MALEFIC TIME- SIEGE PART I

[Clopin]

June 10th | Closed to Jenn , Emily , Esmeralda , Sherekhan . This will be a short thread, to initiate the siege for everyone else to participate in. PLEASE REMEMBER, YOUR CHARACTER WILL REMAIN IN AGRABAH FOR TEN DAYS IF THEY PARTICIPATE.

Under the light of the moon, the city of Agrabah looked like a dormant monster, resting peacefully until the light of the sun touched the sky, to rouse it from its slumber. A quiet hush fell over the land, as the night went on. Night owls finally decided to close their eyes and try to get some sleep, and more lights were turned off, until most homes were completely dark, save for the few glowing lights coming from behind the gargantuan wall that surrounded the palace of Agrabah. At its base stood a familiar figure, although he looked a lot less noticeable without his golden crown and deep reddish purple cloak.

He turned to his four assassins, motioning for them to come forward, while nodding a small acknowledgment to Hades and the rest of the Rogues that had come along to fight for the honor of their faction. Clopin had decided (perhaps a little foolishly, according to some) that it was high time that they showed the Blackblood Legion just what they were really capable of doing. He’d given out orders far before any of them had set foot in Agrabah, and everyone knew what they had to do. But they needed to wait for the signal that would be handed to Hades once Clopin, Jenn, and the assassins completed their mission.

With not much time left in the night, the small group moved quickly, as the magic users transported the non-magic users through the wall, and into the lowest reaches of the royal courtyard. Clopin held a gloved finger to his lips, and inspected the surrounding area for guards. Once he was certain there would be no one to stop them, he led them through the shadows, almost like how he had led them during the mission to take out Mortaray. The six of them made it inside the palace, where they hid in two groups of three behind the massive marble pillars that lined the hallways leading to various parts of the castle. Oddly enough, there seemed to be no guards within the perimeter, which was a lucky break for them. Clopin then turned to address his team.

“Jenn and I will take the lead, and conserve our power for Maleficent. The rest of you will take up our flanks, in case there happens to be any trouble.” Clopin whispered, as he poked his head around the pillar to check again for any sign of life. Again, there was only silence, and dark halls, save for the moon beams that filtered in through the high windows up above them.

“Remember what I’ve taught each and every one of you. Once Maleficent is taken care of, we will take the city for our own.” Clopin whispered, clenching his hands into a fist. He then made a silent motion with his hand, and the group began to move once again, following the path that Frollo had told them, in great detail. They stuck to the shadows, and kept their footfalls quiet.

As they continued onwards, Clopin kept an eye out for any armed guards. He then spotted a few standing by the tapestry that Frollo had indicated as a sign that they were close to Maleficent , and ordered his team to stop. He then motioned for his assassins to move into formation, and prepare to attack as quietly and as swiftly as possible. Taylor nodded, and darted off in one direction, using the shadows of the marble pillars to shield herself from the view of the four guards. She waited for the others to take up their positions, before initiating the attack.

“Catch them off guard, and attack them silently, so they do not raise the alarm to the others. The less witnesses, the better.”

[Sherekhan]

Quick but silent paw steps graced Khan through the shadows with ease. The large lethal beast staying in his position even as they made their hurried silent pursuit through the palace. Despite the time he had lived with the Court of Miracles now, a weird prickling of anxiety was nestled in his chest over being in such a large building with limited places to hide. He was silently thankful that he at least had the shadows to provide him cover.

Once settled behind the pillars the lack of guards had the tiger sneering, something smelt off. Fishy almost, or perhaps this truly was their lucky break but as Clopin ushered them forward he did not hesitate. He was quick to fall in to position once ordered, crouching where necessary. His singular golden hue staring forward at the guard, long tail nervously twitching at the very end. Quickly but silent, no noises. This had to go without a hitch.

He waited, despite how his pelt twitched with anxiety until Taylor initiated the attack.

[Emily]

Emily too stuck in the shadows, her back pressed against the cool marble of the pillar, and a hood pulled up over her hair to hide the distinctive white of her hair. Considering they had a tiger in their party it was probably a useless endeavor but better that she didn't make herself stand out. This would be her first official mission as an assassin and she was determined to prove that she was a valuable asset to this team. This mission was just the beginning of the grand plan Clopin had devised but it was easily the most important and the most dangerous.

When Taylor moved, Emily too moved but to the opposite flank. She couldn't blink, not here. The noise that accompanied her transversing the fabric of time and space would be too loud in the quietness of the night. The last thing they needed was more guards coming to investigate when there were so few of them and their target was as powerful as she had been led to believe. Instead, she slipped forward on the balls of her feet, moving as swiftly as she could and also as silently. Soon she was parallel with Taylor position on the opposite side of the room.

Once she was in position, she flashed a hand motion to the other girl and the tiger to let them know she was ready. She slid a knife from an inner pocket of her leather jacket and held her breath, waiting for the right moment to strike.

[Jenn]

Jenn stood in the shadows next to Clopin, watching silently as the assassins moved to position near the guards. Feathers ruffled slightly, anxiety prickling in the back of her mind. There were so many ways this could go wrong. All it would take was one misstep.

Shutting her eyes for a moment, she ushered these thoughts away. There was no room for worry right now. They were in the heart of enemy territory, they needed to focus.
Her gaze flicked to Clopin, then back to the assassins.
With a small flick of her hand, her dagger size blade appeared in her hand.
Just in case.

[Clopin]

Clopin's gloved hand moved silently, making the signal that his assassins knew was their sign to attack.

Taylor went first, darting through the shadows, legs moving so fast that her steps were essentially silent. She crept up behind one of the guards(one who was close to her height thankfully enough), as she wrapped a hand around his mouth and dragged him backwards into the darkness, while the others stood and chatted about their plans for what they were planning to do after their shift. Luckily for her, they were much too distracted to realize that one of their own had gone missing.

From his vantage point, Clopin raised a brow. This was looking just a little too easy, enough to put him on edge. Did Maleficent put out her least efficient guards because she knew they were coming?

There was just no possible way. He steeled himself to focus, and watched closely for the others to take down the other three guards. He looked at Jenn for a moment, and nodded to her silently, knowing that she was just as nervous as he was. But if they kept their cool, everything would go according to plan.

[Sherekhan]

The silent movement from Clopin's hand jostled the tiger forward. Quickly but as silent as possible he jerked forward towards his prey, there would be no easy way to wrangle the guard down but he did his best.

He lunged, teeth colliding with the guard's neck to silence any noises of pain before he yanked the man further back into the shadows just out of sight. His golden hue watched as the other's moved forward to take out of the others. It felt as though it went without a hitch, but just as Clopin had an uneasy feeling so did he.

The fur along his back stood as he slid his gaze to the door. This was too far easy, something had to be up. Were these just pawns? Or were they truly just that lucky.

[Emily]

An arm wrapped around the guard, hand clasped tightly over his mouth, as Emily pulled hi back into the shadows. A knife in the throat was a quick death at least, it was probably better than being at the claws of Shere Khan.

Emily slipped from the shadows, wiping the blood from her knife casually on her trousers before sliding in beside Clopin and Jenn. She wanted to ask on seeing the look on their leader's face "You feel it too? There's something not right here" but kept silent. The last thing this mission needed was her paranoia setting everyone else on edge. It was luck that they had managed to get this far, undetected, and with little resistance. Perhaps the Blackbloods were simply too arrogant to believe that anyone would dare try to attack them in their base as they had done to them not so long ago. If it was arrogance then it would come back to bite them spectacularly if they were able to pull this mission off.

"I can scout ahead." she offered up in a quiet murmur "I can be in and back again before anyone realises."

What she didn't say was she offered mostly to calm her own niggling worries but someone would need to keep their eyes open and go first anyways. Better her than Jenn or Clopin who were too valuable to lose.

[Clopin]

With the swift movements of each of his assassins, the guards fell, one by one. It was far too late for the last one to raise the alarm; that was how efficient Taylor had been in disposing of him, reducing his would-be scream to a gurgle as he dropped next to his fallen cohorts. Blood slowly began to pool around the bodies, as the assassins kept their cover.

"I can be in and back again before anyone realises."

Clopin had just caught the last bit of what Emily had said before he abruptly turned to her, his eyes meeting hers.

"No. We cannot risk having you in such a dangerous position before Maleficent. If we follow the plan we practiced, we will have our message to Hades to begin knocking down that wall." Clopin whispered to her.

"But until then, you all will stay behind Jenn and I, in case things get out of hand."

Stepping past the bodies, Clopin took a deep breath as he stood in front of the door. He was completely oblivious to what they'd find, whether it be Maleficent herself, or a trap designed to distract them from their task. He turned towards the others, acknowledging them with one last nod before summoning as much magic as he could, focusing on his feet.

Inside the room, Maleficent was surprisingly fast asleep, having heard barely a sound besides the regular chat between the four armed guards she had placed outside her door. Normally, it would have been one of the Blackblood soldiers, usually either Nasira or Shan Yu, but that night, she found herself giving them a small breath of fresh air by allowing them to resume other duties that they needed for the army.

With their loss at the hands of the Rogues, she knew that her army had to rebuild. And rebuild they had, thanks to the rigorous training of Shan Yu. The battle of Paris kept her up some nights, as much as she hated to admit it. To the world, she showed a stoic, callous face, rarely ever prompted to emotion besides thinly veiled anger, or a false smile. To herself though, only Diablo had been witness to her true side.

The truth was, Maleficent was concerned. If her army couldn't manage to keep the upper hand of this war, she would never be able to reach her eventual goal. She had an overseer become a turncoat and join the slowly growing threat that was the Rogues. She did have Crow watching him closely, but even those reports from him were few and far between.

The amount of stress she was secretly under was enough for her to shut her eyes for just one night, in an effort to recover from the constant worry.

Unfortunately, it would also be her own undoing.

The massive door leading into her bedroom fell in on itself, causing her to jolt up in bed. And there, glowing with the faintest purple aura, was King Clopin himself, scythe at the ready. Next to him was the angel, the one that Nasira had told her about. And behind the two of them, even more Rogues.

Maleficent shook the sleep that clouded her senses, and rose to attack, moving at an inhuman speed. They'd awakened the dragon, and there would be hell to pay. Her eyes glowed with a green glow, as she locked her gaze on her intruders, rising high above them towards the ceiling of her cavernous room.

"My dears, did you really think you could come in and expect to win so easily?" Maleficent purred, as a green fire began to encircle the group, leaving no room for any of them to escape, as she pointed her staff directly at Clopin. The gypsy king raised his scythe to counter the beam of magic that was shooting directly at him.

"That was for Paris!" Maleficent cackled, as she continued to fire magic at all of them.

Clopin managed to dodge the attack meant for him, and sent his own magical beam hurtling towards the sultana.

"Jenn! Now!" Clopin yelled over the roar of the flames.

[Jenn]

As soon as Clopin gave the go-ahead, the spacious room was imbued in an undying flash of pure light. Luckily Clopin provided enough of a distraction for Jenn to transform without immediately getting blasted with the fae’s power. The colossal creature reared, and her mighty wings snapped opened, knocking furniture aside like pebbles.

It was now or never. Jenn cupped her tiny paws in front of her chest, concentrating a ball of energy into a single point. Then, she thrust her paws forward, unleashing a powerful, unforgiving beam of light. It struck Maleficent right in the chest, slamming her into the ground hard.

[Clopin]

Maleficent's irises narrowed as she swung her head around towards the purple winged angel, who was flying above the king and his assassins. Her form began to shift, becoming larger as massive wings sprouted from her back. She reared up onto her draconic legs, and roared at Jenn, as the angel resumed her true form, spreading her own wings to an impressive length. A wide grin spread across Maleficent's snout, as she cackled even louder. This little angel would be the appetizer to her annihilation of the Rogue army.

The room could barely contain the two massive creatures, and the ceiling began to give way, caving in on itself on the far end. Luckily, it stopped at a good halfway point, as Clopin made a valiant effort to gather his assassins as best he could, despite the flames licking at their feet. For the most part, Taylor and the others were sensible to keep close and away from the two titans. Before Maleficent could shoot a rather sizeable fireball at the angel, a blinding blast of pure white light hit the dragon square in the chest, throwing her towards where the roof had caved in. Clopin shielded his eyes from the brilliance of the attack, before taking a few moments to blink.

The flames had died down, and he noticed that something was...off. Where he expected Maleficent to be, there was a small black thing, almost as if the dragonness had shrunk to the size of a cat.

They'd succeeded.

He motioned for Jenn and the others to follow him, using the caved in half of Maleficent's room to escape back towards the wall encircling the palace. And as promised, he sounded the official alarm, alerting his army, and the rest of the Blackbloods.

The Siege of Agrabah had officially begun.