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Where the Rats Run Free


MBCE

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Light spilled into the sewer causing a pack of rats to scurry away from the sudden intrusion. The few rodents brave enough to remain in place quickly scatter as Sammy fell to the muddy water covered ground.

It took Sammy a moment before he began to lift himself out of the muck. He slowly wiped his mouth with the back of his arm leaving a slight trail of blood upon his face.

Damn, that hurt.

Sammy looked at his arm to inspect the damage he recieved earlier that night. The small amount of light that filtered into the area was just enough for him to see that the bullet had went completely through.

Seems Lady Fortunte was watching out for me afterall.

Slowly Sammy got to his feet and looked about his surroundings. He had entered the sewers near Liberty Park as he tried to escape.

Home is somewhere to the south, but this tunnel runs east and west. Great.

Sammy looked both directions trying to decide which way would lead him home when the sound of movement from above caught his attention.

Crap! He's coming after me! I've got to get out of here fast.

Without any further thought on the matter, Sammy began moving through the sewers to the east.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Raven sits in her apartment, in a room with no windows, levitating a few feet off the ground in an "indian style" position. Her eyes glow a deep purple as she scrys around the city, looking for signs of disaster. Although, she thinks, at this point I'd settle for dissonance. It's been a while since I've done anything. She had been looking around the city for hours and was about to give up when, at the edge of her extra-sensory vision, she caught a glimpse of something sliding into the sewers. Well, that's unusual, she thinks as she shifts her scrying to the area of sewer just below that street. There, she spies a young man, slightly laboring for breath and bleeding from his arm. She sighs to herself. Not my usual sort of thing, but it'll do tonight.

She stretches her legs to the ground and sets herself on the ground lightly. She throws her cloak over her shoulders, keeping her hood low so that her face will not be seen. She bring the image of the sewer she saw to mind as her hands go through complex motions and patterns quickly. She smirks as she finishes and whispers "Fly Through the Night." The shape of a large, black bird appears where she was, and she is gone.

She reappears about 5 feet behind the young man she saw, thankful for the force field keeping the muck of the sewer off her. Only what little light there is glinting off the strange runes stitched into the hood of her cloak belie her presence. She takes a moment, glancing around to asses the situation, before saying quietly, in a tone and quality of voice that makes it hard to discern her sex, "What is someone like you doing in the sewers?"

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The Ghost turned around quickly at the sound of the voice behind him. He's found me! ran through is head as he expected to again feel the vigilante's weapon pouring into his body again.

His eyes blinked in surprise as he realized that what stood behind him was not the bringinger of his death, but some other super come to the lower levels of the city. He blinked in surprise and then strained his vision beyond the figure looking for the hunter he knew was still behind him.

"What am I doning her? I'm trying to get away from a killer, that's what." The ghost sounded worried and scared but his fear wasn't towards the newcomer that had decided to talk first. "This city is filled with all types of maniacs wanting to be the next Centurion. Are you another one?"

The Ghost rubs his wounded arm but continues to look pass the figure before him. I need to keep moving here. Maybe I can get this guy here to help keep that Vigilante off my back.

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Raven's eyebrows fly up, unseen within the confines of her hood. Her surprise causes her to drop the affectation of her voice, and a much more feminine-sounding one issues from her lips. "I am afraid I'm not familiar with the name Centurion, but I am certainly not a killer. I find it curious that one would follow you here without cause, however. I expect a homicidal maniac, whom I have not yet seen, would simply stay above ground and find easier prey. So, though I do not know if you have done anything wrong, I must ask if you might know what you may have done to cause someone with murderous intent to follow you into such a place."

Raven turns her head quickly to glance behind her, trying to see what the boy in front of her is looking at before turning back to him and setting her piercing gaze on his face. What could this poor boy have done to drive someone to murder?

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The Ghost blinked his eyes as the woman spoke. Oh, a newbie. This one is as weird as that Contour fella I met the other day.

"Give you a reason? I have no idea why he would want me dead. Why don't you head on up to the surface and ask him yourself. I'm the one bleeding here and I don'T intend on remaing anywhere that he can get me." The Ghost kept his voice calm as he spoke.


Some distance away, still up on the surface, the vigilante peered down the manhole. Slowly he studied the area and smiled when catch sight of the trail of blood around the edge. Good. He went underground. That keeps things out of sight from the cops and the other heroes running around. I can finish this guy off fairly easily.

Slowly the man dressed in black slipped down into the sewers after his wounded prey.


The ghost's eyes go wide as he catches the slight sound of something dropping into water. "Woman, he's here!" Ghost whispered urgently. "I'm definitely not going to stick around talking to you!"

The Ghost turned on the woman and began moving silently further down the sewer.

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Raven frowns from within her hood, quite certain that the man is front of her is hiding something. Nevertheless, she spun quickly as he walked away from her and discovered that someone else did in fact join them in the sewers.

Well well; looks like he wasn't feeding me a complete fabrication. It's time I found out exactly what I'm dealing with here; or what I'm not, as the case may be. Raven's cloak bulges in a few places as she makes some quick gestures and mutters some unintelligible words. At the end, she whispers, "Detect Magic." She searches for the magical auras in the area with her extra sense as she says, in the same almost sexless voice she used with the young man upon arriving, "Hello, stranger. I ask that you state your purpose down here in the sewers with this young man." She stands still, cloak closed and covering her, only the light glinting off the silver runes betraying her presence once she stops speaking.

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When Raven looks about with her enhanced vision, she sees that the man she was just talking to is covered in magical energy. The field of magical energy seems to flow with him as he moves further away from her position. From the way that he entered, however, she finds no signs of magic.

As her voice reaches out to the hunter, he stops a short distance away but with her still in sight. He watches her closely trying to figure out what she was doing between himself and his prey.

"And who are you to ask anything from me? You're not with the Freedom League, so why don't you let me finish taking out the garbage."

The man stood in the shadows, two guns in each hand but lowered at the moment.


The Ghost had moved around the corner a short distance and stopped when he heard the two talking. Great, now she's talking with him. I need to get out of here before they decide to team up and hunt me down!

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Raven glances at the man's guns. "There's no garbage here; at least not the kind you are referring to. Harming, especially lethally, a fleeing opponent brings nothing but dissonance. My Freedom League status is immaterial; I'm not going to allow you to hurt him any more than is necessary to subdue him. If you pledge not to use lethal force, however, I will allow you to assist me in detaining him." She fixes him with a piercing gaze under her hood, waiting for a few seconds for a response.

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The Ghost's eyes widen when he hears the strange woman had decided to help the vigilante capture him. Now I really got to get out of here! No telling what they plan on doing to me if they catch me.

Just when he was ready to leave, Ghost smiled to himself. Perhaps Lady Fortune can help me out before I leave. He turned back and crept back to the intersection where he could see both of the figures.


The vigilante looked at Raven closely as she layed down demands. "Perhaps you can'T hear. I don't need to promise you anything. Don't think just because I haven'T capped you yet means you're not in my sights. Go back where you--"

The man stopped in mid sentence as he caught movement beyond the woman. He raised his gun sighting his target.

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Ghost looked around the corner and realized that his movement was detected by both of the people. So much for remaining unnoticed. Sometimes, Lady Fortune, you just make my life more interesting.

The sewers are a maze of pipes that carry not only the wastes of the city to the refuse center but it also carried gas lines as well as power lines from place to place. With the large number of supers running around, the city had taken extensive damage. Most of that damage was above ground where it was easy to notice what was wrong and fix it right away. Occasionally, the damage over the course of time slowly wore down even those areas not directly effected by the powered battles above ground. One such pipe just happened to be located near the vigilante and just at that moment decided to burst sending a stream of boiling water at the man.


Raven, through her enhanced vision saw the level of magic flow from the wounded man trying to hide around the corner until it filled the complete tunnel. Both the vigilante and herself were surrounded by the magic that seemed to originate from the wounded man. For the most part, the magic simply coated everything in the tunnel. A quick examination of herself showed that even she was covered in the magical energy. It didn't seem to do anything but coat everything in sight.

Suddenly, a pipe burst near the vigilante sending a jet of boiling water at the man. The man grunted out in slight pain but still fired his gun. The man had incredible aim as the bullet manages to catch Ghost right before he can duck back behind the corner. A grunt of pain is heard after the shot. Even Raven knows that the vigilante had shot to kill.

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Raven allows her concentration on her Detect Magic spell to lapse, and anger flashes through her eyes under her hood. "I said subdue ONLY!" This time, her cloak parts as she extends her hands to gesture quickly, muttering different but similar strange words. The spell is completed this time with not a whisper, but a yell. "CURSE OF THE RAVEN!" Dark light streaks towards the man with the guns and strikes him in the eyes.

She gives a small smile and the armed man is unable to dodge and glides back to the crossroads, activating her flight. She turns to the young man. "I won't let him kill you, but it seems we need to have a discussion."

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Raven casts her spell and watches as the dark light reaches out towards the vigilante. Whether it was luck or the result of him being hit by the boiling water was unclear but the vigilante was unaffected by the spell. As teh effect subsides, thye vigilante stares at Raven with murderous contempt.

"Attack me, will you?" The vigilante turns his guns on Raven and fires a deadly shot that hits her squarely and with tremendous force.


The Ghost shakes his head in anattempt to clear his head of the pain from the shot he just took. He was in no condition to do more than hear Raven's call for discussion. He blinked in surprise when he heard the vigilante fire again, but this time, not at him.

Sounds as if she ticked him off. As long as he's not shooting at me, I can live with that! Lady Fortune truly does watch over me.

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The Ghost looked around the corner again and saw the woman's shock at being wounded.

That's what she gets for coming down here demaning stuff of me. Don't stick your neck out for them and you'll live to tell about it.

The Ghost kept his eyes glued to situation and he saw the sick glee in the vigilante's face as smelled the woman's vulnerablity. The look of vengence in his eyes angered Ghost and he knew he couldn't simply let her get slaughtered.

I'm going to regret this later!

Ghost darted around the corner and threw a smoke gernade between the vigilante and the woman. Dark smoke filled the area between them cutting off vision.


The vigilante saw Ghost throw the gernade and he instintively flinch expecting an explosion. When the weapon burst out with smoke, he fired blindly through the smoke. Luckily, the bullet did not find a target.

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Raven looks at the young man in surprise as the smoke billows around her. "You are clearly not what you seem, but you are also clearly not the threat to harmony here." She bows to him slightly. "I am sure we will meet again, and then we will talk; but for now, you should get out of here."

A faint shimmer can once again be seen around Raven, and she rises a couple feet in the air as she moves toward where the armed man last fired from. "Elements of dissonance must be dealt with." Upon emerging from the smoke, she stops moving and begins to mutter strange words as she gestures under her cloak. "Cry of the Raven!" She holds her hands out in front of her, and a black bolt of force streaks towards the armed man and misses him. Crud! Wound must be throwing off my aim.

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The Ghost stared at the woman in surprise as she turned and enterd through the smoke. Unable to see what was happening, Ghost heard the words that invoked her powers again.

This lady must have a death wish! She's crazy. Get out of here while you can. You did your one good deed for the day.

But Ghost did not move. He stood silently waiting to see or hear the results of her attack on his follower.


The vigilante smiled broadly when he saw Raven emerge from the smoke. "You decided to stick around, huh? Well you'll regret that--"

Raven's black tendril of power shot forth but whether due to her injuries or not taking time to aim, the blast goes wide, hitting the wall and exposing more pipes underneath.

"Still looking for a fight. Well I've got just the thing for you!" The vigilante fired at the woman but the bullet managed to missed her.


The Ghost flinched as he heard the gun shot. Well that tells me he's still up!

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The blast hits him squarely and he stumbles back slightly. A grunt of pain escapes his lips but he is still in the fight.

The smoke clears allowing Ghost to see that both were still standing.


The Ghost held his arm and watched the two fighting. He's still up! Got to lean a hand.

Again the Ghost's own luck began its work. Another pipe burst hitting the vigilante with a blast of water. The water attack hit and distracted the vigilante as well as further weaken him.

"Finish him off!" Ghost yelled in encouragement to the woman.

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Raven's blast hits again forcing the wind out of the vigilante's lungs. The vigilante doubles up as he tries to regain his breath.


The Ghost smiled slightly seeing his pursuer double up in pain.

Now that's what he gets for messing with me.

Slowly, the Ghost turned and began moving back around the corner out of sight. His feet splashed in the water as he moved but he didn't wait to see if the woman would notice him leaving.

Time for me to disappear. She can handle the rest on her own.

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Raven hears the young man moving away but does not turn towards him. Good, he's finally getting out of here. Questions can wait for a day in which we're not in mortal danger. She sighs at the man with the guns. "You really should just surrender." Maybe if he can't see, he will. She starting casting a different spell this time, but one the man has seen. "Curse of the Raven!" The black light strikes him in the eyes once again.

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The blast catches him in the eyes and this time, he is unable to avoid the spell's effect.

"Arrgh!" he yelled out as he dropped his guns to reach for his eyes. "What did you do to me? I can't see!"


Even from around the corner, Ghost could hear the man's scream of horror. He shuddered slightly and moved directly towards the wall.

Well he's not going to be a problem for a while.

Without stopping, the Ghost took a deep breath and continued right through the wall. He moved quickly as he could not breath while moving through the sewer wall.

Need to get as far as possible before she decides to come after me. A few cross walks should confuse her.

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Raven moves over quickly and collects the man's dropped weapons. She moves back a bit before speaking. "You are blinded, but it is temporary. Furthermore, you are injured and now weaponless. I heartily suggest surrender; I have no desire to injure you further. Raven hovers in front of him, waiting to see how he will react.

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The man continues to rub his eyes trying to clear them but fails. He places his hand on the sewer wall and begins following it away from the woman ignoring her call for surrender.


The Ghost emerged in the next tunnel and let out his breath. He took a moment to look around to make sure he wasn't followed before taking another breath and going through the next wall and the tunnel beyond.

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