Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Jan 20, 2010 0:38:18 GMT -6
As he saw the blood bubbling from the stab wound in Crown's back, an eerie, bubbly rattle sounding from the man's punctured windpipe, Roland knew he'd done it. He'd killed Eddie Crown. By the rules the Deathhounds ran by, the gang was his. He'd succeeded.
As he looked as his broken arm, and the crushed and mangled mess his hand and wrist had become, all he felt was a bitter, violent anger. Not because he'd lose the hand; he had every intention of keeping it. No, his anger arose from the knowledge of where he'd have to go if he had any hopes of the hand being usable again.
With a near-bestial wordless scream, Roland stabbed his blade into Crown's back again and again and again. After a few seconds of this, he resorted to sawing the blade back and forth, widening the wound as he took out his anger on the corpse.
"Goddamn you, you meaty sonuvaBITCH! My hand! You broke my goddamn hand! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?!? It means I have to let the filthy bastard TOUCH ME! I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL FOR THIS!!"
Tearing the knife free, Roland began plunging it into Crown again, this time with purpose as he sunk the blade into Crown's neck time after time. With a few angry stabs, only skin kept the head attached, and the knife made quick work of that.
With one final plunge, Roland sunk the blade into the back of Crown's skull, and as he stood, he changed his grip, so that Crown's detached head faced forward as Roland walked out of the shower room and made his way through the house to the large room he'd passed through when he'd arrived at the mansion. As he walked, he pounded hard on every door he passed, using Crown's skull to do it.
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Post by Pyrodeus (NPC) on Jan 20, 2010 0:54:21 GMT -6
A dozen different Deathhounds emerged from their rooms after hearing the pounding on their doors. They walked into the main hall, which is where the footsteps that followed the knocking were leading.
The men and women of the Doghouse, each of them trusted captains in the Deathhounds (or in a few cases their significant others), saw a man dressed in black and silver, wearing a purple New Empire armband and an incredible amount of blood.
They were stunned to see whose blood this trespasser was covered in; in his hand was a knife, the head of Eddie Crown impaled upon it. They had all thought Eddie to be just short of invincible. He had torn his way through the ranks so quickly, a lot of people believed he couldn't be beaten in a fight.
But they had been proven wrong, and this guy had beaten Crown. Like Crown before him, the blood on Roland's hands was his inauguration speech. This guy was the Big Dog now.
"Who are you?" one of the Deathhounds finally managed to ask, a question on everyone's mind. None of them had ever seen this guy before; they weren't even sure if he was a Deathhound.
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Jan 20, 2010 1:03:31 GMT -6
Roland watched as the group assembled, more than a few of them wearing stunned expressions as they noticed Crown's head at his side. As one of them managed to speak up, Roland turned his steel-grey eyes on the man.
Speaking loud enough for all of them to hear him, but with his voice almost eerily calm, Roland answered. "My name is Roland Van Patten. Head of the New Empire. I don't think I need to tell you what's happened."
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Post by Pyrodeus (NPC) on Jan 20, 2010 1:17:09 GMT -6
"Of course," the man replied. "It's a dog-eat-dog world, first rule of the Deathhounds." He shook his head. "It's just that we were just getting used to Crown. We never figured we'd have a new Big Dog so quickly, especially since we thought the old one was about the baddest motherfucker on the planet."
"Hold on a minute, Zeke," the Deathhound next to him chimed in. He glared at Roland. "You just said you were New Empire. What makes you think you can just walk onto our turf and kill one of-"
The second man was silenced by a backhand strike from Zeke which sent him sprawling. "You know damn well the rules we live by," Zeke said. "It doesn't matter where he's from, he beat the Big Dog, so he is the Big Dog."
Zeke turned to face Roland. "You'll have to forgive Francis," he said. "He doesn't do well with changes in management. Had the same trouble when Crown took over. A couple days and a sound ass-whoopin' and he'll come around."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Jan 20, 2010 1:29:31 GMT -6
Roland nodded as Zeke spoke, and smiled as he silenced Francis. He liked the man, and he knew full well that, in a very short time, the management at the New Empire was going to be...shaken up a bit.
"Understandable. Like I said, I'm New Empire. But starting today, that distinction doesn't matter anymore. The Hounds and the Empire were the only gangs left in this City, and now the only thing keeping 'em separate is the name."
Glancing around, Roland addressed the entire room. "Starting today, the New Empire and the Deathhounds are one and the same. Same colors, same territory, same deals, rackets, everything."
Training his eyes on Zeke, but also keeping close watch on Francis, Roland arched an eyebrow. "Any questions?"
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Post by Pyrodeus (NPC) on Jan 20, 2010 1:37:24 GMT -6
"Just one," a woman wearing a chainmail shirt chimed in behind Roland. "I get the rackets and turf coming together and all, but are we New Empire or are they Deathhounds?"
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Jan 20, 2010 1:47:29 GMT -6
Roland turned to face the woman, and was about to tell them to change their flags to purple, but something stopped him. It took him a moment to figure out what it was. Then he got it.
As he'd told Darian that day at the Coronation, fighting could promote respect, and it had worked. Both then, and more importantly, now. Somehow, during his fight with Crown, he'd come to respect the Deathhounds, if not Eddie himself. Now he couldn't bring himself to simply paste the Deathhounds over with the New Empire banner. It wouldn't be right.
Glancing down at his bloodstained armband, Roland got an idea. Setting Crown's head down on the floor, and pulling his knife free of it, Roland sheathed the blade before stripping the scarf from his injured arm. Shaking it out, Roland held the purple-and-crimson strip of cloth out towards the woman, then showed it to the rest.
"Neither. This isn't the end, there'll be more fights to come. Fights bigger than any of you could imagine. From now on, there's no New Empire, there are no Deathhounds. There are only...the Dogs of War."
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