Witchers of Nifelheim

(On approach to the sewer)


Harlequin and ten Tesian soldiers quickly followed you outside. The view of a street, completely blocked and barricaded by police cars, came into view.

"No good, we can't drive through here" Harlequin called: "We have to fly"


Her massive batpony wings quickly unfolded, she took Rogue and darted into the sky, together with a few pairs of Tesian soldiers, some of them were pegasi, carrying unicorns.

The flight lasted for only several moments, but it felt like an eternity. In the distance, you already began to see a half melted police car, standing atop a sewer hatch.
The heavy attack helicopter was hovering nearby, a few dozen meters above ground.


"We have to remove the car from the hatch!" Harlequin called, landing and placing Rogue on the ground nearby:

"Its the only way we can get inside quickly!"

"Well i doubt the things gonna start at this point!" She trys pushing it from the back hoping the officer was kind enough to leave it on neutral. She bites her bottom lip looking to everyone else wondering if they are going to join her.

"Guys..." She brings out weakly.

She steels herself, tightening the grip on the weapon ast he lunge comes in. Due to the fact he strikes her weapon, she stumbles backwards, at one point dropping into the rank sewer water.

"Oh, why..." She grabs the weapon, bracing herself to sidestep his next attack to do a counter.

She knew it could easily fail. But it was her only chance.

A Sinner wrote:"Well i doubt the things gonna start at this point!" She trys pushing it from the back hoping the officer was kind enough to leave it on neutral. She bites her bottom lip looking to everyone else wondering if they are going to join her.

"That one's a lost cause, the wheels and tyres've melted, it'll be easier and quicker to start one of the other undamaged cars sitting over one of the other manholes, and enter the sewers through that one" Rogue says.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(On approach to the sewer)


Harlequin and ten Tesian soldiers quickly followed you outside. The view of a street, completely blocked and barricaded by police cars, came into view.

"No good, we can't drive through here" Harlequin called: "We have to fly"


Her massive batpony wings quickly unfolded, she took Rogue and darted into the sky, together with a few pairs of Tesian soldiers, some of them were pegasi, carrying unicorns.

The flight lasted for only several moments, but it felt like an eternity. In the distance, you already began to see a half melted police car, standing atop a sewer hatch.
The heavy attack helicopter was hovering nearby, a few dozen meters above ground.


"We have to remove the car from the hatch!" Harlequin called, landing and placing Rogue on the ground nearby:

"Its the only way we can get inside quickly!"

"And we still need to decide what to do with that blessed helicopter" Rogue adds "Since the fighting has once again descended into the sewers, the helicopter can't attack the Witcher or be attacked by him in return, so it'll be safe going to pick up Axis and get her out of here.

Another thing, we know the Witcher'll keep on coming after Axis as long as he's able, and we can't seem to kill him via conventional means, he just heals up. However, we can still wound him or affect him in other ways, so ideally what we need to do's incapacitate him in a way that keeps him stuck in one place but unable to heal or move, like if he was drowned in concrete, it would harden and he wouldn't be able to cut his way out with the sword because he couldn't move?"

She twirls her finger in the air and points to the direction of the police station, "Go get our vip and hold out on the ground, wait for further instruction after that." She says over her radio, "You guys need to push this car out of the way!" she points to the officers, "Come on we haven't got time!"

(Everyone)


Above the sewer,
The attack helicopter banked left and flew off into the distance, fading from view.

"No sweat, we'll break through this hatch!" The Tesian soldier called, then turned and barked at his men:
"Hammers out boys! Double time!"


Three of the Tesian soldiers detached some sort of metal constructs, that were attached to their backs. With a press of a button, the constructs unfolded and extended into heavy battle hammers, quite massive in proportion.

"Watch your hands lands!" one of them yelled, as the three approached and released a series of coordinates strikes at the remains of the police car, hitting it in unison over and over, until its intact half was pushed out of the way.


"Open it up!" their officer yelled, and the three hammered down the sewer hatch. It gave way almost immediately, even with the pile of melted metal on top, it was hanging on by a thread.


The pile of melted rubble sunk through the ground and fell into the sewer tunnel down below. You could already hear shouting and sounds of combat down below.


"Lets go!" Harlequin called, slightly folding her wings and jumping inside.



Still blinded by the sun, your eyes struggle to adjust to the dark shapes in the sewer tunnel. You see five bodies laying on the floor. Some of them were just barely moving and moaning in pain.

In the distance, about 10 meters ahead, you saw a man in leather and chainmail armor, mercilessly swinging a long flaming sword. It burned with a bright green color, illuminating the sewer and throwing frightening shadows over the walls.



He was locked in a duel with Twilight.

The Witcher stopped advancing, briefly freezing in his tracks and watching Twilight, before suddenly performing a sideways cutting motion, aiming to strike Twilight's fist that held her dagger.








Back in the police station,
Amy's hands were aggressively dancing over her laptop. After a moment she clicked her earpiece:

"Everyone, there is a construction site, 300 meters southeast of the police station. There might be a cement truck there. We can try covering the Witcher with its contents, however cement doesn't solidify quickly.
We'll need to improvise something to hold the Witcher in place, and make the cement solidify more quickly"



She turned: "Sand, can you check out the construction site? See if there's a cement truck, or something else we can use?"



The sound of an approaching helicopter began to ring over the police station and Amy stood up, folding her laptop:

"That's our cue. Axis!" she called, taking hold of her hand and rushing up the stairs of the police station.



Just as Amy and Axis emerged up on the stations roof, the heavy helicopter landed on the designated landing platform.

Amy unceremoniously swung the passenger door open, before piling aboard together with Axis. She briefly helped Axis with her seat belt, before taking a seat beside her in the helicopter and opening her laptop again.



"This is Amy! VIP is aboard the chopper! I will accompany her and continue to provide intel support!
We're ready to take off, on your word, how copy?"
Her voice rang in your earpiece.

Rain pulls up her bow and in one swift motion pulls an arrow back and sends a well aimed shot at the back of The Witchers head. hit or miss she lets out a low growl, "Get outta there" she says to amy, "So your the one the buzz is all about... my god, my sister would love fighting you." She rolls her shoulder readying herself for a fight, or future fight.

Kaylee Brown wrote:

//Soundtrack

(Everyone)


Above the sewer,
The attack helicopter banked left and flew off into the distance, fading from view.

"No sweat, we'll break through this hatch!" The Tesian soldier called, then turned and barked at his men:
"Hammers out boys! Double time!"


Three of the Tesian soldiers detached some sort of metal constructs, that were attached to their backs. With a press of a button, the constructs unfolded and extended into heavy battle hammers, quite massive in proportion.

"Watch your hands lands!" one of them yelled, as the three approached and released a series of coordinates strikes at the remains of the police car, hitting it in unison over and over, until its intact half was pushed out of the way.


"Open it up!" their officer yelled, and the three hammered down the sewer hatch. It gave way almost immediately, even with the pile of melted metal on top, it was hanging on by a thread.


The pile of melted rubble sunk through the ground and fell into the sewer tunnel down below. You could already hear shouting and sounds of combat down below.


"Lets go!" Harlequin called, slightly folding her wings and jumping inside.



Still blinded by the sun, your eyes struggle to adjust to the dark shapes in the sewer tunnel. You see five bodies laying on the floor. Some of them were just barely moving and moaning in pain.

In the distance, about 10 meters ahead, you saw a man in leather and chainmail armor, mercilessly swinging a long flaming sword. It burned with a bright green color, illuminating the sewer and throwing frightening shadows over the walls.



He was locked in a duel with Twilight.

The Witcher stopped advancing, briefly freezing in his tracks and watching Twilight, before suddenly performing a sideways cutting motion, aiming to strike Twilight's fist that held her dagger.








Back in the police station,
Amy's hands were aggressively dancing over her laptop. After a moment she clicked her earpiece:

"Everyone, there is a construction site, 300 meters southeast of the police station. There might be a cement truck there. We can try covering the Witcher with its contents, however cement doesn't solidify quickly.
We'll need to improvise something to hold the Witcher in place, and make the cement solidify more quickly"



She turned: "Sand, can you check out the construction site? See if there's a cement truck, or something else we can use?"



The sound of an approaching helicopter began to ring over the police station and Amy stood up, folding her laptop:

"That's our cue. Axis!" she called, taking hold of her hand and rushing up the stairs of the police station.



Just as Amy and Axis emerged up on the stations roof, the heavy helicopter landed on the designated landing platform.

Amy unceremoniously swung the passenger door open, before piling aboard together with Axis. She briefly helped Axis with her seat belt, before taking a seat beside her in the helicopter and opening her laptop again.



"This is Amy! VIP is aboard the chopper! I will accompany her and continue to provide intel support!
We're ready to take off, on your word, how copy?"
Her voice rang in your earpiece.

"Take off and leave now, worry about getting authorisation or whatever later. As long as Axis is alive, the Witcher can't win, so her survival is a priority" Rogue tells Amy over the radio,

"As for holding the Witcher, I could probably freeze him for a bit with my gauntlets, but I can't guarantee it'll work. They have a built-in laser, calibrated to knock electrons out of orbit around the atoms that make up the air, causing them to rapidly lose energy and thus heat.

It's a kind of non-magical freeze ray, not quite as powerful or efficient mind you, but still capable of reducing the temperature of objects by hundreds of degrees instantly and flash freezing them, turning gas directly into ice and bypassing the liquid stage entirely.

Because of the Witcher's regenerative perk, it probably won't kill him, but i'm hoping the shock value of seeing another dude apparently able to use "magic" will throw him off his footing enough to open up a weak spot and turn him into an icecube, even if only for a moment. I'm limited by the charge I can carry in the portable powerpack though, so i'll only get about three shots at most, and there's always a chance it'll fail completely, it is a state-of-the-art custom job after all."

"Got it" Sand took off sprinting through the front door. Using a parked car she runs up the back of it and launched herself up and out towards a street light. Using the chain fist in her arm she catches the metal light and swings forward. The momentum carrying her body forward and being enough to get her airborne for a second. As soon as the gap is closed enough she throws out another chain fist, catching the second light, and once again swings forward.

As soon as the construction site is less than 50 meters away she doesn't release her swing, but instead twist mid-air and pulls her self back to the current street lamp with her second chain fist. She stands, balancing, on top of it and takes a look into the construction site. Looking for a cement truck or anything else that could be of use.

(Sand)


The construction site was massive, easily 300 meters wide. All around, you see what appears to be the foundation of a future skyscraper. A towering construction crane loomed over the area, so tall, it came installed with its own elevator to reach the operating cabin.

The area was full of neatly packed construction material, makeshift office cabins and off to the side, several rows of heavy vehicles. Excavators, cargo trucks, a few private cars and a cement truck.
Its cargo was slowly spinning.

A handful of construction workers stood nearby and idly talked. It seems they're on a break.

(The Sewer)


The arrow quietly whistled across the tunnel and hit the Witcher right at the back of his head.
He exhaled softly, his sword dissipated. His eyes closed and he slowly crumbled onto the floor.


Harlequin sighed slightly and lowered her sword: ".....Twilight. Are you unharmed?" she called after a moment.


The Tesian soldiers began jumping down into the sewer and piling in. After several moments, a dozen or so SWAT officers emerged from the depths of the tunnel as well. They slowly came closer, holding their swords ready and checking the bodies.


"...Tomas" Harlequin quietly called, kneeling next to his unconscious form and placing two fingers over his neck:
"..... he's alive. I don't see any serious injury" she quietly said and sighed:



"...the Witcher roughed up our boys pretty bad. But he still didn't kill anyone. Even now" She looked up:

"Being so grossly outnumbered and managing to hold his own, without taking a life. His martial art technique is impressive. It would've been easier and smarter for him, to pick us off, one by one, with each opportunity...
Its what I would've done in his place... his actions lack reason, I don't understand"


She looked at the Witchers body. He wasn't moving. An arrow sticking out of his head. A new pool of blood already began to form:

"...did we really kill him?.." Harlequin quietly asked.




Your earpiece crackled with static and Amy's voice came through:
"This is Amy, we're airborne. We'll fly Axis out of the city.
You guys saved a life today. And discovered a lot about the magic phenomenon.
I think we did all we could..

I just wish..." Amy paused: "...no. Never mind. Amy out"

Twilight had fallen into the sewage again when she tried to avoid the attack. She looked at her hand, holding a weapon.

"Physically, yes..."

She got up, looking at the body of the witcher. Determined, she walked to him, holding the dagger. She seemed to hesitate with something, the blade shaking.

"We must disarm him, now."

"D-disarm?.." Harlequin asked in alarm: "...what do you mean?.. I don't see any weapons on him..
Does he have concealed weaponry?"

"I mean that in a literal sense." She speaks coldly.

"I'm not aware what plan you all cooked up, but he sure as hell won't work along. He's also too dangerous to not properly restrain. However, the limitation of his magic seems the need for motions. As such, we must take away his motion."

She looks around. "Unless someone has an unbreakable rope by sheer coincidence, we need to keep his hand tied. And I'm really feeling disgusted it comes to this, but it's the best we got right now."

She takes one of of the witcher's hands, putting it over the other. She then raises the blade she's holding, aiming to stab through them. She's still shaking, this act troubling her.

(The Sewer)


"Must we resort to such cruelty?" Harlequin quietly said. She's seems very unsettled by this:

"Should we not look for a humane way to do this, before resorting to violence?" She looks at Twilight, then at Rain. Her bright yellow eyes are reflecting sadness.

She lowers the blade, looking solemly back. It's clear there's not a hint of joy in her eyes.

She opens her mouth, but doesn't speak. After a moment, she does.
"... We have to. You're correct in saying we should find a humane way first. But I don't see that path here. He toys with us, he's dangerous enough to annahilate us if he wishes so. The brief skirmish, if you can call that, told me so. He can't be reasoned with, since we can't talk to him. And the way to speak to him is on the top of his kill list."

She raises her weapon again, the struggle still there.

"If one has a realistic, humane option to keep us safe, then speak now. If not, I will pierce his hands to pin him down. And worse if it comes to that."

"He's dangerous enough to annihilate us, but he didn't" Harlequin said, looking up at Twilight:
"...it may be appropriate to extend him the same courtesy"

She looked down at the Witchers body: "...cruelty begets cruelty.
If we restrain him in this way and it fails, what will he do to us then? Will he still cast a brief blinding spell, or stab us in the eyes...
Violence will only escalate the situation. We need to de-escalate it."


She thought for a moment: "...like, if he really needs a degree of motion to cast spells, why not tie a tennis ball to each of his palms, so he can't move his fingers. Then restrain his hands, with a distance apart. Surely we can improvise something along those l-" she went quiet.


The Witcher released a muffled groan and sluggishly sat up. His eyes remained closed. He was heavily breathing.
The arrow at the back of his head, started to move on its own, as if the Witchers flesh was pushing it out.

The man emitted a brief muffled scream. He seems to be in heavy pain.
Reaching behind his head with one hand, he tries to slowly pull the arrow out.

There was no aggression behind his movements. He seems unnaturally exhausted.

With a few quick jumps Sand enters the construction yard. She approaches the workers casually.

Rain pulls back another arrow, "he tried to kill our friends, he is a very powerful murderer amd should be executed as such." She argues against her wife, "He is a murderer and the reason magic is going missing? Have you forgotten?"

(The Sewer)


Harlequin fixed Rain with a long stare. After a moment she quietly said:

"...that's not what you said to me, when we first met at the ball, during the Slavegear incident.
I was an assassin, Rain. I was your enemy.

Do you believe my hands are clean? Perhaps I was a slave, in service of Artemis military, but it doesn't change what I did. I was an assassin. A murderer.




Do you know, why I followed you? In the end?" She quietly said, looking at Rain with sadness:

"...you were the first person to treat me as a human being.


There was a level of understanding and respect between us. A unique kind of respect, the one that can only exist between opponents on a battlefield, who were stuck fighting on different sides, yet still talked to each other politely, working in mutual respect of each others skill and world views.
We were just stuck on different sides of the border.


But you looked at me as a human being. You looked at me as an equal.
Your.. kindness... touched me... and your enemy became your friend.

Why are you treating this man differently?



Is he a murderer? Did he kill innocent people? Yes. And he must answer for what he did, but this?
Cruelty? Execution of prisoners?
Are we really going to go that low?


You know, one day, we are going to have to go home and look into the eyes of our loved ones.
We need to ask ourselves, will we still be able to do that, after what we do here today" Harlequin quietly said.

(Sand)


After a few moments, the workers noticed you. One of them asked you something on Tesian.

Several minutes pass, before Amy's voice suddenly rang in your earpiece:

"Sand, I just received a report that the Beusoleil serial killer has been... caught... temporarily... or something.. you should probably link up with the others, they're still at the sewer entrance, underground, over."

Sand raises an eyebrow, she answers in Soren "Umm, do you guys know where the public library is? I'm all kinds of turned around"

When the Witcher got up, Twilight jumped back, with aid of her wings. That really made clear how much filth covered her.

She observed him, noticing his fatigue. ~Of course, revival magic is bound to be taxing, especially with the amount he used it. That's bound to leave heavy strain on the body. He's probably not able to fight properly right now. If we wish to properly restrain him, now's our chance.~

She looks at the others, like Harlequin's distress and Rain's killing intent. ~This might get ugly very soon. Best find a way to clear up the air.~

She let out a cough to draw attention, then does a huge display of sheathing the sword. Poorly, due to this being her first time. She looked at the Witcher. She knew they didn't speak eachother's language, but she hoped the message would be clear.

"Let us drop our weapons. There's no need for bloodshed. Let us reach an understanding together."

Rain lets the tension in her bow go forward, not relasing the arrow, "You didn't bring chaos to entire citys, you didn't steal all the magic in the capital of magic, you didn't cause terroristic acts... well you did, but theres a crossing point between just a murderer to causing mass terror Harle. I treat this man diffrently because of whats up there" she points her bow up slightly raising her chin along with it before keeping her aim, "As much as I love and appreciate how you have changed my life." She sighs, "That will not change my stance, but if you all wish to try to passify him by all means ignore me. Just know the moment he turns hostile once more I will try to kill him" she gray eyes shoot a deadly serious look to harle, "...Seeing how you were an assassin as well im sure it wasn't below you at the time to act passive only to make your strike later."