The Gatekeepers: Emergence
 

(ooc this should give you some of the background story leading up to the RP)

Zack Copeland sits behind his desk at the SPR headquarters as other members of the inner circle slowly make their way in. His right arm is wrapped around the waist of a girl you have never seen before. In his left hand he holds a human skull. Above his head hangs a sword, his own sword of Damocles, but this is nothing new to you. What is shocking is the number of inner circle members gathered around. Zack did say this meeting was urgent, but what could it possibly mean.
Standing behind Zack are the founding member of the SPR: Rick Chandler (Darkhorse) with his new fiancee Maire O'Dugan (Nightsong), Zack's cousin Peter Faulken (Grim), Tim Hawking (Shadow), Michael Flinn (Chaos), Gary Green (Dragon), and his wife Claire (Firestar).
You aren't sure how, but both Zack and Peter seem changed somehow. Suddenly Zack and Peter look up Simultaneously. He rises from his chair and steps aside just as the rope holding his sword snaps. The sword pierces through the chair where Zack had been sitting moments before. Unfazed, Zack sets the skull down upon the Desk and rests his now free hand on the sword hilt. "Thank you all for coming," he says, stepping out from behind the desk. "You are the first to arrive, others should be coming in the next few days. For years the inner-circle has known that something seperated us from everyone else. Abilities that could not be explained, abnormally high intelligence, and affinities for the paranormal." He picks up a large leather-bound book from his desk. "This has given us many clues, and Maire has given us others. That which links us all are the legends of the gateways. Less than a month ago the men and women you see behind me found the first gateway."
Rick comes forward and picks up where Zack left off. "On a recent investigation in Michigan, Dragon and Firestar found a group of young boys who had stumbled across an ancient ritual site. In a stone box nearby were a group of five scrolls. The boys played around with powers they could not handle and one of them disappeared, the rest were left mentally unstable. Dragon brought the scrolls to me for translation. I quickly recognized the language as Gaelic, but could not decifer the Dialect. It was Reaper's knew lass Lady Death, who gave me the clues to make translation possible. The similar dialect appears in the Book, that she was able to translate. This gave me the means to decipher the scrolls. It was a ritual to unlock the gateway. "

Peter speaks up this time, "The young boy who disappeared mysteriously showed up near My and Reaper's childhood home in Alabama. Shadow was the first to find him. The child was in shock and unable to speak, but drew pictures of unimaginable beasts. Our curiosity stroked we travelled to Michigan to journey through the gateway. On the other side, Reaper, Lady Death, and I were slowly awakened to new abilities. Some of those abilities remain with us in this plain, as you have already witnessed." He points to the sword, "The gatekeeper to the afterworld has been overthrown, and we have ascended to take his place, but there is a greater evil threatening us now."

"While there," Zack continues, "We learned the full history of the gatekeepers and the destruction of our ancestors by the Evil goddess Chalon. Our goal is clear it is time for our powers to be awakened and reclaim the gateways for mankind. The road ahead of us will be perilous. We must journey through the gateways and destroy the usurpers. From here on out we are the Gatekeepers. I can not order you to follow us on this journey. The choice is yours speak now. Together we will emerge victorious!"

Barrock(Slaughter) was suprised by the phenomenal news, but not by much, he was used to such strange happenings.

Slaughter " So if we follow you through these gateways our powers will be enhanced? Also what else do we gain for risking our lives? Why do we even need to do this. We seem to have survived long enough without having control of these gateways."

"Your powers won't be so much as enhanced, as awakened," Zack replies. "We also believe that you must enter inot the realm ruled by your ancestor in order for the powers to awaken. This explains why only Grim, Amy, and I have new abilities. As to why we need to do this, we will never be safe until Chalon is defeated. Chalon's evil touches all worlds. We have learned that 40 years ago two of the descendents of the gatekeepers were married. This event frightened Chalon, because if they had borne children, they would give birth to a god that could rival her power. Since that time, she has sought out our number in order to prevent this from ever happening. Some have been subverted to her will. Others, like my parent and Grim's she killed. That sword falling was not coincidence. That was Chalon's work. I hope you now understand."

Barrok " So you mean if we don't help we die?"

Slaughter mulled this over.

"Heh im in, let's give Chalon and her forces a smackdown." Slaughter said with a slightly maniacal grim.

Psych held up a hand.

"Does anyone else think this sounds a bit too much like the saturday morning cartoons?"

At the dead silence for the joke, he digressed. He also now had a gun clipped onto his belt, which, to say the least, felt wierd. Especially since he'd just learned how to fire it and such.

"So, we're followed you I take it? How likely is it we'll all find our respective 'realms' quickly?"

"To begin with," Rick said, "You can choose not to join us and not necessarily die. But if we fail all of us will. Secondly we could find your realm tomorrow or next year. We don't even know where all the gateways are. We know of one in Alabama, and another in Death Valley. There are three known to exist in Ireland. Many of the known gateways are connected to myths, and this may lead us to others. There are also gateways in the other realms that lead elsewhere."

"Our best option is to break up into teams," Tim said. "Darkhorse and Nightsong will lead an expedition to Ireland to investigate one of the gateways near Tara. Dragon and Firestar will journey to death valley. Psych I would suggest you go with their group as your abilities are similar and if you come across your realm, your powers may awaken together. Reaper and Lady Death will travel back to Michigan and look for an entrance to another realm through there. Chaos and Grim will go to Alabama. Finally, I will stay here and research other Myths looking for more gateways as well as guiding those who haven't arrived yet."

"It is up to you to decide who to travel with," Maire added. " But choose wisely."

" I guess ill go with Chaos since our abilities are so similar" Slaughter said "So when do we leave?"

Tor sidled sheepishly through the door. He hadn't wanted to interrupt the story, so he'd listened from outside.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Traffic was wicked. I'm game for this, though. Sounds like an adventure." He grinned. "I'll go with whoever'll take me, i guess."

Psych waved "Hi" to the happy couple.

"So, off a journeying we go?"

"We will leave as soon as all the parties are decided upon," Grim said. "It's only a three hour drive to the gateway in Alabama, so we'll take the van there. Psych, Dragon and Firestar will fly in Reaper's Cessna to L.A and rent a car from there to take them into Death Valley. Darkhorse's team will fly by Lear to Ireland. And Reaper's team will fly to Michigan. Once we break from here, you'll have a couple of hours to go pack and meet back outside to go our seperate ways."

Gaius mused quietly from his position for a while before answering with a Russian accent, "I'll take Michigan. Hopefully, it will be colder... and I can't stand the rain."

"I guess i will go pack my things" said Barrock as he turned to walk out the door.
When he came to his room he appraised his belongings. Barrock grabbed his amunition belt and loaded it with two desert eagles, a HE grenade, 2 flashbangs and a smoke grenade, with various ammo clips. Barrock put the now loaded amunition belt into his bag. Next he picked up his katana. He cleaned and used a whetstone to sharpen it and then slid it into its scabbard. Placing this along with the amunition belt Barrock then picked up replacement equipment. He placed several different types of grenades along inside compartments and threw a lot of ammmo into the bag. Lastly he cliped many water bottles onto the outside and inside of the bag cuase who knows how long till you find fresh water in these other realms? Barrock then walked out the door to go back to the meeting room.

(OOC: Yes it's possible to have two seperate sides to your personality, most people do. If you are asking for multiple personalities...If you can give a great reason why he would have it, and create a seperate character sheet for the second personality. Also only the personality that was awake when you first entered your realm will awaken to its powers.)

Zack sat on the edge of his desk and hung his head. He knew that from this point forward, his Life would never be the same. Amy came over and put her arm around his shoulder. She seemed to know exactly what he was thing. "Tor, it's up to you to decide what to do," Zack finally said. "None of us will tell you which way to go, because if something happens..."

Rick looked curiously at Zack, Amy, and Peter, then shook his head. "Tor, you can either travel with Maire and I, or stay here with Shadow and research the locations of the other gateways." With that said, Rick and Maire left the room, trailed shortly after by Gary and Claire.

OOC: I really am too lazy to make another charecter sheet so i just have two different sides to my personality but they are still the same person. Barrock when doing normal things and Slaughter when fighting.

Tor blinked. "I think I'll go with Rick and Maire, then. I totally lack the attention span for research. And besides, I've heard that Ireland has some wicked surfing."

He trailed out of the room behind the others.

"Ok, it's settled then," Zack said. "We'll meet out front in three hours." With that the rest of the group left the room.

Barrock walked back to his room to re check his baggage. When he was sure everything was there he set a timer to two hours and started to meditate. Barrock meditated to calm himslef and to get ready for battle. After two hours Barrock grabbed his bag and went outside to wait for everyone.

Brad sighed as he lazilly tossed stuff into his duffel bag.

Along with his totally shweet, RE4 style bomber jacket was a couple EGM's and PSM's.

Then he hauled his gun out, put a laser sight on it, and slipped some clips into his belt holders. To top it off, he put a knife there, zipped everything up, and came out, tossing the duffel by the door.

"Time to wait."

Barrock noticed Brad coming out the door. "So how do you feel about all this, personally I am going to like the fights but just about everything else is freaking me out" Said Barrock.

OOC: Since no one seemed to notice I tried to set up a character, or you guys did noticed and have not said no, I'm just going to join in.

IC:Frank shouted from under a desk as he heard Barrock saying something "What do you feel about what? Did I miss something, or what?" like always, it seems Frank was never around when it mattered.

"Did you miss anything? Well I'd say not much" Said Barrock in a sarcastic tone.

"Looks like you guys are going somewhere, mind if I tag along?" He said as he started to lean on both of them.

"You'd better talk to Zack first, he'd know where you best belong, besides you need to be filled in" Barrock said.

"Your probably right, so where is the fool?" He says as he lets go and looks out the room.

At Barrock's comment about the fighting, Brad waited for the other man to leave then turned and said, "Ah, but here's the thing. You're a passive agressive psychopath who doesn't seem to grasp the reality that dead is dead, and that if you fight you get hurt."

To emphasize his point, Brad pulled his gun and held it up. "This is a tool used for fighting. If I shoot someone, there's no rewind button or second chance. With every pull of the trigger, there could be one less person in the world. One less person who can see like me, think like me, can love like me, and has a family, like me."

Brad put away the gun. "Fighting and war aren't jokes. Personally, I think it's time people like you start realizing that."

Then, Brad left the room, heading to get himself a cup of coffee.

(ooc glad to see things have picked back up.)

IC: Zack sauntered in to the room. He was dressed in his traditional attire: Black leather pants, Black T-shirt, blacl leather jacket, and combat boots. From his left ear hung an earing with a strange alchemical design. On his right hand he wore a black fingerless glove. In the hall behind him stood Amy looking back down the hallway. Here long raven hair was draped over one shoulder. She wore a Black mesh top over a white t-shirt, and a black leather mini-skirt. "What's eating him?" Zack asked gesturing in the direction Brad was headed. "Nevermind that now. Sparky, you're late! Go see Shadow in the computer room for your briefing. You'll be working with him for now. Slaughter, Chaos and grim are waiting in the front parking lot by the van.
"Everyone else is out back waiting to head to the airport. Alright, let's get this show on the road people. One more thing, if no one in your party awakens to their powers within five minutes of entering the gateway, leave and then contact Shadow to find out where to head next." He then turned and walked back out of the room.

Barrock was in a bad mood as he watched the landscape go by through the window of his van 'It's not that I like killing or hurting people, It's just I.. the exiliration the thrill of fighting it's... we're not fighting people or only bad ones at that so I shouldn't have any qualms about killing. Should I?' Barrock was thinking in self reflection.

"Shadow eh? Well whatever, he can't be worse than you." He said as walked off toward the computer room.

OOC: Sheesh people, please be more in depth. I have no clue where most of you are.

IC: Psych drank his coffe from a paper cup, then crushed it and returned to their little band.

"Well, let's move."

OOC: I'm in the computer room, where ever the hell that is compared to the room Barrock was in.

IC:As Frank entered the computer room, he shouted "Yo, Shadow were are you?" Without waiting for a response, he took a few steps in, shut the door, and took a look around.

OOC: I'm in a truck with Grim and Chaos on the way to the gateway in Alabama.