>>16627709
Sweet; I have stuff to do in the morning, OP, but I'll go on as long as I can.

How close is he? Within arms reach? If not, we'll have to play along with the illusion.

Take deep breaths as we try to cradle Godfried's head.

>>16627735

He isn't within arm's reach, but you hear him from by the door not 10 feet from you. Not far at all.

He doesn't say anything, and you can almost feel his concentration begin to increase again.

You scream at him again, holding Godfried's body close.

This time, you feel the chain links shake as an unseen hand grasps it.

>>16627786
I'm betting on him getting closer...

Stifle the tears and clench our jaw. If we know what hyperventilating is, we should start doing that now.

"W-...wh...why..."

Shout away from where we think the Don is.

"Why!?"

>>16627873

You clutch him closer to you, your breath rate increasing. "W-...wh...why..." You whisper, inhaling sharply and turning towards the far wall.

"Why!?" You scream, and you hear no telltale sound now.

"Gabriel, control yourself!" Michael shouts, heading over towards you. "This is just what he wants!"

>>16627982
Rest the body down on the floor.

Stand slowly, staggering over to Malone in grief, our hands over our eyes. If he's up on the stage, collapse near the base and rest on the edge.

"You-...you monster..." Quiver our fist. "You...killed him..."

Then, do a quick check to see if he's within our grasp at that point. Hopefully, he hasn't moved from his spot by the chains.

>>16628059

You lower Godfried's body to the ground. "You-...you monster..." You stagger over towards the door. "You...killed him..." You feel your fist shaking.

You hear a single breath, not five feet in front of you.

>>16628200
There!

Throw a punch where we heard the breath! Land this fist of fury into his face!

>>16628545

You lunge forwards, your fist balled up tight as you hear a cracking sound, and a cry of pain. Malone is suddenly there, clutching at his chest, just below his right arm. You see blood from that location start to seep into his suit, and he coughs, his well-kept features marred by a splatter of blood down his chin. His eyes flicker orange for a moment, and he writhes on the chain linking.

"tagged me good..." He mutters, trying to turn away from you.

>>16628781
As he turns away, grab his arm and squeeze. Once he's in our grasp, start playing "how far can it bend".

"Your illusions..." Give him a good tug. "...cannot stand against something as real as sacrifice."

>>16628821

You grab at his arm as he turns away, and squeeze hard enough that you hear the bone crack.

"Your illusions..." You say as you pull him over towards you. "...cannot stand against something as real as sacrifice."

You twist his arm around behind his back, and he cries out in pain as you feel the shoulder lock. Any more pressure put on it will surely break it.

The others watch silently, save one.

"He is a bad person, that much is true, Gabriel." Michael says from across the room. "But, do not make him suffer. Don't be what he is!"

>>16629226
Stare Malone straight in the eyes. Get a good look at the fear in his eyes; one deep, deep look. Put a finger to his eye, threatening to gouge them out. Let him writhe for a bit, but don't release him.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Malone." Flex a finger near his iris. "I've thought about the day you took my sight...the pain..." Recall that night; how we threw ourselves at his mercy, and he still blinded us for his own amusement and twisted sense of justice. "But no...no Malone. I want you to see." Pull our finger away from his eye. "I want you to see why I..." Think back to when our brothers died. "Why I don't want to see any more suffering."

Cusp Malone's face for a moment.

"You remind me of your son...crueler, to be sure, but still." Release him. "Malone, just as you gave me an ultimatum those many nights ago, now I give one to you." Get really close to his face. "Do you see my family over there?" Point over to Hugh, Godfried, Fredrick, Renee, and Michael.

"You can take my sight, scar my body, and fill my mind with nightmares, but if you touch them..." Wag our finger. "I won't hesitate."

Stand back above him.

"...get out of here. I don't want to ever see you again."

>>16629393

You turn his around, keeping your finger a few inches in front of his eye.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Malone." You bring your finger just a hair closer to his eye. "I've thought about the day you took my sight...the pain..." You glare at him, and you can see red light reflected on his nearly expressionless face. "But no...

"No Malone. I want you to see." You pull your finger away from his eye. "I want you to see why I..." You think of the gunshot, the horrible night. "Why I don't want to see any more suffering."

You grab Malone's face, threatening to crush it. He stares back at you, expressionless.

"You remind me of your son... Crueler, to be sure, but still." You let him go, and he falls to the ground, gasping. "Malone, just as you gave me an ultimatum those many nights ago, now I give one to you." You lean in close to his face. "Do you see my family over there?" You point over to Hugh, Godfried, Fredrick, Renee, and Michael.

"You can take my sight, scar my body, and fill my mind with nightmares, but if you touch them..." You point square at the center of his head. "I won't hesitate."

You stand back up, arms hanging loosely above him. "...get out of here. I don't want to ever see you again."

Malone stands up, with great difficulty.

"Fine... You want to leave me with a bruised ego..." Malone coughs, a gout of blood falling from his mouth. "And a bruised lung. Good game, Gabriel." He reaches into his jacket, pulling out his gun. He lets the thing drop down onto the chain, and slowly turns, limping away through the door.

You hear a shot go off, and look down to see Renee's weapon pointed at the door, smoking.

* * *

>>16629699
I await the next post with fatigued anxiety.

Alright OP, I'm going to bed. I have to be up in under 6 hours. :(

In Philadelphia, there is a quiet cemetery that has a minimum of tagging near the middle of the city. It has always seemed untouched by violence, no matter what the status of the city outside it. In that cemetery, there are only two people, one in black with a large bandage on the side of his head, and the other in a green coat with blonde hair. A gray sky hangs overhead, threatening rain down onto the oddly serene place. But, the threat is never made manifest.

"Wow, no rain." A heavily bandaged man in a black coat says, taking out a cigarette and proceeding to light it. "Lucky."

A scruffy looking blonde man in a beat up green coat laughs, looking down at a new, white gravestone. "Lucky. I think he'd like that."

The gravestone reads simply:
"Godfried
-2011"

"Was Godfried his first or his last name?" The bandaged man says, puffing on his cigarette.

"His last name, I thought. But he just told me to call him that." The blonde-haired man runs a few fingers through his hair. "He was always so quiet."

"That's what I liked about him." The black-wearing man says. "Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Say what we liked about him?"

"Just our memories of him." The green coated man says calmly, reaching down into his pocket to pull out an ancient dime-store novel. A black-clad figure with a red scarf is on the front.

"The Shadow? Hey, my dad used to listen to that." The black-wearing man chuckles. "Kinda looks like him."

"He was a fan." The man in green says, turning to walk away, and looking up at the roof of the church a few blocks away.

"So, you figure Malone will let us go?" The black-wearing man says, limping over to a black car parked just outside of the cemetery.

The man in green looks over for a bit, seeming to mull over his answer. "Yeah, I'd say so." He walks over to the car, closing the door quietly, as though to avoid disturbing the dead. "After all, we have friends in high places."

It's said that a pair of gargoyles once fell from the east wall of a church in Philadelphia. It was strange, then, that the church saw fit to replace only one, and even then, it is said that one or all of them go missing, and that one is of a darker stone than the rest. Only a few people in the city know what happened, and none of them seem ready to say anything one way or the other. All that can be said is that on occasion when someone in the city is in trouble, on occasion they will be saved by a brutal warrior from the shadows, eyes aflame like twin coals. Sometimes the very ground is said to have shattered, but the next day, there is no evidence of the damage.

The old priest of that church was asked about the incidents in an interview. He said that, in his opinion, it must be the city's guardian angel.

The End

Man, missed it by a few minutes.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it, Gar-bro. See you around.

>>16629946
>The End
Never played this quests, but I'm very impressed you pulled through.
Great job, VKO.

>>16629954
Gar-bro here.

Ghost bump, but good run, OP. Thanks for all those late nights.

Good job VKO.

I never participated and when I decided to read the archives about a dozen of threads were gone in the purge.

Anyway, I am glad you finished it, too many quests get just dropped without a notice.

something is deeply wrong here.
>>saw the title of this thread, no fire brand or Red Aremer.
Where the hell am I?

>>16634029
You're in justice.