Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20190205035159/@comment-25389303-20191006234615

Diaboli sat a little straighter as Dust approached, eyeing the huntsman warily as he took a seat next to him. Trago instinctively moved to intercept the man, but paused upon the raising of his master's hand. Even so, the robotic bodyguard's orange eyes never left the lawman as he made himself comfortable, while his large armoured fingers clenched and unclenched rhythmically in anticipation.

"Ah...What's this? A lone huntsman, approaching me?" Diaboli observed with mock astonishment, biting back the edge of sarcasm creeping into his words. "Welcome back, friend. Have you seen the truth at last?"

The mob boss listened to the huntsman's words with a fixed smile that betrayed neither warmth nor malice, and when he was finished he folded his arms and smirked.

"How generous of you," Diaboli replied as he took the bottle back, setting it back down beside him without even a glance. "Unfortunately, your false gods can't touch us here."

Perhaps it was just a slight movement by its wearer, but upon the utterance of his words the golden amulet hanging loosely around Diaboli's neck seemed to tremble and rattle against his chest. Moving his bandaged hand to steady it, he found himself suddenly leaping to his feet as a loud explosion cried out overhead - accompanied by a bright flash of crimson light.

Diaboli cursed himself loudly for his complacency. He'd allowed his weariness to overcome him, and during that brief respite his fellow castaways had done the one thing he'd argued for them not to do.

Fully alert now, Diaboli quickly noticed the beams of light flashing in the darkness. Another vessel was nearby. Not only that, but from the way it seemed to be communicating with them, they were working alongside one of the passengers. But who?

Diaboli ground his teeth as he thought. The police were incapacitated. The Stalker was occupied. The Syndicate was humbled. That only left one faction...

"Trago! Stay here! Don't let any of those Bluthardt bastards on board!" Diaboli ordered in a commanding voice that cut through the wind and rain like the crack of a quartermaster's whip. While his formidable minion sprang to his duties with barely-contained zeal, Diaboli turned and bolted up the stairs to the bridge.

The scene playing out before him was a confusing one - as if he had opened a novel in the middle of the epic final battle without a single scrap of context. But it mattered not. He wasn't here to break up petty quarrels. He was here for the snake.

He found him leaning against the bridge's warped railing, weakened from a ugly wound in his leg and firing the occasional explosive round into the night sky. His signalling must have left him distracted, as Diaboli found it easy to stalk up behind him - taking care to not involve himself in the brutal fighting happening only metres away.

In a single fluid motion, Diaboli moved and wretched the gun from the marksman's hand - turning the weapon back on its owner and pulling back the hammer before the masked killer had time to react. With the barrel hovering just in front of Wynston's forehead, Diaboli tutted.

"Oh Crim...you absolute dick. You really shouldn't have done that."

Diaboli's words dripped with disappointment and disdain. The man had not hesitated when given the opportunity to escape. An understandable choice, Diaboli surmised. But not the wisest.

Reaching forward, Diaboli grabbed hold of the man's shoulder and shoved him towards the door. While his right hand held the pistol to the back of Wynston's head, his left remained clamped firmly around the back of the man's neck - ready to crush his spine at the sight of the slightest defiant movement.

"Outside. Now," Diaboli said in a voice that refused challenge. As they moved towards the door, Diaboli felt his temper begin to grow thin again.

"Your friends had best be the peaceful kind. If not..." The sound of a chamber spinning filled the brief silence between Diaboli's words. "...I will kill you first, and then scourge any Bluthardt I can find."