12 - Karma Is A Bitch

<< Fatal Mistake

The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone

Vax Humana >>

The Council Is Dead. Long Live the New Council. How do you have a Council of one? Brownstone is working to get back into a rhythm, but the last remaining Council member is seeking Brownstone. Shay has jobs to do, but can she leave Brownstone alone without him dying? Can Lt. Hall go back to the AET after delivering a personal beat-down without doing paperwork? James runs across a dog (almost literally), but it disappears on him. Can he find it again, or was it just an Oriceran trick? Brownstone has the whispers of Doom in his head all the time. Can he ignore the desire to lose his mind to the power the amulet contains? When everyone has blood on their hands, who will Karma decide is going to die? Because we all know, Karma can be a Bitch.

TUMB 12/01 THE PLAN He Who Hunts, the Council’s assassin, watched with joy the videos of the battle which had destroyed it. He cared less about them. They had served his purposes. He had used them to gather the key artifacts needed to pierce reality and delve deeper into darker and more chaotic realms. With a few more years of effort, he’d be able to connect them directly to Earth and Oriceran. A wonderful age would await. He was especially interested in watching Brownstone, who had displayed unusual abilities of which He Who Hunts had not known. He must have been holding them back for some reason. Fear? Lack of control of them? If fear, he would be easily corrupted, and available for He who Hunts to manipulate and use as a tool for his own purposes. He owned a glowing red crystal, one of the few artifacts that had survived the attention of both the government forces and Brownstone. The crystal presented a rare and useful opportunity; a tool he could use for the complete corruption of James Brownstone. He Who Hunts would only be able to use the crystal once, but when he controlled the other man, he’d be worth armies of the pathetic wizards and Zain fodder. Unleashing Brownstone upon an unsuspecting city would be glorious to behold. Such death. Such panic. Such chaos. A fool destroyed his powerful enemies. An intelligent creature turned his enemies to his own use and made a mockery of them. This was his intent. He Who Hunts’ spell had sensed the rage and anger spilling from Brownstone as he finished off his enemies. The strange armor he wore didn’t taste like any magic He Who Hunts knew, but it was clear that negative emotions were critical to its use. That would make the bounty hunter vulnerable to the power of the red crystal. Vulnerable to corruption. He called in eight wizards, changed them into monsters, and was ready to address the corruption of James Brownstone. Trey and the Las Vegas team, while taking on a pair of Level Three bounty twins, meet with Victoria Stone, a witch with an Armani suit and a golden wand. She tells the she’s taken up bounty hunting, so she’ll be seeing them around. She and Trey flirt a little, and go their own ways, for now.

TUMB 12/02 BROWNSTONE’S CONCERNS Brownstone discusses his fears of losing control with Shay, on a bounty-hunting trip to Mexico. He admits his transformation has gone past simple armor and swords, and now includes energy blasts. He’s worried that, as he is at those moments controlled by hatred and anger, he might hurt someone who doesn’t deserve it. Shay isn’t worries about it. Thinks the only way to peace is through fighting and warfare, including the most dangerous actions. Just be more careful. Shay has been unable to find any references for him, for any of the symbols, etc., so does not know any more than he does. Shay feels that if he “feels uncertain, he needs to use it more, not less. Make sure it knows who’s in charge.”

James approached the house, wanting to take the last of the Council members in, and was met by ten wizards, who started by blasting him with white balls of blue-white fire. After several more magical attacks, Brownstone and Shay killed them with one of Shay’s adamantine knives he had borrowed. Took less than one minute. James had tried asking it about his origins, if it could provide other enhancements (portal transportation), and it didn’t know. Might know after secondary directive kicks in , after he has achieved “advanced enhancement”. Will take all heads to local city and collect bounties.

TUMB 12/03 FORT SHORTY AND LEEROY Brownstone Agency has a meeting with all, about the activities concerning the Council. They had wanted to be in on the rest of their deaths (to avenge Shorty’s death), but Brownstone said no. Talked about the dangerous business they were in, and about Shorty’s death, why he died and what it stood for. Trey took over, and said that they would honor Shorty by renaming fort Brownstone, their training facility, Fort Shorty. They all agreed, and Trey got the plaque to put on its wall.

As Brownstone drove home, he remembered Leeroy, his dog, who had been killed almost a year ago. He missed him. Most younger men outlived their dogs, but few had to deal with them being killed by gangsters because of something they’d done. As he drove, he almost hit a stray dog, and realized that he might need another one, but right now, to kill his blues, it was BBQ TIME !

TUMB 12/04 He Who Hunts opened his portal, and directed all of his wizards and monsters to go, and they exited into a subway tunnel, with homeless people in it. He who Hunts fed from them (energy), and turned them into part of his mob. He gave them a purpose – kill Brownstone.

THE COUPLES Tyler and Maria sit in a fancy restaurant, as Tyler has noticed that she has had something bothering her ever since the Council raid. She tells him. She’s thinking of resigning from the Force. It felt good -fighting alongside Brownstone, kicking ass and going good deeds. And she has another ten years of good field work left in her, so no desk job. So she’s thinking of working for Brownstone. All of the action, and none of the desk-work.

Trey goes to Zoe’s house, interested in making the relationship permanent, at least for a while. She thinks about it, and challenges him to satisfy her enough so that she will stay monogamous. He accepts the challenge.

TUMB 12/05 THE ATTACK Brownstone exits Phillip’s Bar-B-Que, going home, and is attacked by four wizards, with wands and magic. As he was not bonded with Whispy Doom, (never is, when he’s not fighting), he took it all as a human, And was burned and damaged before he killed them. Taking a healing potion, however, quickly healed him. When he got home, he called Tyler, to have him find out who was trying to kill him. Tyler suggested that he hire more staff, expand his business, and Brownstone wondered why he was so interested, and what it might cost him. He calls Shay, to tell her, but she had already heard of it on the news, and was not surprised.

TUMB 12/06 SHAY AND LILY Shay and Lily had been hired to go to Jeju Island off the coast of South Korea to recover a magical glass jug, specifically a glass ewer associated with the bath rituals of the founder of one the ancient Korean precursor kingdoms, Silla. The ewer had been kept by Silla Royalty, but lost with the fall of the kingdom. Allegedly, it possessed magical healing powers and no one had a record of it, even in rumor, for over a millennium. Just recently, a Korean shaman had somehow discovered its location on Jeju Island, far from where it’d last been seen. As they were going down a lava tunnel, they were attacked by pre-set traps, and then a large humanoid. a gray-skinned giant stomped around a bend in the tube. Bathed in an aura of flame, the creature had to duck to avoid some of the longer stalactites. His thick, cracked hide resembled the rock of the cave, two glowing solid-yellow eyes peered from his face, and long, sharp claws tipped his hands, a dokkaebi. It attacks them, injures them, and they kill it, healing potions saving them from more pain, and healing almost immediately.

TUMB 12/07 Shay and Lily come upon a room, with the ewer, guarded by Aerye, a kiniho, a creature with nine tails, a shape-shifting fox. After a magical battle, they kill her, and take the ewer.

Brownstone calls Alison, tells her of the attack. She advises him to be careful, have backup, and that he always has the wish, if he needs it.

THE HUNT Trey and team are out to get any of the ones who had attacked Brownstone. Heather had given them the name VR King, from the dark web, who was listed as only a level one, but she’d warned him there were some oddities about the VR King’s online presence, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he had used magic to alter or scrub some of it. He was a self-admitted wizard specializing in fire and electronic magic, who was bragging that he was ready to move up in the world and “kill himself a pussy-ass motherfucker like James Brownstone.” They find a twelve-year-old kid playing A computer game, who saw the name on a board, and assumed it. They left, knowing they were going to have to run down a LOT of leads before they found the right one.

TUMB 12/08 Brownstone and Shay talk about the attack. Brownstone wants to issue the group a challenge to come and get him. Shay wants to play is quieter, until they find out who it is that wants him, then plan their strategy. Shay wins.

Tyler is finding it necessary to contact The Eyes again, about the unknown forces attacking Brownstone, so he sends his bar lady, Kathy, who had mentioned that she wanted to “up her game” , so he gives her a chance to deal with contact like The Eyes.

A DOG James wandered the neighborhood, looking for the dog he had almost hit several evenings before. If he could find him, it would be one less distraction. He saw him in an alley. Dark, short, flat coat and floppy ears, good size, probably over sixty pounds. If he had to guess, he’d say the dog was a mix of a Labrador Retriever and Weimeraner. That made the dog a so-called Labmeraner. Ran too fast, couldn’t catch up to him. Lost him again.

TUMB 12/09 THE HUNT CONTINUES Kathy goes to The Eyes, and, as Tyler mentioned, is met by the Kilomea at the door. Also guarded by two gnomes, at his inside door. Goes in, meets with The Eyes, who asks her if she’s afraid of him. She decides to tell the truth (“Because I don’t know what the fuck you are, so I can’t even begin to figure out how to deal with you.”), and he tells her that “If you fail to impress me, you will leave this place with nothing. If you fail severely, you won’t leave this place at all.” And he asked her some bargaining questions, and he accepted her answers, giving her the requested information free this time, but would be much more costly next time. Kathy accepted, so The Eyes told her about He Who Hunts. Not a traitor, but not really one of them. He Who Hunts. He craves more now, and Brownstone is the key to something grand…awful or good, I can’t say, but grand. He’s sent men.” Look for the tunnels, his sign. And he’d be watching her. She has much more potential than Tyler. Heather searches for clues as to what “the tunnels” might mean, and finds a correlation between old abandoned subway tunnels and missing homeless people. A big uptick of them missing. If she can identify which tunnels, she might be able to give Brownstone a location to search. Brownstone tells Shay, and she will get in touch with Harry, who runs the info service in Los Angeles, and uses teenagers who know all of the tunnels. Will only take a few hours.

TUMB 12/10 James, Shay, Trey and all of the Agency crew go into the tunnels at the location Harry had given them only an hour after the request. Suited up with armor and magic deflectors, they were ready for revenge. Whispy Doom suggested, Insufficient power for advanced transformation. Tactical potential not reached. Consider implications of allied forces.

TRIAL ATTACK Upon turning a corner, they saw them. A line of wizards flanked by strange monsters waited, their wands up. A man with rock skin stood to the side. At least nine other men looked identical except for different-colored glowing eyes. A giant spider with the head of a man crouched in the back. A human torso was connected to four pointed legs and a long serpentine tail. A few other nightmarish creatures stood ready. New enemies, Whispy Doom sent. Kill enemies. Adapt. Grow stronger. The Agency crew attacked the group, and Brownstone went for He who Hunts, the rocky man. Punch after punch sent the mutant stumbling back, cracks appearing in his face and chest and pieces of rock flying off him. Kill enemy and find stronger enemy, Whispy Doom demanded. Current enemy defensive abilities insufficient to promote additional adaptation. Shay went after the tailed serpent, beheading it, and going on to the spider mutant. Brownstone kills the rock man,Shay the mutants, and the crew the other monsters. Brownstone thinks this is the end of it, and that He who Hunts must be dead already somewhere.

He Who Hunts was watching from a scrying window, and was disappointed. For him to use the red crystal to subdue James, James had to be at maximum, transformed, ruled by rage and anger. In this attack, he had displayed no armor, no helmet, no green rays of destruction. Attacking Brownstone with serious force would be the best way to pull out his true nature, but it risked bringing the government to reinforce the man. If he couldn’t corrupt Brownstone before the government got involved, he’d be forced to leave Earth for a while. All his time with the Council, all the corrupt threads he’d woven through Earth—everything could be wasted. And insofar as He Who Hunts could feel affection, he was starting to like James Brownstone. He had another plan

TUMB 12/11 THE DOG CONTINUES Brownstone payed off the neighborhood kids who had been looking for the dog (they hadn’t found him yet), and told them to keep looking. Kathy comes home, finds herself stalked by a shadow man, shoots him, and he disappears. It was Eyes, testing her, to see if she had enough gumption to live. She had, so he’ll continue dealing with her, telling her that danger was coming, and to stop it. If you can, you might be worth paying more attention to. If not, no bother. Disappointments are common in life and…death.” Kathy is dismayed, but delighted, also. If she was going to improve her business, she was going to have to start playing with the big boys.

TUMB 12/12 Trey and Zoe, in the morning, talk about Brownstone, and how much he cares about his crew. Zoe is surprised, and pleased, and wants a little more “exercise” before he leaves. Shay looks at James the next morning. She’s spent most of her life not caring about others, and now she loved a man enough to have trouble imagining what the future would be like without him. She worries about him, so she started to talk to him about it, reviewing his “accomplishments” in destruction. “The point is, you went from a badass to a next-level badass. I’m concerned about how many new enemies you’re picking up and what that might mean for your continued ability to keep breathing. It’s just something to think about. You’ve got a daughter now. It’s important to think about her future too.” He grinned. “You should be happy. I’m gonna take a few weeks off and concentrate on barbequeing. Yeah, also gives me more time to find the dog. If he’s not a stray, then his owner is a fucking moron.” Okay, so James is getting a new dog soon. Oh, I really, really hope this dog isn’t a furry little shit.

TUMB 12/13 Shay and Maria have lunch, and Maria tells shay that she’s retiring from the Department, and invites her and Brownstone to her going-away party. They’ll be going.

THE PART’ Tyler had cleared out the scum for the evening, leaving only cops, bounty hunters, and their families. And there was BBQ! Loud rock music blasted over the speakers. Kathy had taken point on handling most of the drinks for the night but needed help now and again, especially when some table decided it was time for shots. Maria stood, and gave a speech, and cried. She’s not telling anyone what she’ll be doing next

TUMB 12/14 'HE WHO HUNTS’ NEW PLAN’ He Who Hunts is trying to make new plans. His forces have been depleted, and he does not have the energy needed to create more. He would have to meet him face-to-face, and find a way to get Brownstone into a raging fit, so that the crystal will work and corrupt him. The window of opportunity had narrowed and the time for caution had passed. And then he saw Happy Magic Land Amusement Park, and smiled.

Trey and the crew are on a level four take-down, using non-lethal weapons (the bounty is wanted alive). The target, Alphonse “Quickstep” Cametti, had been just another hit-man out East until on one lucky job he stumbled onto an artifact that gave him a useful power for any man, let alone a hit-man: teleportation. But Quickstep needed line of sight for his power to work, and it was short-ranged, so he couldn’t just ”blink away” if he felt threatened. Trey showed them a picture, an image of a silver pendant formed by seven interconnecting rings. We take this necklace off, and he can’t do shit. He’s just another bitch-ass hit-man, then. With cuffs on, he ain’t doing shit.” And it was so. After multiple transports, and nailing Trey with a shot (bullet-proof vest saved him), they got him, and took him in.

TUMB 12/15 MARIA’S MOVE Maria has an appointment with Brownstone, Trey and Royce at the Agency. She applies for a job there, to work for them as a bounty hunter. After much discussion, they hire her, and start by throwing her into training with the crew. She asked them if they would have any trouble working with her, taking orders from her, and they replied, “Show us what you got, 5-0, and give us no reason to bitch.” She was going to be leader of the red team, in a mock battle. She took five minutes to talk to her team, then they went into fight the blues. Maria’s team won. Heather’s drones had found the dog, and James hopped into his truck, going after it. Tempting it with baked chicken, James lured it into the back seat of his truck, then drove home. Shay agrees that they can keep him, and he seems happy.

TUMB 12/16 James and the new dog go for a walk in the local park, and capture a drug dealer. Dog alerts James to drugs in pocket, Dust, so they take him in. dog is smart, and seems to like being around them all. Has a good sense for recognizing bad people. Still not named. He Who Hunts visited the park, was seen by a small boy who recognized him as magic, buy boy’s Mom thought he meant an Oriceran, so no word ever got out ahead of time

TUMB 12/17 SHAY COMES HOME EARLY Shay has a bad feeling, as if something just isn’t right, but can’t put a name to it. Just doesn’t want to go on her next tomb raiding adventure, in Canada. James reassures her. “You keep forgetting how I didn’t die a single time before I met you. I’ll be fine. Go on your raid." So she goes to pack, and leave. Dog still not named. Kathy, at the Black Sun, looking for the danger The Eyes said was coming, and can’t find it. Is worried. Brownstone puts the dog through a training course at Fort Shorty, with all of the guys watching. The dog finishes the route, and eats the steak at the end. Smart dog. Still no name. Shay and Lily sit in Alberta, discussing the current raid, of a magic pick-ax. Shay tells her she’s ready to go it alone, and plans on going back to Los Angeles. Still uneasy. Last battle was too easy, like cannon fodder. Not He Who Hunts or any other worthy antagonist.

TUMB 12/18 KATHY Kathy trusts that The Eyes was telling the truth, and that something was coming, but she couldn’t find it. She was getting worried. She called Harry, one of her contacts, and he told her about the strange “humans” at the amusement park. The kids had seen them, and then they disappeared, and couldn’t be found. Oriceran? Magic spell? Harry didn't think it was important. As she couldn’t get The Eyes on the phone for any confirmation, she decided to follow up on it anyway, as it was the only lead about anything strange she had, so she decided to go see The Eyes herself, to ask. She did so, and she was right. Death would come in about an hour. But she couldn’t tell any authorities, nor could she tell anyone who would go to the authorities. If she can figure out how to change the future in an hour, that was her mystery. Solve the problem without the authorities or forfeit your life.” She tells Brownstone.

TUMB 12/19 Brownstone calls Shay, asks her about Alberta. When he learns she’s in Los Angeles, he tells her about the amusement park thing, that It’s a Council thing, and will meet her there. CANNOT TELL THE COPS!, or the person who told him will die. Brownstone arrives at the park, dog on a leash, and demands to see the Manager, with the news that the Park must be evacuated.

TUMB 12/20 THE ULIMATE ATTACK At noon, it began. The entire area shook, and massive spires of scarlet energy shot up from different points in the park twitching and shaking, pairs reaching for each other. Swirling, scintillating portals appeared in the sky over the park, eight in total. Brownstone and team decide to split into four teams, each taking a zone. . “Animal Town, Fantasyville, Robotown, and Princess Island. Four zones. Four teams.” . Brownstone would take one Land himself, Animal Town. The others would take the other lands. Fight, but retreat if needs be. Watch each other’s backs. They split into three teams, Trey, Maria, and Max leading. James had only the emergency equipment he carried in the truck- was insufficiently armed for a full encounter. James killed all of the robot men appearing, then found the energy stream for the portal. Whispy Doom asked him to touch ot slightly, for acclimatization purposes, and James disobeyed, him, losing a hand in the process. With healing potion and Whispy Doom, the hand was regenerated within minutes. James lobbed a grenade it, (a rock from which the energy was streaming), and shut it down, charring it to some extent.

TUMB 12/21 Fights continue in all of the zones, Brownstone rescuing kids, Maria rescuing Security guards, and Shay rescuing Maria when a wizard tried to take her out.

TUMB 12/22 He Who Hunts confronts Brownstone, telling him that he’s been killing twisted, distorted humans. Brownstone starts to get angrier. The amulet is happy about that. (Yes, the amulet sent. Anger. Hatred. Power increasing. Brownstone was hit by an energy ball, and the amulet was happy. Additional adaptation achieved, Whispy Doom crowed, his joy infectious. Kill enemy. Grow stronger. But still not enough to achieve maximum advancement. And thgen the dog raced into the area, trying to help brownstone. He who Hunts was going to erase it with an energy blast.

TUMB 12/23 The blast was headed for the dog, so Brownstone called to it, causing it to change its course enough so that the blast struck just behind it, throwing the singed and yelping dog through the air. He landed wimpering, and Brownstone went crazy. Yessss! Anger. Hatred. Sufficient power for extended advanced transformation, Whispy reported. He Who Hunts ran, and brownstone, now in advanced armor (armor, green tendrils, claws) chased after him. He who Hunts was flying, and James couldn’t do that, so the amulet altered him so that he could jump as high as the wizard was flying. Still no contact. But all of the energy blasts had weakened the roller coaster the were fighting on, and it fell on James, burying him under multi tons of debris. He who Hunts had only been wounded by the last blast. And then everything in Brownstone went quiet – his thoughts, the amulet, and He Who Hunts stood with a red crystal above his head. Pain returned, and he felt as he did when not bonded to the amulet. Energy wisped from the crystal into his armor. His thoughts started blanking. He called to the amulet, to do something. No answer. He Who Hunts glowed brighter. “You’re a dull blade, Brownstone. You will be sharpened, and I will use you to cut through the feeble lies of this planet. The false order. Rejoice! You are about to be repurposed into something far more useful.” Then Shay attacked the wizard, and he hit her, sending her flying. At this, Brownstone teared up, and the new anger cleared his mind. Also, the amulet re-established the link, so that Brownstone again was protected. Brownstone attacked the wizard, cutting him to pieces, but the wizards last words were, “I…may…die, but…it…doesn’t…matter. You…will…become…He Who Destroys. I…sacrifice…myself…to…chaos.” But the red crystal controlled him, and thoughts of killing his friends prevailed. But he rose, leapt into the air, and brought one of his blades down on the crystal, destroying it. He fell, in pain, damaged. Link reestablished, Whispy sent. Severe damage sustained. Time needed for adaptation and regeneration. Recommend external healing. Entering quiescence to preserve function. Shay pulled out his last healing potion, pouring it into him. It worked. The dog was beside him licking his face. Shay held his head as the other bounty hunters rushed to surround him. The dog kept licking his face and whimpering. As James recovered, they all relaxed. They had given a potion to the dog, and it had healed it, as well. All would be well.

TUMB 12/24 AFTER THE ATTACK As news drones and media copters were overhead, the remains of the Park battles were soon all over the news, including the destruction of the roller coaster and the park buildings. People would accuse James of not telling the police because he wanted all of the bounty for himself. James didn’t care. But the PR would look bad. He offered to donate half of the bounty money to the park, but also pointed out that it probably had insurance to cover most of the damage. Everyone finally calmed down, and the crew went back to Camp Brownstone, shay and James went home with the dog, and Maria went to Tyler, who had been saying that it was just as he had predicted. Even Shay commented that her life used to be much simpler. James remembered how the crystal had taken him back to earlier memories of people to kill, including Father Thomas, on of Brownstone’s favorite priests, who had died. So they called the dog Thomas, in memory of that friend who had been now remembered. Kathy was worried The Eyes would kill her for her part in the destruction of He who Hunts. She was now 25, and wanted to live, not die from The Eye's anger, so she tried to stay awake by working overtime at the Black Sun, as he would most likely not kill her in public. Her phone rang, and The Eyes told her she had passed, and it wouldn’t be so easy the next time. Kathy let out a sigh of relief. “Not going to die today anyway.” Tyler told her, and sent her home to sleep. “We all die eventually, but don’t worry.” Tyler grinned. “You’re not a real information broker until at least five different species have tried to kill you.” He was proud of her, that she had mad a profit in this enterprise.

TUMB 12/25 Shay and Brownstone go home, talk about the future, Alison, Lily, what might happen to whom. Shay predicts that Alison will turn out to be a bounty hunter, like him, because there’s a part of her, like Shay, that wants the rush of the challenge. Alison gets a rush out of taking down bad guys. She doesn’t even have to pretend to not care as much as you tried to.” They compromise, and decide to take a month off, to rest and recuperate, and plan more of what might happen to them in the future. The Park had insurance, so they returned all of that money he had given them. Alison will eventually be more powerful than brownstone, so they don’t have to worry about her. Peyton will build Lily up into her own business, and she’ll be better than Shay could ever be, given that she has precognizance and Elf responses to work with. So it’s just them. They go into the bedroom to explore that.

SURVEILLANCE Sentry 7921 was watching the videos of Brownstone and He Who Hunts, and when she saw Brownstone change to advanced enhancement. She was dismayed, and immediately called in a warning. The governments of Earth didn’t even recognize who this creature was, what a threat he presented, and so had no inkling of the danger they were in from this extraterrestrial creature. “This is Sentry 7921. I will transmit the corroborating data soon, but I hereby report that a Vax Forerunner is present on Earth and operating at least at extended advanced levels. I will shortly be initiating a class-two containment protocol. There is no evidence at this time that any authorities on Earth recognize the threat, and per standing orders, I will handle the matter discreetly and eliminate the Forerunner.” The woman paused the playback, staring at James mid-swing against He Who Hunts. “So you’ve adapted your strategy, huh? Tested Earth’s defenses by pretending to be a bounty hunter?” She narrowed her eyes. “I never thought a Forerunner would be so subtle, but it doesn’t matter. I won’t let you take this planet no matter what it takes, you Vax monster. “I swear I’ll destroy you, James Brownstone.”

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