2021-06-01 - The Tower of Rabble

Not that August would have been able to resist such a thing on his own, but married to a woman like Eleanor, his arrival at the lighthouse is pre-ordained.

He parks a ways out, choosing to walk the last quarter mile rather than risk something like it falling on his damn car. (The way this month is going that's next up on the list.) He's dressed for an excursion, in his heavy hikers, a black squall jacket, denim jeans, and hefty flashlight. He's got his hunting knife as well, though has forgone the gun.

After hearing quiet comments that sound like some of the people he knows want to investigate the light house, Devlin decided to come on out. After all, he's got the aide bag. He pulls up in his Jeep parking where he notices August's vehicle.

Exiting the car, one can see he's wearing an old set of tiger stripe fatigues with a tactical vest over it and a pair well used of jungle boots. Gerber MK2 knife hanging off the web belt that is also holding a couple of canteens. A small day pack may hold some food for a fair guess. However, over his back is a medic's aide bag that happens to have a climbing robe tied to the back and fair guess he's got a few things like pitons and carabiners in the side pockets.

Well, what sailor can resist a lighthouse? Especially a Glimmering one. He's arrived on that rattletrap sidecar bike, and left it parked by August's car. Joe's also gone for that semi-martial look. He's in black fatigue pants, worn gray t-shirt, canvas jacket. He's got a heavy black waist pack at the small of his back, an ugly Glock holstered at one hip, and a hunting knife at the other. The knife's grip glows a soft green, as if he feared losing it in the dark.

He comes ranging up by the others and says, subdued, "God, this looks weird. I know that's a redundant thing to say in Gray Harbor, but..."

August looks back over his shoulder when he hears Devlin in the approach, gives him an upnod. "Heya." He scans this side of the lighthouse, keeping a healthy twenty feet from the base. "So. I'm pretty sure this wasn't always here."

A half-turn to verify it's Joe he's heard, then a laugh that's half-grunt. "Even around here, randomly appearing buildings is...kinda odd." He edges closer to the structure, starting a slow spiral in, looking for windows, signs of inhabitance...anything, really. No Glimmer, not just yet.

A cop car pulls up to the curb, a short while after Joe's climbed off his ridiculous bike and headed over to join the others. Black and unmarked; some flavour of American muscle flecked with dust and minor paint damage. The engine's killed, and a radio goes off as the bulky frame of a civilian-clad cop climbs out. He switches the thing off after a brief out of service message mumbled into it, and shoves it into the glovebox along with his badge and gun, and locks it.

After a brief glance over the lighthouse, de la Vega reaches for the other, non duty weapon stowed under his seat. Holsters it, slams his door shut, and trudges over to meet the others.

"Well, figured ol' Rod might be here. Would love to get his autograph." Devlin chuckles. He then nods a bit, "Yeah.. glimmering buildings that show up out of no where.. almost feels like a roach motel for us." He looks to the August and Joe. "Good to see you both here." And then he hears/sees the car that Ruiz exits, "Well, looks like some iron being packed." he gives the cop a nods.

Joe favors Ruiz with dimples at his arrival, albeit dimples hidden in that scruff-aspiring-to-beard like Viet Cong hidden in the jungle. "Hey, baby," he says, warmly. "Check this out. A whole goddamn buildin'. Am I crazy, or was this not here when I sailed in a year and a half ago?" He holds out a hand to the cop, but his gaze is even then drifting back to the improbable structure. To Devlin, he says, "I know plenty'a the threats that come through from the Other Side laugh off bullets...but on the other hand, now and again that ain't so."

August makes a face, shakes his head. "Not seeing an entrance." Or, not a 'normal' one. He licks his lips, raises a hand to try something--ah, but there's Ruiz. He tilts his head, thoughtful. "Hey, you're just in time." He nods at the building. "Wanna try giving this a read? Doesn't seem to be any windows or doors."

Javier's adjusting his cap as he comes up on the little gathering of vets. Which might strike him as strange in itself, if anything ever struck him as strange in this damned town anymore. He tugs it off to rifle knuckles through his dark curls briefly, then pulls the hat back on again, and offers a smile to the others that's more akin to a quick baring of teeth. "Can't speak for whether you're crazy, but no." He looks up at the thing. "Definitely wasn't here before."

Then August asks if he wants to try giving this a read, and he grunts something under his breath. Something that sounds like, "You ever fucking consider that might be because we're not supposed to go inside?" But he does, obligingly, start prowling a little closer to the thing. To take a look.

"Feels kind of thin around here.. might not be a door as we normally think of one." Devlin nods, "Yeah.. thought crossed my mind, Ruiz. And I had this feeling if I didn't show up, I'd definitely would have been needed. So hoping this is a wasted trip for me." He watches Ruiz take as look as he takes a moment on his own to attempt sensing to see if there is a door in this thin area.

So, of the four men here, one of them was never the boots on the ground type. One of them never walked patrol at night, skin crawling with expectation that something will come out of the dark, that ancient and visceral fear. And of course, that's the one that cups his hand to his mouth like he needs to be heard at the top of the structure and yells, "HEY! Anyone in there?" Like whatever thing might dwell there just needs to be jarred out of the nap it's taking. Joe's peering up, as if in expectation.

August's expression shifts to gratitude as Ruiz checks out the tower. He's well aware Ruiz would be far more inclined to put up DO NOT CROSS tape, assign a few squad cars, and call it done. August wants to know, however, and Ruiz is the one with the best mind Glimmer among them. So.

He starts at the sound of Joe's voice, turns a look of incredulity on him. Not that they'd been hiding, or anything, but-- "Well Cavanaugh, that's certainly one way to let them know we're out here." He sighs, waits for Ruiz's report, gives a nod for Devlin's suggestion in the mean time. "Come to it, we might have to do that."

Devlin's head just slowly turns to Joe looking at him for a moment and then back to the tower. He takes a slow inhale and exhale of breath. More alert than anything else now.

Pausing at the shout from Joe, the cop turns to fix the blond with a bemused look, bordering on mildly incredulous. Then turns back to finish his perusal of the tower. It's a moment before he informs the others that, "It looks like the thing's made out of.." He makes a noise like a huff. "..things that someone with the Shine has touched or used. I think. Never seen anything like it."

Aware that he's getting the 'Cavanaugh, you jackass' stare from each of them in turn, Joe has grace enough to look a little sheepish....and then offers them a guilty little grin. Like a Golden Retriever that's well aware Mom is about to discover just how much he tore up the carpet trying to get at the interesting smell underneath. He takes a tentative step closer, looking more at the surface of the wall than up at the light. "I wonder if it's what called me here," he says, softly. "Or a representation of the call that this place has for those who Shine."

Devlin comments, "Opening a door here would be easy. Almost too easy I think. Add in this memory thing.. sounds like a lot of opportunity for OH Cool, followed by a massive OH shit..."

August glances at Joe and Ruiz, nods at Devlin. "Well, let's have it. I don't think we're gonna find out anything out here."

With a shrug Devlin nods and then makes the last push to open the door, "Here goes nothing."

He's brought his flashlight, and Joe clicks it on. "Jesus," he says, with a kind of low, reverent tone. He edges up to the door just opened, but he does not step through it. Busily directing the beam one way and then the other, blue eyes wide and curious. No more calling out to whomever might be resident. No, he's coming down on the side of deciding he'd rather not meet whoever might live there.

August watches the door open, taking half a step back like he means to dive clear. Nothing rushes out, so he relaxes, even steps forward and, like Joe, brings up his flashlight. "What the fuck," he murmurs. His expression tightens. "...hang on. This could be those little bastards. The gremlin...things. The ones stealign everything." He edges forward, leans in the door, looks up. "Have they been taking it all to build this? What the hell for?"

Devlin shrugs as he pulls his head band light out to turn on and put on his head. "No clue.. I don't get to all the fun that the rest of you do. But I am slowly building up my clue book. Shall we then?" he motions to enter on in.

It is his fault. The fact that the Veil and the creatures of Dream haven't previously used firearms against him and his friends doesn't meant he shouldn've expected that they could. They've certainly cropped up in Dreams before, even if in the form of pulse rifles. The sound of rounds zinging past him is enough to have a cascade of memory pop up - but this isn't a ruined village in Afghanistan, and he's not a man at the start of his thirties, not anymore.

But Joe's still swift enough to act, all but diving for cover behind what looks like a baby grand piano that was dropped keyboard first from a height...and yanking Javier with him. "Goddammit," he hisses. "This one's on me, guys. I'm sorry," he says, as he draws and checks to make sure there's one in the chamber....before he's yelling at the goblins, "What do you want?" The answer is probably 'your heads on pikes' but it can't hurt to see if there's negotiating that can be done.

Maybe Javier's getting slow in his old age. Or maybe he's a little too preoccupied with trying to make sure Joe's out of the way, before he himself is hauled behind a pile of junk. Whatever his excuse, he's rewarded with a crack of something across his shoulder, and snarls in pain. That's his favourite fucking leather jacket, jackasses. Pistol tugged out of its holster, he thumbs off the safety and tucks it in close to his body while he waits for a window to take his shot.

"Ah fuck.." as Devlin realizes they are under fire and Doc didn't notice the ambush, then again.. that is what Grunts are for. He drops into a defense stance and starts shifting a little to make himself more difficult to hit.

August's answer comes in the form of--well, they're not guns the way August thinks of them, but it's still an ambush, in a building, near a city. Twenty years of hyper vigilance has waited for this moment to be proven right, and the simple sound of that puff has him bolting for cover, pulling movement Art around himself in a shield. "Ruiz. You okay?" He can feel it, that wound, it's not bad, but it can't be great.

He pulls out his knife. "Not sure I'd bother, Cavanaugh. People that ambush seldom like to talk."

They should be almost cute, these little creatures. Like something out of an old fantasy movie. The fact that they've cobbled together arms and armor from discarded items and trash doesn't make the round he takes any less painful....and Joe drops back, hissing in pain.

But the way that little one runs, the way it's got something cradled to it's chest...

They may be at the sea side with a cool breeze blowing in, a world away from the desert heat of Iraq....but a suicide bomber's recognizable, nonetheless. So he's reaching out frantically with his power, trying to slam something heavy into it, make the runner stop before he gets close enough to blow them all to hell.

"I'll live," grunts the cop, squinting a little at August when he calls him Ruiz. But it isn't challenged. Not here and now. Instead, he drops a round into the chamber of his pistol, flips the weapon sideways, and pops it out of the little gap in the stacks of junk he's hiding behind to take a couple of quick shots. Then back behind cover, urban warfare 101. It's like Tijuana all over again.

The one hurtling toward them with all the appearance of a suicide bomber has him barking at the others to get down, get down, even as August's hit and he hasn't realised it yet. Back out he goes, pistol trained on the critter, aimed for a headshot as Joe summons his power in a barrier aimed to try to stop it in its tracks.

Focusing on the SMG gremlin, Devlin cause the creature's torso to erupt in brief hot flames.. combined with the shot from the Chief, the creature just goes down hard.

August slaps a shield onto Ruiz, because on the long list of conversations he's not having, one with Itzhak about how Ruiz got killed by Veil Nonsense is #5-10. He's just finished with that when he spies the runner. That body language, it's etched in his mind, in the minds of thousands of combat veterans. Oh hell no. He grabs hold of the creature's armor, begins hauling it back towards their side of the battlefield.

He's so focused on that he doesn't pay attention to how exposed he is. And that means he's easy fodder for a headshot. He's lucky it doesn't take his head clean off, but there's one hell of a gouge now. Dazed, half-blind with blood in his eyes, he levers himself back up. "Okay...fine. You little fuckers."

He'll just help Ruiz kill it instead.

That didn't work as well as he'd hoped....and they're all coming on. Apparently they've never heard the proverb about not bringing a knife to a gunfight. Joe's leaning out of cover, too. But he's not aiming for the would-be bomber. No, now he's drawing down on another that's armed with a shotgun. These little jerks are apparently refusing to abide by the Geneva Convention. Unsurprising.

Devlin growls as his fire shot does little to the shooter, "Damn it.." And then the Axe is swung at him, "Really.. my little sister can do better than that.."

Seeing Roen pick himself back up again like the stubborn motherfucker he is, Ruiz can't help but smile slightly to himself. He might even have words for him, were he not a little bit preoccupied with trying to slow down the thing that's coming at them with a couple of shots aimed at its face. Shots that miraculously miss. But so does the gremlin that's firing on him, making it a stalemate all around. He curses under his breath, dives back behind cover, and switches up his target as August starts doing something to the grenade with a shudder of his power.

Well, they slow the little bastard with the grenade down, but he's a bit of a tubthumper, apparently. August is unimpressed. "Fine, fine. But the grenade's staying over there."

He knows grenades perfectly well; it's a thing you have to be taught, if only so you don't go blowing up half your unit by being a fuckup. So now he's going to make his instructor's proud...sort of.

He's not in good enough shape to pop the pin out with spirit, and anyways, it's being held to tight. But dismantling it, that he can do. Hell, it might even go off--which is fine, as long as it goes off somewhere away from them.

Joe's prairie-dogging in and out of cover, and the goblin's little axe doesn't hit him, but goes skittering off the glossy lacquer of the piano's smashed lid. A look at August makes Joe grimace...but Roen's more than doing his part.

His own shot doesn't do the damage it did the first time, but it's enough to wound another of their attackers. "Stubborn little fuckers. What's their grudge against us?"

"That is now how you use an Axe.." Devlin says as the Gremlin swing goes wide while Devlin takes advantage to snap kick at his opponent. "And armor.. that is just dirty pool.. well if you insist." As another round wizes by his head, "Hey Chief.. mind stoping that guy from improving his aim.. "

Ruiz pops off a couple of shots at the critter harassing August, but doesn't succeed in slowing it down much. He's about to switch things up and go help out their medic, when his spidey sense starts pinging. The fuck is August.. "Hey. HEY. Roen, que diablos estas haciendo?" He dives out to shoot, and takes a chance at abandoning cover, sprinting across to where August is hunkered down.

Just as the grenade goes off it occurs to August just then that there's a major drawback to that, at least for him.

The sound and the blast wave and (gremlin) body parts wash over him, and he's even in a ramshackle building full of memories of people and--

--tearing it to fucking pieces so they can get out. Yes. That sounds like what he has to do. Healing people, talking to them, none of that worked last time. It's going to be different this time. He's going to rip this entire place to pieces.

Lots to work with in here too. Except...Ruiz. Well, what is he even doing, running out from cover? Maybe tearing the lighthouse down has to wait, because now he has to keep Ruiz from getting killed.

He's seen people die by grenade before. Never a small, inhuman person, but....people. It's still enough to make Joe shudder all over in disgust, even as another attempt to hamstring him with an axe is greeted by the blade thunking into the wood of the piano lid.

Ruiz bolting from cover makes Joe yell at him. It's wordless, somewhere between scolding and despair. But he's still trying to bring down the would-be shotgunner, snapping off rounds with the pistol.

Javier's seen plenty of people die like this, in close-quarters, ugly combat. In the war, in Afghanistan, and on home soil, too. People desperate to take and hold onto what little turf they thought they owned. He squeezes his eyes shut as the spatter hits him, and keeps moving. Shoot and move, and something slices into the back of his head, but it doesn't stop him from colliding with August and trying to grab a handful of his shirt and demanding that he snap out of it.

Devlin has seen many combats due to Iraq and Afghanistan deployments, the exploding bodies and what grenades to, don't seem to phase the medic for now. "August.." He comes over to the man, "Sit down.." his tone the classic Cause Doc Says So "I'm going to look you over, ok?"

Ruiz gets to August just in time for, well, that to happen. The cop might think his shaking August is what triggers the violent reaction, but it's not. It's August's shaping Art snaking out out of him before he can stop it, striking each gremlin and shattering them as surely as it would glass.

August grips his head and screams. The pain is blinding, everyone's pain is all over and as soon as he can think he's going to throw up and pass out. Hopefully, in that order.

The ground under their feet cracks.

It's not supposed to do that. August is a healer. That the flipside of healing is harm....if it's ever occurred to Joe, it's refusing to rise to the top of his mind right now. The sailor's left standing for a moment in blank horror, lips parted, and liberally spattered with the green ichor, shaking.

But he visibly blinks himself out of it, and turns to hurry to Ruiz's side. Devlin's got August, but the cop's been hurt, too.

Javier's pistol is hurriedly safetied and shoved back into its holster. And if he's noticed that he's bleeding, he draws no attention to it. First order of business is getting Roen under control; which is attempted with what sounds like a half-whispered lullaby in the other man's ear, while he tries to hold him down for the medic. He, of course, is a reader of no small skill, and threads of his power are also used to gain August's compliance. To impose calm on him, until he's capable of it himself.

Devlin doesn't break out the aide bag as August looks pretty rough, so he just touches the man, "Looks like we cheat, you old fart." he teases August. "Now lets get you functioning better.. ok?" He asks as he continues focusing on Augest, "You guys ok.. any band aides needed?"

August sucks in a breath of surprise as Ruiz's Glimmer snuffs out the spiral of chaos August was diving into headfirst. He sits, heavily and suddenly, wincing as the movement jostles his head. "Fuck," he says, raising a hand to feel the bloody gouge, lowering it a second later as Devil checks him over. He shudders. "Th-thanks." He blinks tears from his eyes, winces. "I don't know what happened. I felt that grenade go off and...but I saw you," his eyes, one with a dark red sclera, flick to Ruiz, "come out of cover and--I couldn't let them..."

His voice fades. It takes him a second to respond to Devlin, but eventually he makes a face. "Probably should...this one." He taps the side of his head just below the lovely furrow left by a headshot that could have, should have killed him. "And...thanks. For the...healing." Another look up at Ruiz. "And making me stop." He clears his throat, eyes Ruiz's injuries. "Do you..."

"I got it," Joe says, voice oddly raw, putting out hands to both August and Ruiz's shoulders. Spirit's the least of the three with him, but he's got enough to help, even if it's just a little. That he's still bleeding from his own wound doesn't seem to have occurred to him at all. Still in the adrenalized aftermath where pain is just a distant cloud on the horizon.

A beat, and he has to ask, ".....what did you do to them?" His voice is a hoarse whisper, as if the grenade's explosion had temporarily affected his hearing.

"I said I'm fucking fine," grumbles Javier, swiping at some blood that's leaking into his eyes. Then swiping at it again when it doesn't stop. He cuts his eyes to Joe, then hitches his chin at August, like, deal with him, before pushing to his feet to go take stock of things. "I'm going to make sure we don't have any more company," he informs them gruffly before prowling off to do just that.

"I don't know," August whispers, voice hoarse. "I was just trying to stop the one after--de la Vega." Does he catch himself about to call Ruiz something else? Maybe. He shudders, reaches out to Joe to return the favor. An amazing idea, considering, but August is full of those lately.

"I...I think I've felt it happen before. They're synergistic with our Glimmer. Somehow." He sighs, shuts his eyes. "I'll...I should go home." He sighs. "Might have to text Ellie though."

"I can take you home, or I can volunteer Javier. Car's a lot more comfortable ride than my bike, but I can get the bike up closer'n that car," he notes. Joe looks August up and down, before casting a worried glance after Javier, calling, "Be careful, honey," Then he's looking back to August. "I started work on him, but all it does is just speed things up a bit. You look pretty damn bad. And I heard of those guys, but I've never met 'em before..."