Devil Survivor: The Manhattan Lockdown

[TheSequelReturns]

One born of human flesh, Man is now a race of some power.

You, son of man, must face the power you hold.

And you must face your destiny as well...

Though your days be peaceful, the fated time draws near.

I am your judgment.

I sundered the tongues of your fathers and shattered their arrogant power.

So long as the Lord does not live in you, all living beings hold darkness in their hearts.

If you truly wish to be yourself, then rise and fight the darkness within...

The demon inside.

If you have the will to challenge your destiny of battle, son of man, state your name...

As He proclaimed, this world, created in seven days, shall be destroyed by the sounding of seven trumpets.

You who have a will, fear the numbers your eyes shall see.

Fear the time left...

---


The Day Before
Times Square - 6:30 PM

As always, Times Square was bustling with activity. People of all kinds filled the streets: workers finally free from their labors, tourists from all around the world, students enjoying the start of their weekend, street performers hoping for tips, rich and poor alike mingling in one of the most recognizable intersections in America.

Many people in the crowd weren't looking around though, they were looking down. Down at the devices in their hands, COMPs, smart phones, tablets, all were present. Perhaps because of their preoccupation, the sudden shock of the next event caused a wave of silent disbelief first and panic second.

An explosion rocked Times Square, seemingly originating from the Times Building itself. The huge screens died, some collapsing as the first few floors of the tower erupted into flames and shrapnel. Windows shattered all across the square as the explosion spread. Several smaller blasts tore the area apart, destroying cars and other building fronts and cratering the pavement.

The dust started to settle, and a calmer panic settled among the crowd. Several people had been killed and many more injured by the blasts, but as the bystanders tried to call 911 for help they found that their cell phone signal had been completely cut out. COMPs and other forms of communication were offline as well.

A few minutes later a helicopter flew by overhead, black and unmarked. A loud announcement followed, broadcast from loudspeakers around the city. "Attention citizens. An explosion of unknown origin has hit Times Square. This is suspected to be an organised attack. Until we can ascertain the situation and identify the perpetrators of this attack, Manhattan island will be put under a temporary lockdown."

Already discord was spreading among the crowds.

"We ask for your cooperation in this matter. I repeat..." The broadcast continued, repeating the same message several times.

---


The Day Before
Upper East Side - 7:00 PM

A crowd had gathered at the Queensburo Bridge, trying to cross over out of Manhattan. However, the road was blocked off by what appeared to be military forces. They wore no badges, no signs of rank, just urban-camouflage fatigues and gear. As if to reinforce the armed men and the roadblock at the halfway point of the bridge, a pair of tanks sat on the opposite side, barrels pointed down the bridge.

"What do you mean we can't leave?" someone in the crowd shouted.

"I'm sorry," the soldier responded, "We have our orders. No one is allowed to pass. For any reason."

"You have to let me go, my family is in Queens!"

"My children are on the other side! I can't leave them alone!"

"Please, let us cross!"

The soldier spoke over the rising voices. "This is serious. I can't let anyone cross. No exceptions. We have orders to shoot anyone who attempts to leave Manhattan."

"We have rights! You can't lock us in here like this. You can't shoot us like animals!" another man shouted. The crowd started to rally behind him.

A short burst of gunfire rang out as the soldier fired into the air to silence the crowd. "That's final. No one crosses. The next shot won't be a warning."

The crowd continued to protest, but many in the crowd became wary. No one pushed the blockade.

The lockdown of Manhattan had officially begun.

---


COMP Service

1 new Notification.

A new App has been delivered!

The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.

Have a nice day!

---

OOC: Okay, we are finally underway. To start off, just post your character's whereabouts and reactions as such and have them activate the Summoning App.

 

[Firebrand]

Cole Culain
Upper East Side
7:05 pm

Nearly half an hour of fighting against the crowds hadn't gotten Cole very far. At least he had been clear of the subway when the explosion went off. From the sound of it, there were people trapped down in the tunnels. He pushed and shoved his way down the milling streets, adding his voice to the screaming crowds. As a man in an expensive Armani suit dashed by going in the opposite direction, Cole's right hand shot out and grasped the man's lapel. Cole swung him around and glared at him. "What the hell is going on here?"

"The city's locked down!" the man shouted. "No one's getting in or out! The army is here! It's terrorists, they're attacking, we're all going to die!"

Cole shoved him away. Lockdown? he thought. No, no, damn it, no! He whipped out his phone and tried calling home. The call didn't get through. He hastily tried his parents' cell phones, his sisters', his friends from school. Nothing, not even a text message, would go through. The young man pulled his brown hair back from his eyes and staggered into Central Park, sinking down onto a bench.

No one knows I'm here. I'm trapped, and no one knows where the hell I am.

He let out a wordless scream of frustration followed by a long stream of profanity. His hands were shaking uncontrollably and he felt panic, true panic, rising up inside of him. Cole had never felt this way before, and he knew his nerves were getting the best of him. He took a deep breath and reached inside his coat pocket for a cigarette to steady himself. As he fumbled for his lighter, his fingers brushed against a smooth plastic surface.

"My COMP," he murmured, speaking aloud to keep himself focused, to keep his mind occupied on something other than the rising panic. "Maybe a call won't get through, but if I can just send Dad an email or something, at least they'll know where I am." He clenched his cigarette in his teeth and lit it in a deft motion. As he sucked in a deep breath of tobacco smoke and nicotine, he opened his COMP and turned it on.

DEMON SUMMONING APP DOWNLOADED AND INSTALLED. NOW ACTIVATING.

"What the he-?"

 

[Blivsey]

Lucia Lindström
Chinatown - 6.30 PM

Noodles are basically a staple of the modern college diet. Simple. Inexpensive. Open to variation. So, once someone has been going to a university for over two years, they tend to have had more than their fair share of the humble noodle and may have developed certain tastes in its regard - instant at a contrast to slow-cooked, the right balance of spices, and so on. Either that, or certain students just their taste for noodles entirely. Lucia was in the second camp here.

But nobody made noodles like the Chinese. Sure, Lucia had come to Chinatown to have them and, as a result, was probably more than a bit biased. But that didn't change the fact that she'd just had the best-tasting beef bowl in memo-

Lucia was interrupted from both this thought and the report about it which she was about to text to her friends by a ground-rocking boom. Much like a thunderclap, but longer and steadier. And she had to assume that it had physically rocked the ground - there was no way that she could hear thunder down in this subway car, and she couldn't tell any vibrations apart from the usual of the car running its course. So that noise had to be construction on a nearby tunnel, then? Probably.

Just to be sure, Lucia grabbed her COMP from her canvas bag - a bit of a wrestle, what NYC's public transit being naturally cramped and her having two bags at the moment. Just to check the news feeds. Except that she found she couldn't. Zero bars, likely from being directly underground. Just when it would be useful, too... Eh, no mind. She was headed back to the hotel already.

In less than half an hour, she'd be off this island, anyway.


Turtle Bay - 7.00 PM

Lucia leaned back in her chair, fiddling with the end of one of her twin ponytails. Half an hour since she'd gotten on, and the train had been stopped for the last ten at this stop alone. It'd almost be quicker at this point to just go topside and try her chances with the taxis.

...sure, why not?

Lucia zipped up the front of her jacket (might as well play it safe in a crowd), slung both her purse and shopping bag over her shoulder, and nudged her way out toward the door. Once outside the car, she found the crowds much less stationary - some people buzzing idly and a few actually sitting, but the vast majority funneling up to the sidewalk level, so much that she was nearly carried there by the crowd and had to forcibly separate herself from them to reach a section of a retaining wall to perch on.

Once finally sitting, she checked her COMP. Still nothing. No signal, even up here. But the people sure were giving off signals. She had taken it for the usual jockeying of New Yorkers, but everybody seemed actually, visibly panicked rather than just stressed. Many shouting, a lot of throwing elbows and running. Okay, obviously something had gone on when she was down in the sub system. Figures it would happen when she decided to take a weekend trip here. The thought crossed her mind to ask what was going on, but just perking up her ears gave her answers even quicker:

"-eeping us fenced in like we're &!%# cows-"

"-we on a lockdown, anyway? It was all the way o'er by Times-"

"-tal blackout. More like total bummer, right?"

Aha. So traffic in and out of the area was completely blocked right now, and some sort of communications jamming? That was the best Lucia could make of what snippets she could catch. Lucia sighed and propped her flushed cheek against her fists, in turn resting on her knees. Sounded like the whole was being zoned in for an investigation of some sort. But whatever had gone on, it wasn't exactly near here, anyway, and there wasn't much she could do in the meantime but wait it out. She'd probably be safer right by a crowded sidewalk than anywhere else, anyway.

Looking to idle her time away, Lucia grabbed into her bag again, producing this time both a sucker (butterscotch!) and her COMP before remembering that her signal was out, anyway. Duh. Lucia went to put the device back but stopped short, catching a notice taking up the entire screen.

COMP Service: 1 new Notification.

> A new App has been delivered!
> The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.
> Have a nice day!

Huh. Well, what else was she supposed to do for the next few hours?

 

[Monster Guy]

Adam Hayes
Times Square - Between 6:30 and 7:00 PM

Adam had been wandering around Times Square looking for something fun to do. He knew there would be something exciting going on there, there always was. This explosion however, was definitely more than he bargained for. As the Times Building erupted into flames, and several small blasts shook up the city, chaos ensued. Everyone was running around in circles panicing and just being nasty with each other. Adam tried to fight his way through the all the chaos to avoid getting himself killed. "Hey! Watch it! Get out of the fucking way, I'M TRYIN' TO MOVE HERE!" Adam shouted as he shoved many people he bumped into. "Jeez, what a bunch of dumbasses."

Once things calmed down a bit, it was made clear that people were hurt. There were even some deaths reported. Everyone checked their Cell Phones to call 911, but soon found out that they didn't get any reception whatsoever. Adam checked his own COMP to see if his worked, but he also got no bars. No matter how many times he pressed the buttons, nothing seemed to help. "Ugh Damn it! Work already!" He just gave up on it after a while, and shoved the thing in his pocket. "Ugh, fuck this."

A few minutes later a helicopter flew by. A loud announcement followed, broadcast from loudspeakers around the city. "Attention citizens. An explosion of unknown origin has hit Times Square. This is suspected to be an organised attack. Until we can ascertain the situation and identify the perpetrators of this attack, Manhattan island will be put under a temporary lockdown."

The copter flew all around repeating this announcement several times. The constant reminder started to irritate the redheaded male. "Alright we get it! We can't leave! Jeez! I heard ya the first time!" Of course, the annoying announcement didn't stop others from trying to get out. Only for their attempts to be turned down. The military were even threatening to shoot anyone that tried to escape. The boy just rolled his eyes, and walked past the crowd. "Figures..."

Great, now I'm stuck in this hellhole. What am I supposed to do now?! He tried to figure out some way to make the best of this situation. Being stuck during a blackout surrounded by a bunch of paranoid idiots was no fun at all. Suddenly, he heard a beeping noise coming from his COMP. "Well, that's weird. I thought you were dead?" He checked the electronic device, and saw a message displayed on the screen.

COMP Service

1 new Notification.

>A new App has been delivered!
>The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.

Have a nice day!

This day was anything but nice. It just getting weirder by the second. "What the fuck?! I didn't download any damn app!" After the initial shock, he quickly calmed down after he saw what was being downloaded. "Well, at least it looks cool. Demons can be totally awesome. I wonder what I can summon with this? Hopefully something cool." Maybe this lockdown wouldn't be a complete bore after all.

 

[Schade]

Isaac Kreutzev
Central Park
7:46 PM

This day started like pretty much all others. Isaac had woken up way too early again, and he knew that the day would be pretty much as bad as all other days. He had spent the morning working on his painting for a school project, which he always did whenever he woke up too early. The painting was basically bad feelings and woe in the form of art. His psychologist had reccomended painting his feelings, but so far, it only got him A's in school and nightmares for the people looking at them.

So, it was a clouded day, at least during the afternoon, and Isaac decided to go for a jog in the Central Park, which he always did on cloudy days. He felt isolated, despite being around other people, who again, seemed to be very stressed out today, for some reason. They ran around, shouting about terrorists and the end of the world. Not that any of that mattered to isaac in his little own world. Like every other day, Isaac decided to take the subway home after having jogged very far. But at the subway station, there was chaos. Isaaac got a glimpse of a television in the corner, but couldn't get much out of it. "Mysterious explosion have hit ... ... ... Manhattan into a lockdown ... ... ... The president ... ... ... Double BigMac" The newscasting went over in a MacDonalds commercial, and Isaac was caught up in a mob that ran into the subway train, which was not Isaac's intention.

When the crowd disappeared, Isaac managed to exit the subway train, and found himself at the Central Park. It had goten darker outside, as it was getting pretty late. There wasn't as many people at the park now, and Isaac took a stroll. He watched the news on his COMP. Apparently, there had been a big explosion of unknown origins had hit Times Square, and terrorists were the most possible reason, which had caused mass panic in different parts of Manhattan, and now people wanted to cross the Queensburo bridge, which they cuold not do, as it appeared Manhattan was at a lockdown.

"A lockdown, huh?" Isaac said to himself. It wasn't the worst scenario for him, as he had nothing to do outside of town. His parents were there though, but they never really bothered to contact him anyway unless they wanted to buy him something to make themselves feel better for abandoning their kid in Manhattan. They always did that, and Isaac had gotten used to it. The last time they contacted him, they had bought him a COMP.

Speaking of COMP. It appeared it was vibrating like crazy in his pocket. A text message? Yeah right!. Isaac took up his nifty little device and read off the screen

COMP Service

1 new Notification.

A new App has been delivered!

The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.

Have a nice day!

"What the..? Some new game-ap or something?" Isaac said to himself as he looked at his COMP. 'Demon Summoning app'. What kind of game was that? Some weird Pokemon-knockoff? Well.. Why not trying it out then? Won't be getting home in a while anyways..

 

[rotrum]

Salem Jeremic
Central Park
6:30

Salem sat quietly on a bench, looking around at the peaceful park that expanded around him, tall buildings in the not-too-distant perimeter reminding him exactly where he was. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was interesting, he supposed, but it was just one of the museums he'd seen today, and not one he'd been particularly interested in going to, just one that he passed by. He could afford to find a place to sleep and keep looking at the museums and the city tomorrow, he mused quietly, eyes arbitrarily following a few pigeons walking across the sidewalk, heads bobbing back and forth in their odd little way.

They sensed it before it reached them, taking off in a flurry of wings and feathers just before tremors rocked the area, the sound of an explosion filling his ears. What could possibly have happened? His face remained neutral as he calmly remained sitting, head turning in the direction of the explosion. Times Square, he figured. That would cause major damage, and the amount of people there.

He bit his lip, the only outer weakness in his otherwise stoic appearance, thoughts racing. He quickly found out what happened however, an overhead helicopter broadcasting a loud message that told him exactly what had happened...and the fact that he was in the middle of a lockdown. He leaned back in the bench, musing that he'd picked a rather odd time to come up here.

His fingers pattered lightly against the surface of the folded trenchcoat that sat in his lap, no sound really coming over the overhead broadcast and the overall panic and discord that managed to seep its way through the trees to his ears.

What could he do? With all the chaos he didn't expect the museums to remain open, and he wasn't entirely sure how buisnesses would decide to operate under these conditions. A bit of worry showed on his features, which he quickly corrected despite being alone. He didn't have a home or any real entertainment while he was here. How boring.

He pulled out his COMP. As it slowly came to life, a notifications sat happily atop his screen, telling him of a Demon Summoning App recently installed. He raised an eyebrow, confused, fingers idly brushing over it and starting the app...

 

[*Jean Grey*]

Julia Wilczyński
Lower East Side
6:30 PM

Julia climbed up the stairs, her heavy footsteps resonating in the dilapidated housing project building. She held a .45 caliber pistol in her left hand and a cigarette nearly to its butt wedged between her lips. She held no address, she knew the person whom she after all too well. Four postponements, no money except for his beer...it all described Ombra's next victim, Juan Pérez. Giovanni had threatened him to pay up his debts, yet the money did not turn up. A gun for protection, money for his gambling habit and drinks, they provided them for him, only because he was their informant on Black Shamrock's going-abouts. This time however, there were no second chances, and Julia was out for blood, cash or both. She reached the top of the stairs and started walking down the hall, discarding her cigarette as she neared his door. A little more, and then she stopped in front of the door she knew was his. She raised her right hand and pounded her fist at the door.

"Pérez! Open up, you damn moron!" She shouted, her heavy Eastern European accent lacing her words, not letting go of the gun and not caring if anyone heard her. No reply. Julia growled as she banged once again, cursing and threatening that she was going to bust the door open herself if he didn't do it within one minute. In an amount of time shorter than she expected, the door clicked and swung open, revealing a paunchy, middle-aged man dressed in a white wifebeater and khaki shorts. The room smelled strongly of a mixture of different odors. The man, Pérez himself, smiled a toothy grin.

"Ah, Julia. What brings you and your gun here today?" He greeted in a voice with a slight slur to it, his beer breath apparent. Julia did not flinch, she merely stood her ground and glared, as she kept her gun on him.

"No more damn games, Pérez. This is your last warning. Where is it? Chcesz umrzeć?!" She threatened, grabbing him by the front of his shirt with her right hand and holding the gun to the side of the Latin man's head. Juan only laughed boorishly.

"Could you even do that to me, Julia? You know what my answer is going to be...I don't have it." He replied, grinning as if to taunt the young woman. This only made Julia push the pistol harder into his head. She let go of his shirt and punched his left cheek.

"Answer for yourself, boy...if you aren't already dead!" She snarled, before she pulled the trigger and shot him. Blood gushed out of the side of his head in a spray, yet Julia fired once more for good measure. The dead man fell to the ground, unbreathing. Julia stomped on the corpse one more time before heading to his bathroom to wash her face. She then left the apartment and back down the stairs, passing two floors until she hit ground. Even as she left, she walked steadily. Only the guilty ran after all. The streets were a lot more crowded than usual, and Julia kept moving until she found a safe, deserted alley. There, she discarded the outfit that covered her everyday clothes. An oversized black trenchcoat, loose-fitting black trousers, sunglasses and a hat which she tucked her hair under. She shook out her long hair and put on her usual newsboy cap before looking around and casually walking out of the alley from the other end.

There seemed to be a commotion, and Julia heard the word "lockdown" more than once. Was the city really on lockdown? She jostled her way among the people, hearing more mention of the so-called lockdown. No, it had to be a joke. Julia refused to believe it.

What kind of conspiracy is this? What the hell is going on?

As she walked, the more she heard about it, how there was an explosion in Central Park and how nobody was allowed to leave Manhattan. She had to get to Ombra's turf, to tell the others, and fast. She felt something vibrate from the pocket of her shorts, and she reached for it. It was her COMP device, an illegally-obtained one from Giovanni's contacts, jailbroken and hacked by his right-hand, Marcello. An alert sat in the middle of the screen.

COMP Service

1 new Notification.

A new App has been delivered!

The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.

Have a nice day!

"Great, what's this? Some kind of random shit to play during the lockdown?" Julia murmured as she touched her finger over it and started it up.

 

[AJ2000]

Alex Ganston
Subway Station, en-Route to Turtle Bay
6:30pm

I'll be there soon... Alex texted. Buying textbooks was an expensive task, and despite his minimum wage job, Alex had been resorting to selling his old textbooks for newer ones. He was hoping that this person wouldn't try anything funny, but that was a chance he was willing to take if it would mean saving a couple hundred bucks which could be well spent elsewhere. The train arrived, and he stepped in once the doors were clear. Brrrr! His COMP vibrated, with a reply with the person he was about to meet.

Hey...I think I might be late, there's something going on in Times Square." The text read. Alex just replied with a simple "Ok." Alex didn't mind waiting, in fact, he actually liked to travel around in transit, as it gave him something to do rather than just sit in his apartment doing homework and spending hours staring at a computer screen. He found a seat, and put his head back, closing his eyes for a bit until he reached his destination.

~

Turtle Bay
7:30


The mechanical voice announced the arrival at the Turtle Bay station. Alex quickly got his backpack up form underneath his legs and swung it onto his back. However, something immediately caught his attention. There was an abnormally large amount of people crowding around, trying to get off of the train. Sure, it had some tourist attractions, but at this time in the evening it was a bit...odd. "Excuse me." He said, as he pushed his way through the crowd of people, trying not to bump into or hurt anyone. Once he got into the crowd far enough, he realized they weren't even crowding around anything. There were just standing there.

"The city's on lockdown! Bro, I don't think I can make it, the transit has stopped!" His COMP vibrated. Alex didn't reply. Something weird was going on, and he felt something in the pit of his stomach. His COMP vibrated again.

COMP Service:

1 new Notification.

A new App has been delivered!

The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.

Have a nice day!​

Alex just stared at the screen. Hey...I didn't download no app... He unlocked the phone screen and swiped around to find the app, and tapped it to start it up.

 

[Princess Raspberyl]

Sophia Metcalfe
6:30 PM
Alphabet City

Sophia had walked around the city, looking for the house she was supposed to deliver this laptop to. She was a decent mechanic for her age. She spent all her free time tinkering around with whatever goods she can find she knew how to modify, and if she didn't know how to she would get a book and read it till she memorized every little bolt and screw in the damn piece till it was natural to her. Her tools were like family to her. Far better family then her real ones at least. She had walked up to the house, and put the laptop in a plastic bag, setting it on the carpet softly. She didn't want to see them, just came to deliver the piece of technology she had worked on. People made her nervous. They always looked at the bandaged part of her face, and since her family was big in the crime industry they always assumed she was a thug. Technology was much easier to work with then people, hence why she enjoyed it so much. It was her escape from reality at least.

6:55
Battery Park

Sophia had headed over to the supply store. She wiped the sweat off her face and the oil from working on that laptop and took off her gloves and put them in the bag. Her burn scars were slightly visible, but not to the point they were easily noticeable. The only part of her scars she really had to cover with bandages was her face, the part everyone noticed first. She just had to wear a jacket and long pants and the other scars were practically unnoticeable. Suddenly, Sophia had noticed all the people panicking about the lockdown. Sophia panicked as well. "Lockdown?! Does that mean I can't get back to my own house?!" Oh, not good. NOT. GOOD. Sophia absolutely hated being in public for too long, it gave her mini-panic attacks. She avoided human contact whenever she could. Suddenly her COMP began to ring and she panicked even more.

COMP Service

1 new Notification.

A new App has been delivered!

The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.

Have a nice day!

"The hell is this?! Demon summoning?! Whataya I look like, some occult freak!" Sophia shouted and leaned against a wall and started to panic, running her hands through her hair. Not good... not good at all...

 

[CuriousHeartless]

Drew Aurum
Somewhere en route to Time Square 6:29 PM

Drew wandered through the city, trying to make it back to the hotel he and his parents were staying at. Somehow he had gotten separated from them somewhere in Central Park and his phone suddenly lost connection. Now, after two hours of searching, he decided to return to their hotel room hoping that they either would be there or would show up soon. "Damn it," he muttered to himself as he checked his phone for the hundreth time. "How can I not get a reception in Manhattan? I could always get a reception back home and it's the middle of nowhere there."

Suddenly, explosions rocked the square. Drew was thrown to the ground as explosions tore through the buildings and televisions. Rubble barely missed him and Drew's heart picked up speed. Another wave of rubble fell as Drew picked himself up and ran. "Wh-what the hell!" He shouted in disbelief as his heart slowed down. "Was that a terrorist attack or something?"

Drew looked around again and realized something. He couldn't count exact numbers, but there was a lot of dead people. And if this happened here, what could be happening in the rest of Manhattan? A few minutes later a helicopter flew by overhead, black and unmarked. A loud announcement followed, broadcast from loudspeakers around the city. "Attention citizens. An explosion of unknown origin has hit Times Square. This is suspected to be an organised attack. Until we can ascertain the situation and identify the perpetrators of this attack, Manhattan island will be put under a temporary lockdown."

Already discord was spreading among the crowds.

"We ask for your cooperation in this matter. I repeat..." The broadcast continued, repeating the same message several times.

Drew tore down the street, desperate now to get back to the hotel and hoping nothing happened to it.

()()()()()()()()

6:50 PM
Hotel

Drew was relieved as he saw the hotel his family was staying at still fully standing. But as he got closer, he noticed that the electric doors out front had been broken with a chair. Drew tried to open it, but it refused to budge. Carefully, he stepped through the broken door and looked around. No one was inside the building, probably scared of it collapsing on them. The elevators refused to work and he figured it pointless actually climbing the stairs, most likely noone else occupied the whole place.

Drew started walking back to the door when his phone signalled an incoming email. He pulled it out, hopeful it meant the signal was restored. It still had no connection, but he had received an odd email that he opened.


COMP Service

1 new Notification.

A new App has been delivered!

The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.

Have a nice day!

 

[Niihyl]

Jacky di Senna
The Day Before
SoHo – 6:30 PM

“So I don’t think you can pull off masculine. You’d look silly trying.”

“Mm-hm,” Jacky murmured absentmindedly to his friend, eyeing the man standing opposite him. He was rather outlandishly dressed, clad in painfully short shorts and a seersucker suit over some sort of denim shirt. If Jacky understood correctly, the look was straight from the desk of some hotshot New York fashion designer. He’d never seen a real person dress like that in public before, though. The runway and the streets of Manhattan were two very different places.

“But cute? With a new outfit and a haircut, I think you can do cute. So, how do you like the clothes?”

Jacky glanced away from the mirror. “Um, Kate, I’m not so sure about this.”

The girl gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Hey, the piercing went well, and-“

“-hmm, I don’t really know-“

“-so you should listen to me! I know you aren’t taking the vitamin supplements I told you about. Maybe they’d fix your cough.”

“My cough’s fine,” Jacky said, stifling a cough. “Really though, thanks for doing all of this, but these are…” The young man trailed off as an announcement blared out over him, broadcast from loudspeakers posted nearby.

“Attention citizens. An explosion of unknown origin has hit Times Square. This is suspected to be an organized attack. Until we can ascertain the situation and identify the perpetrators of this attack, Manhattan Island will be put under a temporary lockdown. We ask for your cooperation in this matter.”

For a moment, everything was quiet, and then people began to murmur amongst themselves. Kate frowned, worry in her eyes. “Oh god, it’s terrorists, isn’t it. W-what do they mean, ‘lockdown’?”

Jacky stepped into a stall, throwing off the ridiculous clothes as fast as he could. “Alright, we don’t have to panic. Everything will be all right.” He picked up his own clothes, fishing his COMP from a pocket. No connection. Frowning, he replaced the device and hopped up on one leg, tugging on his jeans and dragging his shirt over his head. When he exited the stall, a little out of breath, though reasonably dressed, he found Kate frantically tapping at a COMP.

“I haven’t got signal! Oh god, oh god, my sister was at the Times building! I’m sorry Jacky, I really have to go!”

“Wait!” Jacky cried, moving to follow, but it was too late; Kate had already bounded from the store, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that he would catch up to her. Kate was a track star, and Jacky was winded from putting his clothes on too quickly. “Let’s… not panic,” he murmured to himself. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then exited the store, collapsing into a nearby bench. His brow furrowed with thought; what did he know, and what could he do about it?

There had been an explosion at Times Square. It hadn’t been blamed on a gas leak, for once. It seemed to have been some sort of terrorist attack; bastards really hated the Yanks, didn’t they? In response, the entire island of Manhattan had been put under lockdown, or at least, that was what the announcement had said. That was a lot of manpower, so this wasn’t just an investigation; they wanted to keep someone in, and that someone probably wasn’t Bill from accounting. Who knew how long the lockdown would last. If it didn’t end soon, people would start panicking, so it was probably best to be off the streets. The apartment he shared with his roommates was in Chelsea, so getting there was probably the best option. QED. Jacky sighed, ever-so-slightly disappointed that his survival plan had ended up being so simple.

Jacky got to his feet, trying to flag down a cab before all the other people trying to get home. Chelsea it was.

Apartment Complex in Chelsea – 7:00 PM

Jacky stepped into the dim apartment, flicking on the lights as he entered. “Hello?” he called, although he didn’t really expect a response.

To his surprise, he got one, but it came from his pocket rather than the apartment. A chirpy beep-beep sounded from his COMP. “Huh?” Jacky said, pulling out the device and flipping it open. The COMP hadn’t gotten any signal, 4G, wi-fi, cell or otherwise; Jacky had checked again on the ride home. Yet there it was, an impossible message, for more than one reason.

COMP Service
1 new Notification.

A new App has been delivered!
The Demon Summoning App has been successfully installed.
Have a nice day!

“When did you download?” Jacky muttered, reading the words a second time to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Demon summoning app? He tapped in his password, unlocking the device proper. The upper corner of the screen was as blank as it had been thirty minutes ago. No wireless signal whatsoever. But the app was there, defying all logic, a little red icon sitting innocently in the corner of his screen, right between E-mail and Angry Birds.

Jacky reached for the icon, tapping it with his finger.

Demon Summoning Program Initialized

"Hmm..."

 

[Zero Nexus]

James Kane
Hamilton Heights
6:31 PM

The sun was starting to set over Manhattan. James Kane wandered the streets aimlessly, although to no avail for his goal. All he wanted was to find any signs of where his family would be, but all the areas he came across were either rife with people looking for shelter, or empty altogether.

James groaned tiredly. "This sucks. I'm not getting anywhere."

To think, not too long ago this was a perfectly nice neighborhood. Seeing the city in the midst of chaos was not just different, but also very annoying. How was James supposed to find his family in a place this big? They could be anywhere.

All of a sudden, a scream was heard from the distance. Sounded like a girl's. James stopped briefly to get a bearing on where it came from, before heading off in that direction.

James soon came to an empty street with rows of small shops. There were no people in sight, making it perfect for a demon to hide and wait for unsuspecting prey. No sign of who made the scream though.

GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR- a faint growling noise was heard in the distance. The sound seemed to be coming from the alleyway nearby. As jack ran towards the entrance to the alley, he pinpointed the source of the noise - a small girl, no older than 7 or 8, being chased by a trio of small blue demons.

James sighed. "Great, now I have to waste my time with these things..."

The demons spotted James and darted straight at him, seemingly forgetting about the girl. James didn't move, until they were about half way there. In a sudden movement, he whipped out his COMP and touched the screen a couple of times.

"Ogun!"

In a flash of light, the tribal mummy demon Ogun appeared before its opponents, looking ready for a fight.

The demons stop to assess the situation, before charging at Ogun. Before the demons even knew what was happening, Ogun lets out a roar and hurls it's spear forward, impaling one of the demons right between it's eyes, causing it to vanish in a cluster of pixels.

The other two demons flare up with rage and charge at James and Ogun.

"Agi." James commands simply. Ogun responds by holding out the palm not being used to hold the spear, and a flurry of flames shoot out from Ogun's palm. The demon didn't stand a chance and was instantly burned alive.

The final demon realized it could not win, and begins to flee towards the sky.

"Don't let it escape." James orders. Ogun takes aim, and hurls it's spear at the demon. BULLSEYE! The spear impaled the demon from behind, destroying it.

James breathes a sigh of relief and touches his COMP. Ogun disappears in a flash, and James walks towards the girl, who was still cowering on the floor.

"You alright?"

The girl nods hesitantly.

"Where are your parents?"

The girl points to the main road coming out of the alley. Down the road a mile or so is a refugee camp. It's likely she was referring to there.

James rolls his eyes and helps the girl to her feet. "Come on, can't exactly leave you here. I'll find your parents."

The pair exit the alleyway and walk towards the camp down the road.

 

[TheSequelReturns]

- The Day Before -

For each person who received the summoning app, the reactions were the same. Shock, surprise, curiosity. Most couldn't resist the temptation of opening it. Of clicking that little icon that would change their destiny forever.

Once activated, the Summoning App took over the entire COMP. The screens turned black and walls of archaic text, programming language, numbers, and strange symbols shot across the screen. The access lights flashed wildly. Finally, the screen froze on two single lines of text:

Peaceful days died.

Let's Survive.

The screens whitewashed, and burst of light appeared nearby, bringing a demon with it.

---


Adam Hayes
Times square - 7:15 PM

The demon summoned by Adam's COMP was a small pink fairy, just a bit larger than a butterfly. Appearing like a small girl, it wore a dress and had its black hair tied back in a ponytail. She locked her red eyes on Adam and batted her long eyelashes at him.

"So, this is the human world?" it said. It gave a small laugh, but it was a strange, alien sound. Not like a human laugh at all. "And you must be my summoner?" she flashed a cute smile. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to kill you." A fireball appeared in her tiny hand and she tossed it at Adam...

---


Julia Wilczyński
Lower East Side - 7:15 PM

The demon summoned by Julia's COMP was small and wolf-like. It sniffed the air curiously, almost cute with its diminutive appearance and silky black fur. When it caught sight of Julia however, it froze. It hunched down and bared its teeth in a growl that sounded too vicious to come from such a little wolf. It barked and edged forward, finally charging Julia with its fangs bared...

---


Lucia Lindström & Alex Ganston
Turtle Bay - 7:15 PM

Lucia'a COMP called out a small greenish demon that looked a bit like a squirrel, if squirrels had long clawed limbs and a snout that looked like a feral beast. A small tube was strapped to its back, as though it were delivering something. It looked up at Lucia with a glint in its eye and began chattering. Without warning, it began bounding at Lucia, leaping at her with its claws at the ready...

Meanwhile, in another part of Turtle Bay, Alex Ganston found himself face to face with a small yellow lizard. It was splotched all over with purplish-black and its huge green eyes seemed to gleam. A cluster of colorful crests rested on its head. It almost looked like a little dragon. As with the others, the peace didn't last long. The small creature raised up and began to fire sharp spines at Alex...

---


Salem Jeremic & Isaac Kreutzev
Central Park - 7:15 PM

Salem's COMP summoned him a guest, and he found himself sharing his bench with a elegant, beautiful woman dressed luxuriously in white linen. The charm was lessened somewhat by the fact that her head was a large green frog's head.

"Oh dear." she said. "Have I been summoned? It's been some time... the human world isn't quite how I remember it." Her frog-like eyes turned to regard Salem. "I'm afraid you'll have to die dearie, freedom is a blessing after all." She raised her hand and shot a blast of water at Salem.

Elsewhere in Central Park, Isaac was facing his own demon. It looked like him, more or less, as if Isaac had become a vampire. "My my, I've been summoned." The demon raised his arms and gave himself a once-over. "A little pathetic really." His skin erupted into cracks, like a breaking statue. His eyes became jet black and a pair of demonic wings sprouted from his back. When he smiled, his teeth were like daggers. "There, much better. Now, to deal with my summoner..." He said, claws raised.

---


Cole Culain
Upper East Side - 7:15 PM

The demon summoned from Cole's COMP appeared to be a ball of lightning. Fangs and claws and eyes formed and unformed before it finally settled into the shape of a small white and electric blue weasel. Its fur sparked with electricity, in fact its whole body seemed to be made of electricity. It regarded Cole curiously. "You." it said sharply. "Must defeat." A pulse of electricity came out of the demon, aimed at Cole...

---


Drew Aurum
Midtown (Hotel) - 7:15 PM

A woman appeared in Drew's hotel room in a burst of light, summoned by his COMP. Her skin was purple, and she wore an elegant yellow dress and high heels. Wings sprouted from her back, and her smile was one of sharp teeth and hunger. "The human world..." she said with a bit of wonder. Her eyes locked on Drew. "Then you must be my summoner. I value my freedom you see, so I'm going to have to kill you." She locked eyes with Drew and smiled, showing off her fangs.

---


Jacky di Senna
Chelsea (Apartment) - 7:15 PM

A samurai was suddenly standing in Jacky's apartment. The impossibly huge figure turned slowly, its ancient battle damaged armor creaking and clanking. It stood taller and had more presence than any human should have had. "Those who call on me..." it rasped, "should know one thing..." It turned to regard Jacky, revealing the empty-socketed skull that was its face. "I serve no master." Its hand moved to its sword and it charged Jacky...

---


Sophia Metcalfe
Battery Park - 7:15 PM

With a burst of light, a small demon appeared by Sophia. It too was leaning against the wall. The demon seemed to be made of snow, or something close to it. Its head was round and its body short and tubby. It was dressed in blue overalls with a blue twin-tailed hat and gloves. Its eyes were black voids and its grinning mouth had only two tiny vampire teeth. "Hee ho!" it chirped. "The hee human world! Have I been summoned ho?" It held an arm up to its head and looked around before spotting Sophia. "Oh! Summoner! Sorry, but I have to hee ho kill you!" The demon cried as it started tossing snowballs randomly, freezing everything he hit.

---


James Kane
Hamilton Heights - 7:15 PM

James' COMP called forth a demon wrapped in bandages. Its face was covered entirely by a round tribal looking mask made of silver, and it had a wicked looking spear in its hand. It hopped up and down, brandishing the spear and shaking the green dreadlocks on its head around. "ME OGUN!" it cried. "YOU SUMMON ME? THEN ME KILL!" It started stabbing at James with its spear, shouting all the while.

---


COMP Service

1 New Message!

The Harmonizer is now active.

This feature makes it possible to attack demons and lessens the effects of their attacks on humans.

Have a nice day!

 

[Firebrand]

Cole Culain
Upper East Side
7:15 pm

"-ll?!"

The bolt of lightning struck him, and the young man screamed. The raw surge of energy hummed through his veins, making his back arch and his fingers curl. When the energy dissipated, Cole took a deep breath. "So, not dead? Not dead. All right, first good thing to happen all day." Deciding now was not the time to question his good luck, he settled into a fighting stance and glowered at the electric creature that was even now baring its fangs at him. "You said you had to fight me? Well, I guess your bark is worse than your bite, because I've gotten worse shocks from my bedsheets."

The ermine hissed and shot another bolt of lightning from her fur, but this time Cole was prepared. He dropped down to rolled out of the way, and the bolt harmlessly struck the wall behind him, tearing into the stonework. "I want to be free!" the creature shrieked, and leapt at Cole. The young man's right hand shot out and clasped the demon around her midsection as she tried to claw at his face. She released another static discharge, but Cole merely gritted his teeth and tightened his grasp.

"I want answers, Fuzzball," he growled. "What the hell are you, and why are you trying to kill me?"

The ermine only yowled and managed to squirm out of his grasp, panting heavily. When she leapt at him again, Cole didn't bother to mince words. His left leg shot out and caught her with a kick, sending the strange creature sprawling across the pavement. "Stupid human!" Her teeth and claws glinted as she rocketed through the air, and Cole once again fell back. As the white ermine dove at his face, he brought up his fist and slammed the demon against the nearest wall. She sank her teeth into his knuckles, and Cole recoiled with a cry. As the demon prepared another electric shock, Cole delivered another quick kick and pinned the ermine under his shoe.

The creature gave a howl that far more befit a wolf than an ermine and released the static charge, but Cole only applied more pressure with his foot. "Why didn't that work?" the demon wailed.

"Rubber soles!" Cole crowed in triumph. "Now, you tell me what the hell is going on here or else. I'm not sure how you... work, but I'm pretty sure if I crush your skull under my heel, you'll be in a world of hurt."

"Don't do that, please," the demon pleaded. "You beat me, fair and square. I guess that means," and here she gave a little gulping sob, "that the contract is sealed. You're my master now, to order me as you will."

Cole raised his right eyebrow. "So... you're like my servant?"

"I prefer vassal."

"I'll meet you in the middle and settle for valet."

"Go f*ck yourself, human. I'm not carrying your baggage."

This elicited a genuine laugh. "Call me Cole. Or, you know, Master Cole if it suits you. Or your highness. Ooh, your grace has a nice ring to it. Whichever you like, I'm pretty flexible."

"I'll call you sh*t for brains if you keep that up." The ermine struggled against his foot. "Now can you let me up? I'm not gonna hurt you anymore, and your shoe is bloody heavy."

Cole obliged and crouched down to be closer to her level. "So, Fuzzball, you got a name?"

The ermine drew herself up and preened her whiskers. "I am Chifumi the Raiju, eighth order, formerly of the House of Raijin, King of All Skies."

"Ha, well ain't that a mouthful for a tiny thing like yourself!"

"If I so chose, human, I could be as large as a thundercloud! Or... I used to be able to..." She sank down and her whiskers drooped.

Cole shrugged. "Still, I like Fuzzball better than Chifumi." At the demon's groan, the young man merely smiled. "I think you've got a lot to tell me about what's going on here." He glanced over to an abandoned vendors cart and snatched a bag of roasted chestnuts. "Tell you what. For every question you answer for me, I'll give you one of these. And since I'm a nice guy, the first one's gratis." He passed her one of the candied nuts, and Chifumi bolted it down, her eyes going wide with pleasure. Cole popped one into his own mouth and grinned, offering her his arm. "Climb on up, Fuzzball. I guess we've got work to do."

The ermine gave a fanged grin and hopped up to perch on his shoulder. "I suppose you're an acceptable partner, Cole. Well, at least as far as humans go. Let's survive."

 

[Niihyl]

Jacky di Senna
An Apartment in Chelsea – 7:15 PM

Text flashed across the COMP screen, and the device’s lights flickered wildly. It looked like code, with brackets galore, but in no language Jacky had ever seen before. The syntax was bizarre, littered with characters that didn’t exist on any human keyboard. Whatever it was, Jacky was growing more and more convinced that this wasn’t some new game.

And then, it stopped. There were two lines of text on the screen, written in plain English.

Peaceful days died.
Let’s Survive.​

A brilliant light shone from Jacky’s COMP, brighter than the LCD screen could have possibly produced. When the light subsided, Jacky was no longer alone in his apartment. A massive figure stood before him, clad in ancient, battle-worn samurai armor. Jacky bent his neck back, gazing terrified into the undead warrior’s empty eyes.

“Those who call on me…” it began, “should know one thing. I serve no master.” The samurai drew the longer of its two swords and charged forward with surprising speed.

Jacky yelped and fell back, crawling away on all fours. The samurai’s blade swung in a wide arc above Jacky’s head, cleaving through the drywall as easily as a knife through butter.

“Oh f-f**k!” Jacky cried, scrambling for the door. He turned the knob and flung it open, running out into the empty hallway.

“Such a coward seeks to call himself my master?” the demon asked, its armor clanking as it gave chase.

Jacky ran to the end of the hallway, gasping for breath. His eyes flicked about wildly for something that could save his life. “C’mon! C’mon, Jacky, use your head!” he muttered. Finally, he found it.

“You dishonor yourself,” the samurai intoned from across the hall. “Fight!”

“Hell no,” Jacky said, his voice cracking. With a swift movement, he threw grabbed the fire alarm and pulled.

Sirens blared throughout the apartment building, and the sprinklers snapped on, dousing Jacky and the samurai. The demon looked up warily for a moment, and then looked back to Jacky. “So you can call rain and the screaming of the gods. Such tricks will not save you.”

“No, but they will.” Several doors along the hallway opened as Jacky’s neighbors ran out in fear of fire. Jacky chuckled, a touch hysterical, and turned for the stairs.

“Begone!” Jacky heard the samurai shout, followed by screaming. He glanced back to see panicked men and women running down the hallway, as far from the demon as possible. A decapitated head bounced across the ground in a widening pool of blood. Swallowing back bile, he continued his escape, shoving his way past the other occupants of his apartment complex.

“Ey, f**k off!” Jacky stopped at the stairwell, hiding behind the door. He looked back to see a tall, bulky man bashing the undead warrior’s head in with a fire extinguisher. The samurai actually lost its balance, falling to one knee as the man continued to wail on it. Everyone else was standing safely back, glancing at one another. A few of the braver ones began to sidle forward, wondering if they should help.

A beep from his pocket indicated that Jacky had a notification. He flipped his COMP open, checking the message in case it was from the program.

---

COMP Service
1 New Message!

The Harmonizer is now active.

This feature makes it possible to attack demons and lessens the effects of their attacks on humans.

Have a nice day!

---

Jacky looked back up at the man. “Works on everyone, I guess?” he murmured to himself. Suddenly, the samurai roared, drawing his shorter sword and swiftly impaling the man attacking it. The man grunted, and fell backward, somehow still alive. He struggled to stand before the samurai removed his head from his shoulders. The man fell, joining the other corpses on the ground. The dented fire extinguisher fell from his hand, rolling towards Jacky. The rest of the crowd turned tail and ran.

“I’m such an idiot,” he spat, lifting the fire extinguisher in both hands. The demon was facing away from him, stumbling slightly as it rose to its feet. Jacky leapt from his hiding place, swinging the fire extinguisher around like a baseball bat. The impact jarred his elbows, knocking the samurai’s skull from its shoulders. The armored head clattered to the ground, rolling slowly to a stop.

“Very well,” the skull rasped quietly. “I serve once more… my lord.”

“Go the hell away,” Jacky whispered. The demon dissolved into light, and the boy fell to his knees, breathing hard. He knelt there for what felt like a long while before he felt someone grasp his shoulders.

“Jacky di Senna, the hardest motherf**er in New York!” came the cry. “Who woulda thought?”

Jacky blinked, looking up into the face of one of his neighbors. It was… Mick? No, Mike. Mike Laschmann, professional layabout.

“You’re a hero, man! You killed that thing! When it got Joseph, I thought we were real f**ked, but you came out of nowhere!”

Images flashed through Jacky’s head. He saw innocent people dying, spraying blood everywhere. Blank-faced heads kept rolling… rolling… rolling. All these dead faces, but none of them were his own.

Jacky smiled weakly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

His COMP beeped in his pocket. Jacky got to his feet. “I… I need to be alone for a bit, Mike. Take a breather.”

Mike glanced over at the bodies littering the floor near Jacky’s door, his joviality slipping for a moment. “Your apartment’s over there, right? Yeah, s**t... Take mine instead, man.” Mike pulled out his keys, tugging one off of the ring. “Take a moment, and then let me buy you a drink, aight? Tonight, I think the cops can go f**k themselves. Not that anyone could call 'em anyway.”

Jacky nodded, accepting the key. He let himself into Mike’s apartment, closing and locking the door behind him. He drew his COMP from his pocket, flicking it open. “Now, let’s see what we have here.”

 

[Schade]

Isaac Kreutzev
Central Park
7:15 PM

"W.. What the?" Isaac stuttered, looking at the monster that had appeared in a flash before hmi after he had activated the New app on his COMP. At first, he had appeared as a cute Young man With a confident look upon his face, then he had suddenly changed into some sort of monster With wings, and lunged himself towards Isaac. "There, much better. Now, to deal with my summoner..." He had said, much to Isaac's confusion. "D.. d... deal With? What do you mean? What are you?!". Isaac was Close to a pani attack, though it really wasn't News that the hot guy was after him. It was kinda like high School all over again, just a bit more Dangerous. The monster stopped a few feet away from him, and his black wings disappeared, like a dim dark shadow that silently vanish before light. At this distance, Isaac could see the monster up Close. His skin was pale white and cracked, looking like a statue, and his eyes were Pitch black, and empty of all emotion. But while Isaac was inspecting the creature in front of him, the creature suddenly changed back into the guy Isaac had first seen.

"Wow.. You're pertty New to this, aren't you?" The monster laughed at him, making Isaac feel uncomfortable and stupid. "Well, seeing as I'll kill you anyway, I can at least grant you the idea of why you died here today" the monster continued. "I am a Demon and you summoned me, now I'll kill you and earn my freedom, got it? Good!" he then said very quickly so that Isaac almost didn't get what he said. The demon took his oppurtunity and changed back into his demon form, lunging at Isaac With his claws in a rough speed, knocking Isaac a few feet away and pushing him to the ground. After this, Isaac noticed that his COMP was vibrating again, though he didn't have the time to check it now.

COMP Service
1 New Message!

The Harmonizer is now active.

This feature makes it possible to attack demons and lessens the effects of their attacks on humans.

Have a nice day!

Isaac looked at his left arm, and Three not-too-deep slashes were visible, and he was bleeding slightly. The demon said that in order to earn his freedom, he had to kill me? Then the oposite must be true as well! he thought. He quickly stood up, bracing himself for the demons NeXT attack, which came almost immediatly. Isaac stepped aside and lunged a powerful kick, which hit the demon in its stomach, knocking it backwards. "Ugh.. You're so gonna regret that!" the demon coughed, as he readied himself for a New move, but when the demon just stood there, holding out his hand, Isaac knew he had to move. And good was that. A Fireball incinerated the bench behind the Place Isaac had stood just a second ago. "Holy sh*t!" Isaac gasped as he continued to avoid Fireballs.

Though, Isaac knew that he couldn't avoid Fireballs forever, he managed to come up With a plan. The demon was fiering Fireballs at wherever Isaac moved, so he could use that at his advantage. As he was moving more and moer closer to the demon, he managed to pick up an iron pipe that appeared after a Fireball had his a hot dog-stand and its unfortunate owner. "Come any closer.. and die!" the demon shrieked as it lunged itself towards Isaac again, claws rised. Isaac took his oppurtunity, and held up the iron pipe, and hit it With all his might in the demons stomach before it could slash him again. The demon went Down With a high pitched screech, like if someone was scratching a blackboard.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The demon then sat up, and Isaac braced himself for a New attack, but nothing happened. The demon just sat there, changing into his human form again. He was pretty. His hair was silvery white, and his eyes were red, placed in the face of a f***ing supermodel, of the kind that made other guys jealous.

"So.. It's come to this, huh?" The demon said in a suprisingly childish voice. "I am a disgrace to the Family! Man, Lilith's gonna murder me!". He then suddenly burst out in a mini panic attack, making Isaac even more confused. First, a demon-supermodel appeared and tried to kill him, then it burst into a panic attack in fear of being killed? Now, that's not very logical.. Isaac thought as he took a step foreward. The demon noticed his apparence, and went quiet.

"What do you want?" he mumbled, almost sounding scared.

"Uhm.. Er.. I.. I want some answers!" Isaac tried sounding tough, and he actually did want some answers to the weird scenario that happened.

"Sure. What do you want to know?" The demon said , openly irritated.

"Oh.." Isaac did not expect it to be this easy to get answers from him. "Why did you try to kill me? And why have you suddenly stopped?"

"Man. You really didn't pay attention back there, did you?" the demon sighed. "Killing Our summoners for Our freedom, that's kinda what we do" He did not seem as cocky and confident as he did before, for some reason

"Demons, huh?" Isaac said. "What're Your plans now? Going back to hell or something?"

"Nah. You're my master now" the demon said With an overly dramatic sob. "And you, my dear sir, seem to need some help if you want to survive in this New world order"

"W... What?" Isaac said, not really wanting to know exactly what the demon meant by its Words.

After giving it some thought, Isaac decided that it was probably for the best to have a guardian, seeing as he probably wasn't the only Demon around. "Sure, I can live With that"

Isaac stood up above the demon and held out his hand, to which the demon grabbed and stood up. "I am Chrona, the Incubus. You're humble servant" he said With a graceful bow. "I'm Isaac, Nice to meet you" Isaac replied, simply just glad to have made a friend.. Kinda

 

[rotrum]

Salem Jeremic
Central Park
7:15 PM

Salem's eyes traced through the myriad of symbols that filled the screen of his COMP, trying to make some sense of it between the code that in theory he should be able to find SOMETHING about, and the archaic symbols which he vaguely recognized from museums. Still, nothing meaningful came to mind as he tried to analyze the occurrence...Nothing until the words, "Peaceful days died. Let's Survive"

Well, this was one hell of an intro, to whatever this was, he thought, an eyebrow raised before it burst into light. He closed his eyes instinctively, and when he opened them a women had appeared behind him. Sort of. Her head was that of a frogs, and that sparked a small realization. He'd seen her before. In the Classical Ancient Egyptian Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art that he's literally only just come out of an hour ago. Her clothing style and the fact that her head was a frog convinced him that there was an Egyptian Goddess sitting next to him. Or a damn good cosplayer. His inner desire for adventure and magic, which was quickly getting closer to becoming outer, really hoped for the former.

"Oh dear." she said. "Have I been summoned? It's been some time... the human world isn't quite how I remember it. I'm afraid you'll have to die dearie, freedom is a blessing after all." From her hand poured forth a jet of high intensity water, directly at him.

Salem processed her words very quickly, relating the summon with the Demon Summoning App and the human world having changed to Ancient Egypt, probably. And the fact that she wanted to kill him with the blast of water she created.

He reflexively intertwined his foot under the bench, a bit of it sticking through the polished wood bars between them, as he lifted the trenchcoat, flourishing it apart as he held it taut at diagonals. Quickly realizing he'd be overwhelmed, he let his foot out from between the bars and changed the angle the water hit his makeshift tarp, letting it push him over the handrest. He used the momentum to do an awkward tumble, bringing him on his hands and knees with a bit of difficulty and pain, but fast enough.

He hastily pulled the trench coat on, his eyes glimpsing the new message on his COMP that must have appeared right after she did, before putting it in a pocket of his waterproof trench coat for safekeeping. In theory, this model was moderately waterproof but he never did trust electronics companies when they claimed that.

"Resourceful," She said, a genuine compliment. "But I'm afraid that this is too important." She stood up gracefully, water coming out from her feet forming an expanding puddle that froze from the center, a wave of water. A ball of pressurized water began expanding in her hand.

He jumped over the expanding puddle onto the bench, quickly throwing his foot out in a close arc, a short kick that he could retreat from quickly. His foot slammed into her stomach, and she stepped backwards, throwing the ball of water at him. As his foot returned from the kick, he used it as a pivot point, spinning on that point, and tripping over the other side of the bench. I need some more practice with this... He through bitterly, as his shoulder fell into the ice, some of the damage being absorbed by his sliding along its smooth surface.

He hooked a foot under one of the bench's legs, painfully aware that this ice was too smooth to get much traction on, and grabbed the other with his hand, kicking from the farther leg as his body slid around the center-point of the bench leg, his legs slamming into hers and forcing her to fall on her own ice, water splashing everywhere that she'd probably been prepared to attack him with.

He used her for leverage, slamming his legs down on her and then pulling himself closer as he bent his legs, hand grabbing at her arm. Stepping on her, he grabbed the park bench and slowly got up while pinning her down.

Her head turned to the side. "I concede. You are my master." The ice melted and the water disappeared, not vaporized, but disappeared. The water that filled his hair and covered his trenchcoat also faded as her body disappeared...or..shrank. Her head shrank as her body morphed into that of a rather normal looking frog.

Salem grinned, even if he was unsure if she'd really just given up on killing him or if she was preparing herself for another attack when he wasn't paying attention, the sheer magic of it all made his skin tingle with delight. His normal stoicism had an almost childish glee.

The frog jumped up onto the bench, her voice unchanged as she spoke in this form. "I am Heqet, Egyptian Goddess of Fertility. A demon who you have summoned. You've beaten me and my contract sealed, I am in your service. My powers are mostly defensive and healing." A gentle mist rose around Salem, a light glowing off her and being caught in the steam, much like smoke at a light show. He blinked, the pain of his various falls and impacts being slowly alleviated.

This is going to be an interesting lockdown. He thought, biting his lip gently to return neutrality to his face. He doubted the lockdown and the summoned demon were unrelated and he'd read enough stories to know that when something like this happened, it would happen to more than one person. "I see." He looked around, wary of any other demons that might be around.

"Oh, I don't expect there to be very many loose demons around the place just yet." She said in a calming manner. "Other summoners may have brought a few loose ones out, but we don't seem to be anywhere highly populated." She gestured around her, looking strange as it was with her frog limbs.

Salem stood up, figuring that this would go best if he could find allies, other people sucked into this. He started walking slowly along the footpath, his footsteps silent as Heqet hopped alongside him unquestioningly.

 

[Monster Guy]

Adam Hayes
Times square - 7:15 PM

Once Adam clicked the icon to start the app, the screens turned black and walls of unreadable text, numbers, and strange symbols shot across his COMP's screen. The access lights flashed wildly. "What the hell is goin' on now?!" Adam shouted as he violently shook the device. "Don't tell me I downloaded a virus?!"

Finally, the screen froze on two single lines of text:

Peaceful days died.

Let's Survive.

He raised an eyebrow. "Ok then..."

The screens then turned white, and burst of light appeared nearby. A small pink fairy materialized from the light. She looked like a small girl, she wore a dress that matched her skin tone, and had orange flame patterns on it. Her hair had its black hair tied back in a ponytail. When she came into being, she locked her red eyes on Adam and batted her long eyelashes at him.

"So, this is the human world?" she said. She gave a small laugh, but this was no ordinary girlish giggle. It was otherworldly, and wasn't like any sound Adam had heard before. "And you must be my summoner?" she flashed a cute smile. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to kill you."

When he saw his demon, Adam was seething. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" The young man exclaimed. "When I saw Demon Summoner, I expected something cool. Not some...stupid pink princess or somethin'. Ooh, whatcha' gonna do? Throw Fairy Dust at me or somethin'? Oh no, that's the worst thing ever! HA! Stop wastin' my time and bring a real demon out here."

The Demon didn't seem fazed by that comment at all. Either she didn't hear him, or just didn't care. A fireball appeared in her tiny hand and she tossed it at Adam.

"Yow!" Adam's green eyes widened as his reflexes kicked in. He barely managed to crouch down in time to avoid that fireball. Once the flame had passed overhead, Adam stood back up, and looked behind him. The fire had hit a nearby parked car, setting it ablaze. Everyone nearby that had been staring at this pink fairy started to panic, and ran around screaming in terror.

The pink fairy just shook her head in disapproval. "These humans are afraid of a little fire? Ooh, this is going to be sooo much fun! I can hardly wait to play here!" Then she turned her attention back to Adam. She looked quite proud about what she just did. "I just need to deal with you first. Hmph, anyway, what was that you were saying?"

Adam turned around to face her. "I'll admit, ya got spunk. I like that. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let some little pixie scare me just because she can throw fire! After all, I'm Adam Hayes, the awesomest guy ever!" He flexed his arms proudly, "and I'm definitely no pussy."

The Demon rolled her eyes at the "little pixie" comment, but said nothing.

He looked at his COMP, and saw a new message on the screen.

COMP Service
1 New Message!

The Harmonizer is now active.

This feature makes it possible to attack demons and lessens the effects of their attacks on humans.

Have a nice day!

A smirk appeared on Adam's face when he read that. He put his COMP back into his pocket. "Now, if ya want a piece of me..." He balled his right hand into a fist, and ran towards the demon with his arm out. "Then come get some! YAHHHHH!" He started running faster, and tried to punch the fairy as hard as he could.

But she had expected that. Still keeping the smug look on her face, she simply hovered a few inches upward, and dodged Adam's punch completely.

Because of all the momentum Adam had built up, when his punch had missed it's target, he instead tripped and fell face first onto the concrete ground. "Ow! God damn it!" He rubbed his bruised cheeks as he picked himself off the ground.

The pink fairy flew closer to Adam's face. "Hehe, silly human. If you're going to be so predictable, then killing you will be so easy. And that's no fun at all. I wanted a challenge. Oh well, I guess I'll have to finish this up quick so I can have some real fun!." She raised her arm, and prepared to launch another fireball.

And Adam cupped his hands around her, and caught her before her fireball could fully form. Which took her completely by surprise. "Gotcha!" He then grabbed her by the wings with his fingers, and pulled her close to himself. "You talk too much, ya know that? You may be able to throw fire, but your still the size of a bug."

The demon wriggled around, struggling to get free. "HEY! PUT ME DOWN YOU... MEANIE HEAD!"

The redheaded boy rolled his eyes. "Meanie head? Really? That's the best ya got? That's just pitiful. Normally, I have a soft spot for chicks. But you have been a pain in the ass. Maybe I should just rip these wings off of ya. That would make it really hard for ya ta get away from these humans tryin' to squish ya' wouldn't it?"

Her eyes widened, and she let out a yelp from fear. "Eep, no! Not my wings! I need them! Ugh! Fine, I give up! You win. You're my master now. NOW LET ME GO PLEASE!"

Adam smirked as he released the demon from his grip. The truth was, even though she probably deserved it, he couldn't bring himself to follow through with that threat. He wasn't sure what he would've done if she had actually called his bluff. "There we go, that's more like it. Now, what's your name?"

She took a seat on Adam's shoulder. Her mood seemed to brighten quickly once she was released. "I'm Hua Po!"

"Huh?! Wapo?! What kind of name is that?! That sounds like somethin' a fuckin' baby would come up with?! You may be a pink fairy, but if you're going to work for me, then I'm gonna give ya a name that's more badass." He rubbed his chin while he thought of an appropriate nickname. "Look I'm just gonna call you... Pyra! It's like Pyro, which is a cool sounding word that means Fire. But since you're a girl... you'll be Pyra instead."

Pyra rolled her eyes. "I guess..."

"Great!" Adam took off walking foward. His face lit up with a childish glee. Though he didn't have any particular direction in mind, or any goal other than getting through this lockdown in one piece. He felt a lot better having a demon by his side. Even if she wasn't quite what he would've liked in a demon partner.

 

[Blivsey]

Lucia Lindström
Turtle Bay - 7:15 PM

> Peaceful days died.
> Let's survive.

As the app launched itself, the COMP screen began to glow white. Not that the tablet-like device was displaying a white screen - more like it was actually shining a light outward. Startled, Lucia shoved it back into her canvas bag with an appropriately-frantic yelp. Her round face now flushing red, she glanced left and right to check if anyone was staring at her. Fortunately enough, this was Manhattan in the middle of mild public unrest. Nobody was any more likely to pay her any attention to her fumbling than to her curvy physique. Really, the only one looking directly at her at the moment was a stray squirrel. She couldn't seem to remember the "tree rats" (as some people back home called them) being quite so large. Or green. Or carrying mail tubes.

Or jumping straight at herohmygodgetitoff.

As far as her brain was concerned, in that exact instant, there was no other option for Lucia other than for her to shriek out in fear and claw at the creature that had suddenly latched itself onto her face. So she did exactly that for about the following thirteen seconds. Thirteen full seconds of thrashing around in a rough circle and shouting while able to see nothing more than a moss-green, furry underbelly. It was almost by chance that she flung both of her arms at the enormous rodent at once, grabbing clumps of mottled fur about its mane out of reflex and tearing it away from herself. The creature held on, to be sure, but she pulled it off of herself, still clawing, and threw the demon as far away as possible.

Gasping for air, Lucia took stock of her surroundings. The beastly squirrel was now grappling on to the chest of a darker-skinned man with too-loose jeans. Any and all other pedestrians had backed away in complete shock. Lucia herself was still drawing blanks. Where exactly had that monster come from all of a sudden? Also, how was it a possibility in the first place? And how long until that not-squirrel spotted her again? It had already skittered away from the other man after taking a hit upside the skull and was looking back and forth frantically while chattering an earthly chatter.

Y'know what? Questions later. Run now.

Lucia reached over and snatched her bags, taking advantage of the already-spread crowd to take off down the street at full bore. Squeaking, screeching behind her. There went question three. Lucia slid past people who barely had the time to move out of the way and ducked through those who hadn't at all. Charging, weaving, she barely covered any distance before finding herself at a crosswalk. Grinding to a sudden halt, she pulled a 180-degree turn. No way she was going to outrun a rodent here. Gotta just anticipate it, get the jump on 'im, use her size advantage. So, as she spotted the green demon-squirrel darting out from between some poor salaryman's legs, she stepped back on her right foot, raised her open hands up to her bust level...

And punted that ratty animal into the sky.

Admittedly, her kick didn't send it very far. But it wasn't really necessary that she did. Years of playing soccer in high school had given her fair control over all manner of kicking motions, letting her direct the demon to a firm landing in the middle of a busy street. And the thing about New York City streets was, nobody really thinks twice about hitting a small rodent. And that taxi driver sure didn't, either. Just a little bump for him, and that demon was laying flat on its side on the curb. Now there was a real relief. Re-shouldering her bags, it occurred to Lucia that this might be one of the only times in her life where it'd be really appropriate to use a one-liner. But the best she could come up with on the spot was:

"Talk about your roadside assistance."

...meh. Could've been better. Still better than some of those crummy spy movies her dad used to watch. 7/10?

But the thing just wouldn't stay down. Given, it was limping and drooping its tail, but it was up all the same. Lucia automatically lifted her arms up in front of her again. But this time, the demon squirrel wasn't even trying to attack her. Instead, it just stopped to squat at her feet, staring up at her like some abused animal. Almost pitiful, if not for the scratch marks it had presumably left on her forehead and jaw. Warily, Lucia reached out her hand toward it, somehow feeling like this would not be a bad idea despite all of the supposed "rational" arguments that no, it would more than likely just bite her fingers off. Bending her knees, she dropped just low enough to touch it on the nose.

The very second the two made contact, the barbaric rodent flashed a bright white, the same that COMP had blinded her with just a few minutes ago. Now just a silhouette, its body changed shape into a small orb and shot up into the air, then dove back down into her bag. Lucia jumped a bit, chancing a peek at where it had just disappeared. Her COMP wasn't acting like a flashlight any more, but instead displaying a second message at her in the same style as the earlier notification. What it said, she couldn't catch for being too distracted by shouting going on around her. Very angry shouting, at that.

"What did she just pull?"

"Frickin' demons, man! She's a gorramn sorceress!"

"That's why we're being penned up here, isn't it? Whatever that was! It's her!"

Blue eyes wide, Lucia swiveled her head as fast as it could turn. Once again the normally-tight crowd was backing away from here, but this time all gazes were directed at her. Some terrified. Others furious. Absolutely none of them positive. And Lucia couldn't even explain what she had just managed to do to earn this. She pored back over everything since her COMP lit up in her own mind. All of it incomprehensible. She could only stand there, frozen, until she caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye.

Not even processing her own actions, Lucia sprinted in the opposite direction, right into the street. Cars stopped. Lucky. Reached the other side intact. Didn't stop there, kept running. She'd sort this out later, on somebody's fire escape if that ended up being a safe place. Until then, just make a break for it.

 

[*Jean Grey*]

Julia Wilczyński
Lower East Side - 7:15 PM

As the app loaded, the screen of Julia's COMP turned black, as walls of text that looked neither Polish, English nor Italian appeared, combined with numbers and symbols. The access lights of her COMP flashed as the text filled the screen. It looked oddly like something had gone wrong. Julia shook her COMP as she saw this, muttering curses directed towards the weird app, Marcello and whoever owned the device before Giovanni obtained it. She had no patience or time to deal with this.

"Marcello, you idiot! This better not be your damn mistake! What the hell is screwing with me?!" She grumbled as she hit the device twice against her right palm. As she did so, the wall of text disappeared and was replaced by two phrases on the black screen.

Peaceful days died.
Let's survive.

What the fuck does that mean?

The black background and the text disappeared, the screen turning a luminous white, a white so bright that it seemed to emit light outside of the screen. Julia placed the device back into her pocket, thinking that it fixed itself up after all. The crowd around her was still moving, and she decided that she had to hurry. The lockdown was the perfect opportunity for the police to herd away anyone, and Julia did not survive free of arrest for as long as she did without knowing how the police worked, and the areas they most often searched. Something right in front of her caught her eye, however. And this something was decidedly not a natural sight, at least in the city. It was a wolf, with shiny black fur and a small stature. The way it looked, sniffing the air...Julia found it endearing.

"Demon? What demon? You're so damn adorable!" She laughed. The wolf then looked at her with its shiny blue-silver eyes, before its expression changed and it started growling. Julia decided that it was even cooler, so much tougher than its own size. Of course, this also made it even more unusual. Was she hallucinating? The wolf barked before charging at her, agile despite its tiny size. As it leapt, Julia crouched down and caught it with both her hands.

"Dude, easy there!" She laughed. The wolf pup only snarled as it bared its teeth and barked once again as it waves its limbs in protest.

"Gerroff me! D'you want your death to hurt more?! Not that I'd spare ya!" It growled in warning, trying to wriggle away. Julia watched as he, based on his voice, barked and glared at her, his eyes glowing an intense silver. Immediately, the wolf expelled black shadows from its body, shadows that seared and burned the Pole's exposed fingers unlike any normal shadow. Out of shock and surprise, she dropped the creature, who ran away and started to attack a passerby, this time biting his leg. The man screamed in agony as the canine let go and ran for its next victim. Julia saw no shadows this time, and concluded that she was just probably imagining things after the combined effects of a vodka drink, getting rid of Pérez and the stress of the lockdown. That didn't explain how the wolf pup got there though.

Some cute puppy...demon? Naaah...

Julia's COMP beeped in her pocket, and she whipped it out quickly to read the alert. She thought that perhaps, Giovanni and the others had sent it. Her guess proved wrong though.

1 New Message!

The Harmonizer is now active.

This feature makes it possible to attack demons and lessens the effects of their attacks on humans.

Have a nice day!

She shook her head before pocketing it and looking around for the wolf pup. Spotting the ball of black fur run towards a well-dressed woman, she bolted after it, only to see the wolf expelling another wave of dark shadows at the unsuspecting victim, who screamed in agony as she dropped to the ground and writhed in pain. The redhead managed to reach the wolf as he attacked, his eyes still glowing silver. Using both hands, she grabbed the so-called demon once again and held on to him, the shadows burning her once again and reminding her that she was not imagining any of the pain. The wolf expelled even more black shadows, the burning fog searing Julia further and expanding outwards. Julia refused to allow herself to let go, and this time she managed to hold on. Strangely, the heat was perhaps less agonizing this time. The wolf's expression only became angrier.

"Now y'believe me, idiot!" He growled, gritting his teeth as he snapped his jaws at Julia's face while still continuing his attack and trying to free himself. Julia looked around and saw the red brick wall of a nearby housing project before looking at the wolf again, only remembering that she had her own gun after all. Smirking, she held the animal up.

"Hehehe...try me!" She laughed before tossing him at the wall. He hit the red bricks before falling to the ground. Julia sprinted to him before he could get up and whipped out her pistol. Using what little time she had to aim, she fired a single shot at the wolf pup's back leg. The black-furred animal's eyes dimmed from intense silver back to the blue-silver it first had as the shadows that surrounded it dissipated. He tried to get up, but ended up howling in pain.

"Ha! Still wanna mess with me?!" Julia shouted, putting away her gun and holding up her fist. The wolf looked at her then growled in disdain.

"You're brave...and confident, f'also crude and violent. T'least I've got no sissy for a master. Hati's the name." He conceded. Julia grinned as she picked him up.

"Name's Julia. Wilczyński that is. Damn...you're a cool guy for someone so small. Nah, Hati isn't that cool. I'll call you Cień...shadow." She replied. The wolf looked up at her as she spoke.

"Wilczyński? Figures... Wait, I'm not that small!" Cień muttered, his last sentence in protest. Julia raised an eyebrow.

"What? I'm a Slav...nothing wrong with that. Got a fucking problem?" She asked in an accusatory tone.

"No, it's just...n'er mind." The wolf replied, before dropping his head, evidently tired. Julia's hand instinctively reached for her COMP and she took it out once more. The screen flashed once more, and Cień disappeared in a flash of white light. A beeping sound from her COMP followed, the screen then showing a picture of the animal. Julia looked at the screen once more, just to make sure whatever she saw was true, before placing the device back where it belonged and shuffled casually and quickly towards the nearest alley shortcut she knew, before anyone could try to discover her and arrest her on the way back.