The Glitch V: Taste of Fear (Episode 1)

[General Havoc]

A massive commotion from outside, the nature of which should have been obvious but wasn't immediately so. He heard muffled voices, muffled because they were drowned out by screaming, running, and the groaning and clinking sounds of this damn armor as he tried to move.

When someone pulled an energy sword however, that got his attention really fast.

He stopped where he was, trying to run in this stuff was self-evidently useless, and he turned his head to face what the sound had come from. It was the Death Knight, and he was holding some kind of magical sword in a manner that very closely resembled someone preparing to kill something. He froze in place. Whatever this armor's original wearer had made it out of, this was nothing but a replica suit, heavy enough to get in his way, but not durable enough to stop a magical sword. Against that, it would provide as much protection as tissue paper.

Then Lizbet said something that made him realize, all at once, just what sort of trouble he was in.

"Isn't he a little SHORT for the LichKing?"

Oh shit.

Stuck inside this metallic cocoon, Gregory had no idea what the outside of the armor actually looked like, and had been too busy trying to figure out how to move, to stop and ask Lizbet what it resembled. Yet now, standing here in broad daylight, he remembered that his power tended to select the appropriate uniform for the enemy of whoever the 'target' of his powers was. If he faced Gauls, he would awake dressed as a Roman Imperator. If he faced Zerg, he would awake dressed as a Terran Field Marshal.

And having faced a Death Knight (even if he'd done no more than watch the man), which in Warcraft terms meant an undead warrior who had revolted from the Scourge's control, what had his power decided to select as an appropriate uniform? Had he spared it a moment's thought, Gregory would have assumed that this was the battle gear of some holy paladin or Knight of the Silver Hand. But his power had, for some unfathomable reason, apparently selected instead that of the Commander of the Scourge itself.

"I'm not the Lich King!" he yelled, his voice resonating inside the armor. He had no idea if they could hear him outside or not, the fact sitting before him that if they thought he was actually the Lich King of Azeroth, they would hit him with everything they had, at which point he would be extremely dead, for he was not the Lich King of Azeroth, and could not shrug off magical swords and bullets with the ease of undead lords, not even in this suit of confining, useless armor. His fear was such that he barely heard Liz-bet's explanation of the simple fact that the Lich King, Lord of the Undead and prince of darkness, tended to be capable of walking normally, and that Gregory was several sizes too small to be Arthas Menethil in any event.

He stumbled forwards and vainly grappled with his plate iron helmet, trying to wrench it off by main force so as to prove that he wasn't who they thought he was. He failed. The helmet was designed to protect the wearer's head and remain on through charge and stumble, and he could not find the screws or latches or whatever other mechanism bound it in place. After several, agonizing seconds, he finally gave up, and decided to remove the armor in the best method he knew how.

And so it was that before everyone present, the person who appeared to be the Lich King, suddenly collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, landing on his side as though he had been struck dead by some mystical force, and lay motionless on the ground, the useless sword still hanging at his side.

[frigidmagi]

Jeremy stood up and walked out. He didn't know who the Lich King was, but he kinda doubted this was it. He holstered his pistol and held up his hands where everyone could see them, moving slow.

"Easy Mal. I don't think this is your guy. In fact, I bet I can prove it." He said. He needed this to work. If everything flew apart here, he would never find her...

He stepped up to the little girl.

"Excuse me, just let me by and I'll calm my friend down." He said stepping past her and getting to the prone figure. Jeremy took a knee.

"Hello there. Mind if I get that helmet off you?" He asked in a everyday tone of voice.

[LadyTevar]

Lizbet didn't mind the mario passing her by at all. As he knelt down by Gregory, she got a nice look at a cute behind. "Don't bother... when he drops like that, he'll wake up with a new uniform. I'm LizBet."

[SirNitram]

"Given that Frostmourne isn't speaking in my goddamn mind.. Yea, I overreacted." Mal said, slowly breathing out. He tucked the axe across his back. "And that is why I never get to go to nice parties."

[Charon]

Matt took a deep breath as things seemed to calm down finally. "Christ. What a lovely way to get to meet everyone." He looked back at Jack and James.

"Well, let's hope that our table is still open." And then he smiled, considering the circumstances, and what had almost happened it seemed a bit off. It wasn't helped by the fact that Matt's face was still scarred enough to make smiling awkward.

[B4UTRUST]

James slowly began to lower his guns, risking a glance over at Gregory and Jeremy before turning back to Matt.
"I think lunch elsewhere would be advisable. No doubt the cops have been called, or will be shortly."

[LadyTevar]

"Ye-eah... we don't need the cops around," LizBet was quick to agree. Too quick, which was sure to get Matt and Uncle Jack glaring her way. Cops would ask questions that would get a whole lot of people in high places involved. Then her Parents would get involved, and LizBet would probably not get to leave home again til she was 30.

"Gregory, if you can hear me, delay the cops until we know where we're going, ok?"

[General Havoc]

Gregory could hear her just fine, but unfortunately, he didn't have any real method of doing what she asked. The cops, if they were approaching, were still well outside the radius wherein he could do anything about it, and even if they had not been, he was not about to deploy a Confusion intervention against someone behind the wheel of a car unless there was no possible way to avoid it.

Besides, he had already chosen a target.

Before everyone's eyes, the jet black armor that encased Gregory seemed to melt like candle wax, shifting seamlessly from iron to cloth. Within seconds, the armor, helmet, and sword had all vanished, replaced by a heavy black robe and hood that was pulled up over his head. Moments later, he stirred, lifted his head, and carefully picked himself up off the ground, sliding back the heavy black hood to reveal his face and head.

"Sorry about that," he said to the man who had been standing over him. "I can't really control what it puts on me."

[frigidmagi]

"No worries kid. My name is Jeremy, what's yours?" He asked offering the kid a hand up.

[General Havoc]

Well at least this guy seemed normal.

"I'm Gregory Colwell," he said. "Ascended Commander. Are you the guy we were supposed to meet?"

[frigidmagi]

Jeremy stood up and offered Gregory a hand up.

"I'm not Poe but I'm working with him. I'm new around here." Jeremy said. He wasn't sure how much to tell a kid. A pair of them. What kind of group carted around children while hunting a serial killer? Best to wait and see.

[Charon]

Matt looked at Gregory and blinked once. "Jesus fucking Christ kid. Is this going to be a habit of yours of picking some of the worst outfits to get into?" Matt looked around, obviously growing increasingly more nervous. "Lets get off the streets before people start to notice him."

He looked directly at Greg. "And then you are going to damn well explain every last detail of what it is you do."

[B4UTRUST]

Poe blinked, watched the death knight armor flow with liquid grace and shift into thick black robes. Poe blinked, recognizing the outfit and the person who wore it.

James wasn't in the last Glitch war, but he knew enough of its history and some of the bigger players to know who it was that the youth had transformed into.
"...fuck me...," Poe stated quietly, watching The Master stand.

That was supposedly a kid beneath the robes. A kid that had changed from one of the most feared, reviled and hated individuals in Azeroth to one of the most feared, refiled and hated individuals from the previous Glitch war. This just kept getting better and better.

"Jeremy," Poe stated, trying to be as calm as he could. It was taking every bit of will not to point his guns at The Master and unload.
"Do me a favor, and step away from The Master..."

[General Havoc]

Oh hell, now what? Was he supposed to pass out narcoleptically until his power happened upon something that wasn't offensive to somebody? His power could (and had) put him in everything from a Galactic Imperial Commander to an Oberfuhrer-SS's outfit. Honestly, if he had known which of them was Poe, he'd have picked him, as the suit and tie from before had seemed pretty innocuous, but knowing his luck, it was the suit of some Mafioso Don that he had a grudge against.

"I'm not the Master," he said, "and I don't pick this stuff, it picks it for me."

"I can't... I can't do anything about it right now," he said, accepting the help as he stood up shakily. Strictly speaking, he could simply pick someone else and try again, but he had had enough of falling unconscious on the pavement in broad daylight for right now. "Can we just go somewhere else, please? I'll explain there."

[Charon]

Matt only glanced at Poe. "Christ, you can't be this thick. Trust me, if that was the Master I would have already grabbed Liz and run. Now put the gun down before this gets any more stupid so we can get out of here, yeah?"

Matt walked up to Liz and Greg, waving his hands in a shooing motion to get them started.

"And it started out as such a nice day..." He muttered to himself.

[Agent Fisher]

Jack nodded. "And I would have started attacking. So, let's put hte guns down, get out of here, go somewhere quiet and we can get this settled out."

[SirNitram]

"This is turning into quite the sideshow." The Death Knight was amused. "Right, boys, lets pack it up and move it." He signalled to Poe and Jeremy. "I'll be good and not use your car."

[B4UTRUST]

Poe looked at Matt and Jack. He started putting his guns up, very much expecting the surrounding crowd to notice the clothing Gregory was wearing and begin freaking out more than they were. This might actually be a good thing at this point.
"Look, I just saw someone appear who spooked a death knight and then change into one of the most feared and reviled individuals from the last war. I have no clue who he is or why or how he did that but it's not exactly something that makes me comfortable. I want some answers. I think we all do at this point. But we need to leave here before the cops show.

"If you've got a way for him," Poe said, nodding his head towards Gregory. "To turn into something that isn't quite so blatantly panic-inducing I think it would be best. At least that way we might be able to sneak out with the rest of the panicking masses when they notice that The Master is standing here.."

[frigidmagi]

"For the love of... You're pissing yourselves over a kid in a halloween costume." Jeremy said, irritated. They had real work to do. He led off the boy by the shoulder towards the car he had fell out of.

"Come on. Poe and Mal will follow if I'm in the car with you. You never told me your name..." Jeremy said as they climbed into the car.

[Dark Silver]

For the most parts, crowds are oblivious things that move about, doing their own things. Sometimes, when there is a disturbance, it goes unnoticed until someone decides to point it out.

It was just such a thing which started it off. It was pure luck that Gregg's first transformation into the Lich King's armor didn't startle people, at first. Seeing people in armor, even on the edges of the Megatropolis, wasn't that uncommon - part of the reason that the Death Knight's armor didn't set anyone off , besides, this was the MEGATROPOLIS, where order ruled and the Police protected them from evildoers not the lawless Old Town.

It wasn't until a child walking next to his mother saw the armor, and brought it to his parents attention with the innocent words, "Mommy! Look at that man. He's dressed funny."

The woman, for her part, looked to where her child was pointing, and her eyes widened in shock and horror, as the heavy plate armor melted away, to be replaced by the signiture flowing black robes shown in so many holo-vids.

The woman screamed at that point, grabbing her child up in her arms, and turned to run, dropping her shopping bags while doing so.

"RUN! IT'S THE MASTER!" she screamed, plowing through the crowd, causing the beginnings of a panic.

[LadyTevar]

"And that just tore it..." LizBet sighed, as the first screams started. She gave the Hog's door a shove, shutting Jeremy and Gregory inside. "Let's GO, Uncle Jack!" she shouted as she dove in the other side.

[Charon]

"Frighteningly enough... this could still be worse..." Matt frowned as he saw Liz and Jack put him in the Hog and frowned. They had faces to be seen, reputations to be sullied. He stalked up to the Hog, his weapon pointed at Liz and Jack.

"Hand Greg over." He spoke with a commanding voice. "Won't do either of you any good to be seen driving off with The Master." He spoke just loud enough to be heard by them.

[frigidmagi]

"Are you stupid or crazy? This is not the time. Get in the damn car and play later. You're only slowing us down." Jeremy said from his own seat and with his own pistol in hand.

[LadyTevar]

"No, he's right..." LizBet said, realizing what *she thought* Matt was up to. "Uncle Matt and Uncle Jack were two of the ones who beat the Master. It will calm the crowd to see Gregory with them."

She did give Gregory a glare. "Next time, Pick ME. The worst you'll get is dressing like my dad."

[Charon]

Matt looked over at the other man. "There are politics at play here kid. Politics that aren't going to like seeing the daughter of two of the biggest damn heroes of the last war and one of those heroes of the last war running off with someone that looks like the Master. Better he runs off with me, I'm already dead, and if they do recognize me, well it won't do any worse for my reputation."

Not brooking any more argument about the matter, Matt unceremoniously reached in and grabbed Greg by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him out of the Hog. "Meet you back at the Good Detectives place."

Matt did not set Greg down but instead simply started running for the alleys away from the crowds.