was as if he wanted it to happen, and then it did. But he didn't have psychic powers, so what happened...

***

Troy saw the missiles coming at Task and Laurella, and knew that he had to act. He had nothing to throw, nothing to intercept the missiles, and no time to think. He smashed the car's sideview mirror with his fist, and took the largest mirror shard.

Amazingly, Task had managed to destroy the next incoming missile himself, but there was still one more. Troy focused and relaxed, seeing the missile and feeling the glass shard in his hands, and concentrated on making the two become one.

THWIP!

The missile exploded, and just in time- Laurella's car got off surprisingly lucky. The shockwave shook the flying car, and a cabinet within the car popped open, revealing a large supply of military throwing knives.

"Heh. Those would've been useful earlier....Sis? Do you think we can swoop down and get to Laurella before that...thing? It's our only chance!"

(I know this sucks, but... I'm really really tired and I wanted to post something so I'm still in the game.)

"It's worth a shot." Trish said with a grim nod. That thing didn't seem to care for either SECA or demon, making it all the more dangerous. And the way Duncan had spoke made Trish suspect that this was the Fallen they were worried about.

The acceleration sigil was still working its magic on the flying car. They were still faster than their friends on the ground. It was worth a shot.

Troy had taken over the driver's seat shortly after Duncan abandoned ship. Now he jerked the wheel to the right, forcing the vehicle into a sharp airborne U-turn. Don't ask how that worked without road friction or jet engines or anything like that, because I don't know. It just did.

The hood of the car dipped downwards, the rest of the vehicle following suit. The air screamed around their ears as they dove down towards Laurella's mustang.

"This reminds me of that time we crashed a seaplane into that carnival ride!" Troy yelled out the window to his sister, crouched on the roof. "When those sideshow cultists called forth the soul of an ancient demon--"

"-and it possessed the carnival's roller coaster? Yeah!" Trish yelled back with a grin. "That was a long day."

Trish dropped off of Duncan's car to land on the trunk of the Mustang. Troy pulled up on the flying car, so that it hovered several feet above the Mustang.

“Up here!" Trish yelled to Laurella. "We're gonna get you through the window and onto the car roof, okay? The flying car might have a better chance of escaping, so we gotta get you onboard! But we gotta work fast." She reached a hand down to help Laurella. "Task! I need you to take the wheel and put your foot on the gas pedal as soon as Laurella lets go! We have to maintain this speed so Troy can keep up with the flying car. I'll trade places with you as soon as Laurella is onboard, so you can get out too."

If this was going to work, they had to do this fast. Duncan could only keep the Fallen occupied for so long.

"This is crazy, this is crazy, this is so goddamned crazy...okay, I'm ready to try!"
Laurella's body was filled with adrenaline pumped glee as she turned her surprisingly not totaled Mustang over to Task, then climbed out through the driver side window. A Skeleton Rider grabbed onto her skirt as she mounted the speeding vehicle. A few good kids removed the skeleton's head and hand. Laurella quickly scrambled onto the car and took hold of Trish's hand. She sighed when her feet left the car.
"This whole Mother of Hell bullshit has made me way too popular with the guys."