Side Story The Goddess II: Fate of the Old Gods

Jeff was relieved that No-Name bought into his lie, but he’s done this investigative work before, so he didn’t show it.

“Yeah, I’m from outside,” he said, thankful that No-Name practically gave him an excuse from his fake organization being exempt from the Goddess’s files, “It’s like night and day in comparison.”

He gave a little respectful smile at her introduction. She seems sweet, someone who’s probably been through a lot of stuff at the hands of the Goddess’s Inquisitors. Jeff secretly hopes No-Name can break free of the Goddess’s indoctrination, but he doesn’t outwardly express it.

“It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you, No-Name,” Jeff said, “The girl who I won’t say the name of has some vital information for our organization, but I can’t say what it’s about because it’s classified. I hope you can understand that, I’ve already said too much,”
"I can try and help with Flayn." Katara offered. Maybe it'd be a bit easier to get her to calm down? She hoped so, anyway.
STAIRCASE--> SECRET CHAMBER
The spark of hope Jeff had ignited within the girl exploded. Eagerness and life flooded her face. She took Jeff's hand in hers and- without saying another word- she scurried up the staircase. Distracted, she was tripping and stumbling with every second step.
Hand in hand, the pair ducked and weaved between imposing Inquisitors, Priest and pilgrims alike on their way towards the Girl's Cupboard. She threw caution to the wind and kicked the door open without a second thought, knocking over a broom, a bucket and a bag of sand onto the floor in the process. Consumed by zeal, she barely noticed broom's handle as it rolled between the door and its frame, propping it open for anyone to step inside. A banner hung at the back of the broom cupboard depicting the crest of House Crimson- a black ring clasped between two thin, dark towers, all printed on blood-red velvet. The banner seemed to drift a little in the wind, a proclamation of presence sent by the room behind it. The girl wrapped her fingers around the side of the banner and turned back to face Jeff.
"Night and day, you say?" She grinned with creased eyes. "Welcome to my little slice of 'Outside'..."
She peeled back the veil of her hidden paradise.
Rags lined the walls, each cut from a different pilfered handkerchief. Sweet wrappers- each licked clean of any trace of chocolate- had been twisted into the shape of a shimmering family atop a small, battered dresser in the corner, beside the bed built from sandbags and Crimson-House Flags. A lantern hung at the center of the room, casting the chamber in a warm, blue light.
With a quiet, joyful squee, the girl ran over to the colorful sack that she kept in beside her bed. She rummaged through its contents, quietly muttering to herself as she did so.
"Come on.. where is she? Where is-- ah ha!"
The girl turned on the spot and raised a small, plush fish above her head. She had no doubt cut and sowed it herself... and she hadn't done a great job. The fish's eyes were crooked. Its was missing a fin. Sand poured out from the distinct, stitched lines between the two types of fabrics she had endeavored to combine-- an emerald, Goddessian Flag and the faded black padding of an old school uniform.
"Her she is! Here is the girl you have been looking for!" The girl stretched out both her arms and offered Jeff her toy. "Please, take her. Ask her anything you like. And before you get the wrong idea, no, she is not a toy. I am, indeed, too big for toys. This is Flayn..." The girl seemed to tense up as she forced herself to say that name. Still... the hope Jeff had blessed her with continued to burn bright. Her mood recovered half a second later. "You can ask her whatever you like. She will not mind."

@Capri @Takumi

Not only did it seem that she had to create a diversion for Rei, but Valkyrie also got to do another favorite thing. Rescuing a damsel in distress. "Unhand that woman foul demon!" Valkyrie pointed her spear accusingly at the flaming woman. "Thou have the stench of villainy and the Valkyrie has come to deliver you to justice!" She then gave the assistant a wink. "Fair lady, perhaps thou shall seek refuge until this is over? Tis not for the faint of heart."
LIBRARY
Mercedes froze on the spot, her eyes wide and glassy. A deer in the headlights in the path of Valkyrie's wink, she barely registered the spearhead she was waving in her general direction until a few moments later. With a nod, she retreated back across the library, knocking a stack of hardbacks over in the process. The Librarian hated it when Mercie spoke for her. She would no doubt hate her even more if she dared to fight for her...
The Librarian floated across the chamber like a Will-o'-wisp on the wind. The only sound that filled the hall was the quiet crackle of the witch's flames. Madame Librarian leanied in close to the Asgardian. She breathed in through her nose and held her breath. She let the air fester. She let the pressure build up until...
She was ready to unleash it.
"You are standing inside the SACRED GODDESSIAN LIBRARY, CUR! USE YOUR INSIDE-VOICE!"
Valkyrie was bathed in a cloud of smoggy breath.
"Begone with your sticks and threats! Begone! Begone! Before is mash you skull to pulp with the EMERALD ENCYCLOPEDIA!"

@Jeremi @Yun Lee
 
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STAIRCASE--> SECRET CHAMBER
The spark of hope Jeff had ignited within the girl exploded. Eagerness and life flooded her face. She took Jeff's hand in hers and- without saying another word- she scurried up the staircase. Distracted, she was tripping and stumbling with every second step.
Hand in hand, the pair ducked and weaved between imposing Inquisitors, Priest and pilgrims alike on their way towards the Girl's Cupboard. She threw caution to the wind and kicked the door open without a second thought, knocking over a broom, a bucket and a bag of sand onto the floor in the process. Consumed by zeal, she barely noticed broom's handle as it rolled between the door and its frame, propping it open for anyone to step inside. A banner hung at the back of the broom cupboard depicting the crest of House Crimson- a black ring clasped between two thin, dark towers, all printed on blood-red velvet. The banner seemed to drift a little in the wind, a proclamation of presence sent by the room behind it. The girl wrapped her fingers around the side of the banner and turned back to face Jeff.
"Night and day, you say?" She grinned with creased eyes. "Welcome to my little slice of 'Outside'..."
She peeled back the veil of her hidden paradise.
Rags lined the walls, each cut from a different pilfered handkerchief. Sweet wrappers- each licked clean of any trace of chocolate- had been twisted into the shape of a shimmering family atop a small, battered dresser in the corner, beside the bed built from sandbags and Crimson-House Flags. A lantern hung at the center of the room, casting the chamber in a warm, blue light.
With a quiet, joyful squee, the girl ran over to the colorful sack that she kept in beside her bed. She rummaged through its contents, quietly muttering to herself as she did so.
"Come on.. where is she? Where is-- ah ha!"
The girl turned on the spot and raised a small, plush fish above her head. She had no doubt cut and sowed it herself... and she hadn't done a great job. The fish's eyes were crooked. Its was missing a fin. Sand poured out from the distinct, stitched lines between the two types of fabrics she had endeavored to combine-- an emerald, Goddessian Flag and the faded black padding of an old school uniform.
"Her she is! Here is the girl you have been looking for!" The girl stretched out both her arms and offered Jeff her toy. "Please, take her. Ask her anything you like. And before you get the wrong idea, no, she is not a toy. I am, indeed, too big for toys. This is Flayn..." The girl seemed to tense up as she forced herself to say that name. Still... the hope Jeff had blessed her with continued to burn bright. Her mood recovered half a second later. "You can ask her whatever you like. She will not mind."

@Capri @Lucky


LIBRARY
Mercedes froze on the spot, her eyes wide and glassy. A deer in the headlights in the path of Valkyrie's wink, she barely registered the spearhead she was waving in her general direction until a few moments later. With a nod, she retreated back across the library, knocking a stack of hardbacks over in the process. The Librarian hated it when Mercie spoke for her. She would no doubt hate her even more if she dared to fight for her...
The Librarian floated across the chamber like a Will-o'-wisp on the wind. The only sound that filled the hall was the quiet crackle of the witch's flames. Madame Librarian leanied in close to the Asgardian. She breathed in through her nose and held her breath. She let the air fester. She let the pressure build up until...
She was ready to unleash it.
"You are standing inside the SACRED GODDESSIAN LIBRARY, CUR! USE YOUR INSIDE-VOICE!"
Valkyrie was bathed in a cloud of smoggy breath.
"Begone with your sticks and threats! Begone! Begone! Before is mash you skull to pulp with the EMERALD ENCYCLOPEDIA!"

@Jeremi @Yun Lee

Valkyrie waved annoyingly away the smoke from her face. The Asgardian gave the woman a hard look before she unceremoniously attempted to pierce the woman's skull with her spear while using her sword to stab at where most beings had their heart.

@Sark @Yun Lee
 


STAIRCASE--> SECRET CHAMBER
The spark of hope Jeff had ignited within the girl exploded. Eagerness and life flooded her face. She took Jeff's hand in hers and- without saying another word- she scurried up the staircase. Distracted, she was tripping and stumbling with every second step.
Hand in hand, the pair ducked and weaved between imposing Inquisitors, Priest and pilgrims alike on their way towards the Girl's Cupboard. She threw caution to the wind and kicked the door open without a second thought, knocking over a broom, a bucket and a bag of sand onto the floor in the process. Consumed by zeal, she barely noticed broom's handle as it rolled between the door and its frame, propping it open for anyone to step inside. A banner hung at the back of the broom cupboard depicting the crest of House Crimson- a black ring clasped between two thin, dark towers, all printed on blood-red velvet. The banner seemed to drift a little in the wind, a proclamation of presence sent by the room behind it. The girl wrapped her fingers around the side of the banner and turned back to face Jeff.
"Night and day, you say?" She grinned with creased eyes. "Welcome to my little slice of 'Outside'..."
She peeled back the veil of her hidden paradise.
Rags lined the walls, each cut from a different pilfered handkerchief. Sweet wrappers- each licked clean of any trace of chocolate- had been twisted into the shape of a shimmering family atop a small, battered dresser in the corner, beside the bed built from sandbags and Crimson-House Flags. A lantern hung at the center of the room, casting the chamber in a warm, blue light.
With a quiet, joyful squee, the girl ran over to the colorful sack that she kept in beside her bed. She rummaged through its contents, quietly muttering to herself as she did so.
"Come on.. where is she? Where is-- ah ha!"
The girl turned on the spot and raised a small, plush fish above her head. She had no doubt cut and sowed it herself... and she hadn't done a great job. The fish's eyes were crooked. Its was missing a fin. Sand poured out from the distinct, stitched lines between the two types of fabrics she had endeavored to combine-- an emerald, Goddessian Flag and the faded black padding of an old school uniform.
"Her she is! Here is the girl you have been looking for!" The girl stretched out both her arms and offered Jeff her toy. "Please, take her. Ask her anything you like. And before you get the wrong idea, no, she is not a toy. I am, indeed, too big for toys. This is Flayn..." The girl seemed to tense up as she forced herself to say that name. Still... the hope Jeff had blessed her with continued to burn bright. Her mood recovered half a second later. "You can ask her whatever you like. She will not mind."

@Capri @Lucky


LIBRARY
Mercedes froze on the spot, her eyes wide and glassy. A deer in the headlights in the path of Valkyrie's wink, she barely registered the spearhead she was waving in her general direction until a few moments later. With a nod, she retreated back across the library, knocking a stack of hardbacks over in the process. The Librarian hated it when Mercie spoke for her. She would no doubt hate her even more if she dared to fight for her...
The Librarian floated across the chamber like a Will-o'-wisp on the wind. The only sound that filled the hall was the quiet crackle of the witch's flames. Madame Librarian leanied in close to the Asgardian. She breathed in through her nose and held her breath. She let the air fester. She let the pressure build up until...
She was ready to unleash it.
"You are standing inside the SACRED GODDESSIAN LIBRARY, CUR! USE YOUR INSIDE-VOICE!"
Valkyrie was bathed in a cloud of smoggy breath.
"Begone with your sticks and threats! Begone! Begone! Before is mash you skull to pulp with the EMERALD ENCYCLOPEDIA!"

@Jeremi @Yun Lee

Katara, once in the museum's halls simply glanced around, sticking with the crowds and moving through them like water in search of Jeff and Flayn. Luckily, she did eventually spot them as it seemed Flayn was taking him somewhere. She followed after them as casually as possible, coming to what looked like a broom closet.

She quickly realized it was open, and softly knocked.

"Uh if you're in here Jeff, I'm coming in." She warned, before making her way inside and closing the door behind her, moving the broom handle out of the way with her foot.

"Oh, I'm sorry! If I'm intruding I can leave, I'm Jeff's associate, Katara." She introduced almost sheepishly. She glanced to Jeff then, hoping he at least remembered her from earlier. She didn't mean to potentially make it awkward, but she couldn't think of any other way to make it not awkward in such a situation.

@Sark @Capri
 
"How come you have a shrine to a lantern? Is this a cult?" Alice huffed and scowled as she got to her feet. Yeah, he was starting to remind her a bit of Renfred with his strict...teaching style. Yet Renfred also knew how to not make her want to stick her head in a pile of dirt and scream in frustration.

"Thanks for letting me get punched by a steroid induced brick wall, by the way." She grumbled under her breath as she brushed off dust from her clothes and tried not to sneeze from it.
BASEMENT- ENTRANCE
Bang
Bang
Bang
Click

"I'm out of ammunition!" Eli cursed, repelling an advancing creature with the butt of his gun. "Toren! Light me up!"
"You know that I--" Toren grunted as he kicked an advancing creature to the curb. "You know that I--" He rolled another one over his shoulder. "You know that I cannot help you, Eli!"
"Can't--" Struck another create square in the jaw with his knee. "Or won't?"
"I took an oath!" The Lantern snarled, catching the throat of another grey-man. "No more light! The cost is--"
"You fanatics!" Liquid snarled, dodging the clawed nail of one of his wounded foes. "You're the ones who started this! Forget the chants and prayers! To hell with the oaths! We're fighting for survival! Conjure me a magazine! Now!"
"Stop it!" Wally tossed the friction-burned bodies of another grey-men into the shattered wall of a nearby pen. "Both of you! We're running out of space! They're circling u-- ARGH!"
A grey-man plunged her teeth into Wally's shoulder. Toren pried to creature from his ally, but the creature's grip way great. She took a pound of flesh with her. Wally's jaw swung loose before he could scream. Stunning by the pain and the rush of adrenaline, he fell to his knees, futilely plugging his wound with his good-hand.
"One down..."
"It's deep and infected... but the bite didn't clip an artery. He has a change... He'll live as long as we--"
"A man lies dying, Light Monk! Wally's dying for the want of a magazine! Stop holding back! Stop holding back!!"
BASEMENT- LANTERN
"Cult?" Crimson recoiled in disgust. "You would be wise to select your words more carefully, Ms.Swayne. Cult is... it's such a dirty word. I simply have the kind of devotion that my compatriots lack. I have faith in the Old Prophecies... and I have the will to make the utopia they speak of a reality. If that makes me a cultist in your eyes, so be it. I know what I am. I'm a Saint. I am the Savoir of Man and I am the Conqueror of his greatest foe... Death."

An indigo light burned in the darkness of the corridor. It's cool glow flooded the wider chamber. The figure that carried the light within him slowly staggered towards Alice. His movements were slow and intention. His face was littered with bruises and cuts. He recoiled at every move Crimson made. Large, iron chains bound him to his tall, black staff. His patience dead and buried, Crimson hurried the figure along with a yank of his shackles. The Indigo Lantern fell onto his hands and knees.

"I am the Final Descendant of the War-God's Chosen People!" He proclaimed, a white-hot fury burning in his eyes. Silvia sprayed from his lips. His fists were coiled into maces. "I am the Inheritor of an accursed yesterday and the claimant of a brighter tomorrow! I am Fidelitas' heir! I am Successor Saint! But first and foremost, for better or for worse---

Crimson raised his prisoner up by his thinning, graying hair. He forced him to face Alice with his glassy, blue eyes.
"I am my Father's Son!!!"
View attachment 7385
"I am Shan Chìhóng, Heir to Shan Yu!"
With a grunt, Chìhóng tossed his catatonic father back onto the floor. The disgraced general barely responded with so much as a groan. Ignoring the pain that flooded his broken ribs, Shan slowly picked himself up and leaned against his staff for support once again, whimpering a strange, secret prayer to himself all the while.
"Ashin nok malu irin naru nok maral tarus nok mila nok"
"The shambled beggar that kneels before you was once a Hun! A Revanchist! A King! A God of War by any other name!" Chìhóng proclaimed, circling the pair with his arms raised. "And look at him now! His bodies lives on... but his honor is dead and gone, stolen from him by a White Lantern. He should have died that night... Gardner should have ran his sword straight through his heart... instead..." Chìhóng pulled upon his father's chains once again. He pointed towards the Indigo ring upon Shan's hand. "Instead he gave him this... An Indigo Ring. This tool, this... parasite... it burrowed its way into his mind like a maggot burrows its way into meat. It changed him. It flooded his mind with compassion... and now? Now his is little more than the whimpering shadow of the man he once was..."
"Nok milimad nok aru stratu nok"
"
The man I was would have just put him down already... Ended his suffering... But it was just like I told you, Alice: Alexander Luthor saved me from the savagery embedded within my by the Huns, and the prophecy he shared with me... the Prophecy of the Blackest Night filled me with hope. If the White Light of Entity- the light born from the complete emotional spectrum- was capable of breaking Shan Yu, it is only logical that the Black Light of Nekron- the light that glows in the absence of life and emotion- should be able to fix him. This is your third trial, Alice. You were too weak to purify Kale... perhaps you will fare better against a stationary target. I want you to break his ring. Invade his mind. Repair the damage inflicted upon him by Gardner. Prove to me that I am not wasting my time on you! Prove to me that you are the woman I believe you to be! Prove to me that you are worth helping!"
Chìhóng raised his hand a summoned his own lantern to his side.
"Pym will be here any minute. Do it now."


@Takumi
Valkyrie waved annoyingly away the smoke from her face. The Asgardian gave the woman a hard look before she unceremoniously attempted to pierce the woman's skull with her spear while using her sword to stab at where most beings had their heart.
LIBRARY
Valkyrie's spear pierced one side of the Librarian's chest and popped out the other side. Her head was penetrated just as easily. Then again, fire doesn't have much of a physical form. Madame Librarian looked down at Valkyrie's spear, then upwards towards her sword.
"BITCH!" She screamed. She pointed towards one of the towering, blackened bookshelves that loomed over the pair. Flames consumed its lowest shelf. With a creak and a groan, the towering structure came crashing down around the Asgardian. Hardbacks and paperbacks alike pelted her like balls of hail before the shelf itself came tipped down towards her.
"BITCH! YOU DARE?!"

@Jeremi @Yun Lee
Katara, once in the museum's halls simply glanced around, sticking with the crowds and moving through them like water in search of Jeff and Flayn. Luckily, she did eventually spot them as it seemed Flayn was taking him somewhere. She followed after them as casually as possible, coming to what looked like a broom closet.

She quickly realized it was open, and softly knocked.

"Uh if you're in here Jeff, I'm coming in." She warned, before making her way inside and closing the door behind her, moving the broom handle out of the way with her foot.

"Oh, I'm sorry! If I'm intruding I can leave, I'm Jeff's associate, Katara." She introduced almost sheepishly. She glanced to Jeff then, hoping he at least remembered her from earlier. She didn't mean to potentially make it awkward, but she couldn't think of any other way to make it not awkward in such a situation.
SECRET CHAMBER
"Any friend of Jeff is a friend of mine!" The girl chirped, turning her fish plush to face Katara."And, of course, any friend of Jeff is a friend of Flayn's as well! She says hello! Is there anything you wish to ask her?"

@Takumi @Capri
 
The Book of Sheng Long? Now that was interesting...it'd be nice to get his hands on that as an old keepsake. Plus, you never know. Maybe the need for a religious hoax would rear its head again? It's a big Multiverse, after all. While his ally dealt with the fiery little number, Rei made his move. He slipped along the pathway, picking up what papers of the old book he could (and the book itself if Mercedes had dropped it), then would try to track the young lady down. Judging by the wink, Valkyrie already called dibs. May as well help get her little lady to safety.

@Sark @Jeremi @Library​
 
Last edited:

BASEMENT- ENTRANCE
Bang
Bang
Bang
Click

"I'm out of ammunition!" Eli cursed, repelling an advancing creature with the butt of his gun. "Toren! Light me up!"
"You know that I--" Toren grunted as he kicked an advancing creature to the curb. "You know that I--" He rolled another one over his shoulder. "You know that I cannot help you, Eli!"
"Can't--" Struck another create square in the jaw with his knee. "Or won't?"
"I took an oath!" The Lantern snarled, catching the throat of another grey-man. "No more light! The cost is--"
"You fanatics!" Liquid snarled, dodging the clawed nail of one of his wounded foes. "You're the ones who started this! Forget the chants and prayers! To hell with the oaths! We're fighting for survival! Conjure me a magazine! Now!"
"Stop it!" Wally tossed the friction-burned bodies of another grey-men into the shattered wall of a nearby pen. "Both of you! We're running out of space! They're circling u-- ARGH!"
A grey-man plunged her teeth into Wally's shoulder. Toren pried to creature from his ally, but the creature's grip way great. She took a pound of flesh with her. Wally's jaw swung loose before he could scream. Stunning by the pain and the rush of adrenaline, he fell to his knees, futilely plugging his wound with his good-hand.
"One down..."
"It's deep and infected... but the bite didn't clip an artery. He has a change... He'll live as long as we--"
"A man lies dying, Light Monk! Wally's dying for the want of a magazine! Stop holding back! Stop holding back!!"
BASEMENT- LANTERN
"Cult?" Crimson recoiled in disgust. "You would be wise to select your words more carefully, Ms.Swayne. Cult is... it's such a dirty word. I simply have the kind of devotion that my compatriots lack. I have faith in the Old Prophecies... and I have the will to make the utopia they speak of a reality. If that makes me a cultist in your eyes, so be it. I know what I am. I'm a Saint. I am the Savoir of Man and I am the Conqueror of his greatest foe... Death."

An indigo light burned in the darkness of the corridor. It's cool glow flooded the wider chamber. The figure that carried the light within him slowly staggered towards Alice. His movements were slow and intention. His face was littered with bruises and cuts. He recoiled at every move Crimson made. Large, iron chains bound him to his tall, black staff. His patience dead and buried, Crimson hurried the figure along with a yank of his shackles. The Indigo Lantern fell onto his hands and knees.

"I am the Final Descendant of the War-God's Chosen People!" He proclaimed, a white-hot fury burning in his eyes. Silvia sprayed from his lips. His fists were coiled into maces. "I am the Inheritor of an accursed yesterday and the claimant of a brighter tomorrow! I am Fidelitas' heir! I am Successor Saint! But first and foremost, for better or for worse---

Crimson raised his prisoner up by his thinning, graying hair. He forced him to face Alice with his glassy, blue eyes.
"I am my Father's Son!!!"
View attachment 7385
"I am Shan Chìhóng, Heir to Shan Yu!"
With a grunt, Chìhóng tossed his catatonic father back onto the floor. The disgraced general barely responded with so much as a groan. Ignoring the pain that flooded his broken ribs, Shan slowly picked himself up and leaned against his staff for support once again, whimpering a strange, secret prayer to himself all the while.
"Ashin nok malu irin naru nok maral tarus nok mila nok"
"The shambled beggar that kneels before you was once a Hun! A Revanchist! A King! A God of War by any other name!" Chìhóng proclaimed, circling the pair with his arms raised. "And look at him now! His bodies lives on... but his honor is dead and gone, stolen from him by a White Lantern. He should have died that night... Gardner should have ran his sword straight through his heart... instead..." Chìhóng pulled upon his father's chains once again. He pointed towards the Indigo ring upon Shan's hand. "Instead he gave him this... An Indigo Ring. This tool, this... parasite... it burrowed its way into his mind like a maggot burrows its way into meat. It changed him. It flooded his mind with compassion... and now? Now his is little more than the whimpering shadow of the man he once was..."
"Nok milimad nok aru stratu nok"
"
The man I was would have just put him down already... Ended his suffering... But it was just like I told you, Alice: Alexander Luthor saved me from the savagery embedded within my by the Huns, and the prophecy he shared with me... the Prophecy of the Blackest Night filled me with hope. If the White Light of Entity- the light born from the complete emotional spectrum- was capable of breaking Shan Yu, it is only logical that the Black Light of Nekron- the light that glows in the absence of life and emotion- should be able to fix him. This is your third trial, Alice. You were too weak to purify Kale... perhaps you will fare better against a stationary target. I want you to break his ring. Invade his mind. Repair the damage inflicted upon him by Gardner. Prove to me that I am not wasting my time on you! Prove to me that you are the woman I believe you to be! Prove to me that you are worth helping!"
Chìhóng raised his hand a summoned his own lantern to his side.
"Pym will be here any minute. Do it now."


@Takumi

LIBRARY
Valkyrie's spear pierced one side of the Librarian's chest and popped out the other side. Her head was penetrated just as easily. Then again, fire doesn't have much of a physical form. Madame Librarian looked down at Valkyrie's spear, then upwards towards her sword.
"BITCH!" She screamed. She pointed towards one of the towering, blackened bookshelves that loomed over the pair. Flames consumed its lowest shelf. With a creak and a groan, the towering structure came crashing down around the Asgardian. Hardbacks and paperbacks alike pelted her like balls of hail before the shelf itself came tipped down towards her.
"BITCH! YOU DARE?!"

@Jeremi @Yun Lee

SECRET CHAMBER
"Any friend of Jeff is a friend of mine!" The girl chirped, turning her fish plush to face Katara."And, of course, any friend of Jeff is a friend of Flayn's as well! She says hello! Is there anything you wish to ask her?"

@Takumi @Capri

It was quiet for a moment as the onslaught of books and shelves came crashing down on Valkyrie. Then with a loud crash, she emerged from the wreckage sending debris flying around her. Looking at the firewoman, Valkyrie placed her sword against her lips and hushed. "Tis a library. Thou should be quiet to not disturb other patrons."

@Sark @Yun Lee
 

BASEMENT- ENTRANCE
Bang
Bang
Bang
Click

"I'm out of ammunition!" Eli cursed, repelling an advancing creature with the butt of his gun. "Toren! Light me up!"
"You know that I--" Toren grunted as he kicked an advancing creature to the curb. "You know that I--" He rolled another one over his shoulder. "You know that I cannot help you, Eli!"
"Can't--" Struck another create square in the jaw with his knee. "Or won't?"
"I took an oath!" The Lantern snarled, catching the throat of another grey-man. "No more light! The cost is--"
"You fanatics!" Liquid snarled, dodging the clawed nail of one of his wounded foes. "You're the ones who started this! Forget the chants and prayers! To hell with the oaths! We're fighting for survival! Conjure me a magazine! Now!"
"Stop it!" Wally tossed the friction-burned bodies of another grey-men into the shattered wall of a nearby pen. "Both of you! We're running out of space! They're circling u-- ARGH!"
A grey-man plunged her teeth into Wally's shoulder. Toren pried to creature from his ally, but the creature's grip way great. She took a pound of flesh with her. Wally's jaw swung loose before he could scream. Stunning by the pain and the rush of adrenaline, he fell to his knees, futilely plugging his wound with his good-hand.
"One down..."
"It's deep and infected... but the bite didn't clip an artery. He has a change... He'll live as long as we--"
"A man lies dying, Light Monk! Wally's dying for the want of a magazine! Stop holding back! Stop holding back!!"
BASEMENT- LANTERN
"Cult?" Crimson recoiled in disgust. "You would be wise to select your words more carefully, Ms.Swayne. Cult is... it's such a dirty word. I simply have the kind of devotion that my compatriots lack. I have faith in the Old Prophecies... and I have the will to make the utopia they speak of a reality. If that makes me a cultist in your eyes, so be it. I know what I am. I'm a Saint. I am the Savoir of Man and I am the Conqueror of his greatest foe... Death."

An indigo light burned in the darkness of the corridor. It's cool glow flooded the wider chamber. The figure that carried the light within him slowly staggered towards Alice. His movements were slow and intention. His face was littered with bruises and cuts. He recoiled at every move Crimson made. Large, iron chains bound him to his tall, black staff. His patience dead and buried, Crimson hurried the figure along with a yank of his shackles. The Indigo Lantern fell onto his hands and knees.

"I am the Final Descendant of the War-God's Chosen People!" He proclaimed, a white-hot fury burning in his eyes. Silvia sprayed from his lips. His fists were coiled into maces. "I am the Inheritor of an accursed yesterday and the claimant of a brighter tomorrow! I am Fidelitas' heir! I am Successor Saint! But first and foremost, for better or for worse---

Crimson raised his prisoner up by his thinning, graying hair. He forced him to face Alice with his glassy, blue eyes.
"I am my Father's Son!!!"
View attachment 7385
"I am Shan Chìhóng, Heir to Shan Yu!"
With a grunt, Chìhóng tossed his catatonic father back onto the floor. The disgraced general barely responded with so much as a groan. Ignoring the pain that flooded his broken ribs, Shan slowly picked himself up and leaned against his staff for support once again, whimpering a strange, secret prayer to himself all the while.
"Ashin nok malu irin naru nok maral tarus nok mila nok"
"The shambled beggar that kneels before you was once a Hun! A Revanchist! A King! A God of War by any other name!" Chìhóng proclaimed, circling the pair with his arms raised. "And look at him now! His bodies lives on... but his honor is dead and gone, stolen from him by a White Lantern. He should have died that night... Gardner should have ran his sword straight through his heart... instead..." Chìhóng pulled upon his father's chains once again. He pointed towards the Indigo ring upon Shan's hand. "Instead he gave him this... An Indigo Ring. This tool, this... parasite... it burrowed its way into his mind like a maggot burrows its way into meat. It changed him. It flooded his mind with compassion... and now? Now his is little more than the whimpering shadow of the man he once was..."
"Nok milimad nok aru stratu nok"
"
The man I was would have just put him down already... Ended his suffering... But it was just like I told you, Alice: Alexander Luthor saved me from the savagery embedded within my by the Huns, and the prophecy he shared with me... the Prophecy of the Blackest Night filled me with hope. If the White Light of Entity- the light born from the complete emotional spectrum- was capable of breaking Shan Yu, it is only logical that the Black Light of Nekron- the light that glows in the absence of life and emotion- should be able to fix him. This is your third trial, Alice. You were too weak to purify Kale... perhaps you will fare better against a stationary target. I want you to break his ring. Invade his mind. Repair the damage inflicted upon him by Gardner. Prove to me that I am not wasting my time on you! Prove to me that you are the woman I believe you to be! Prove to me that you are worth helping!"
Chìhóng raised his hand a summoned his own lantern to his side.
"Pym will be here any minute. Do it now."


@Takumi

LIBRARY
Valkyrie's spear pierced one side of the Librarian's chest and popped out the other side. Her head was penetrated just as easily. Then again, fire doesn't have much of a physical form. Madame Librarian looked down at Valkyrie's spear, then upwards towards her sword.
"BITCH!" She screamed. She pointed towards one of the towering, blackened bookshelves that loomed over the pair. Flames consumed its lowest shelf. With a creak and a groan, the towering structure came crashing down around the Asgardian. Hardbacks and paperbacks alike pelted her like balls of hail before the shelf itself came tipped down towards her.
"BITCH! YOU DARE?!"

@Jeremi @Yun Lee

SECRET CHAMBER
"Any friend of Jeff is a friend of mine!" The girl chirped, turning her fish plush to face Katara."And, of course, any friend of Jeff is a friend of Flayn's as well! She says hello! Is there anything you wish to ask her?"

@Takumi @Capri

Katara's gaze softened and she smiled. Approaching, she stood beside Jeff.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." She spoke up. Then when asked about if there were any questions needed to be asked, she looked thoughtful.

@Sark @Capri @Yun Lee

The further Crimson talked, the more Alice questioned his sanity. She watched him warily, keeping her mouth shut for the most part but grinding her teeth in slight annoyance.

Then he brought his own father out, and she stared in surprise. From what he had said before, his father was a awful son of a bitch, and given this new bit of information now...

If compassion could break a man, then how much of a fuckwad was he? Granted, she didn't really know how these rings worked, but wouldn't fixing him just make him go back to being a shitty bastard?

She wasn't even sure if she would had ever done the same for her own 'father' if the positions were reversed in this situation, hell she probably would of tried putting him out of his misery herself if finding the will to, but then again he was long dead and gone and she came to terms with that years ago. His death never hurt, and it still didn't.

This situation though...to Alice, this just seemed to be the whole reason for these damned trails; just so Crimson could get the man he was related to back, to get the man he was related to back to the way he was to some degree.

For a moment, she wondered if there was a way to keep the compassion there, even a little of it, in an attempt to make him less of a piece of shit than he probably was before. She just couldn't get it, not really. She barely knew what she was even doing, and she didn't know if she really wanted to in the first place.

Then the last of his words hit her, causing heat to come off her in waves again from her annoyance. Prove her worth? Show that she's worth helping?

Her right hand shot out, fist going to connect with Crimson's cheek, huffing from her nose.

"You ever think about the fact that if I tried to fix this he'd probably end up being a piece of shit again?" She asked in irritation. Did you think about me possibly messing it up and making him even worse? She didn't say. She wasn't sure if she could bring herself to.

@Sark @Basement
 
JEFFREY KOVAL
@Sark @Takumi


Jeff looked at No-Name’s secret passage in awe. He mainly focused on the little trinkets on the wall, the candy wrappers in the shape of a family catching his eye.

Then, he heard Katara and No-Name converse, and he turned around.


"Oh! Katara!" Jeff said, "I didn't expect you to be back so soon!"
 
BASEMENT- ENTRANCE
Bang
Bang
Bang
Click

"I'm out of ammunition!" Eli cursed, repelling an advancing creature with the butt of his gun. "Toren! Light me up!"
"You know that I--" Toren grunted as he kicked an advancing creature to the curb. "You know that I--" He rolled another one over his shoulder. "You know that I cannot help you, Eli!"
"Can't--" Struck another create square in the jaw with his knee. "Or won't?"
"I took an oath!" The Lantern snarled, catching the throat of another grey-man. "No more light! The cost is--"
"You fanatics!" Liquid snarled, dodging the clawed nail of one of his wounded foes. "You're the ones who started this! Forget the chants and prayers! To hell with the oaths! We're fighting for survival! Conjure me a magazine! Now!"
"Stop it!" Wally tossed the friction-burned bodies of another grey-men into the shattered wall of a nearby pen. "Both of you! We're running out of space! They're circling u-- ARGH!"
A grey-man plunged her teeth into Wally's shoulder. Toren pried to creature from his ally, but the creature's grip way great. She took a pound of flesh with her. Wally's jaw swung loose before he could scream. Stunning by the pain and the rush of adrenaline, he fell to his knees, futilely plugging his wound with his good-hand.
"One down..."
"It's deep and infected... but the bite didn't clip an artery. He has a change... He'll live as long as we--"
"A man lies dying, Light Monk! Wally's dying for the want of a magazine! Stop holding back! Stop holding back!!"

@Takumi @Capri
There's always a time and a place for moving among men, abiding by the laws of human decency, keeping it all in your pants. That sort of thing. But the beast can only be contained for so long. He gets hungry. He needs to indulge himself and fulfill his purpose. The hall of statues grew ever more silent as if some heavy presence had vanished like a ghost. Something had just left the museum, and anyone standing in there could feel a high weight lift off their shoulders.

The Doom Slayer was no longer visible on any cameras or any eyes.

Eli and Toren could hear loud, pounding footsteps approaching the entrance to the basement. The sound grew louder and angrier. SMASH! A loud bang slammed against the door. The wooden panel flew open, snapping off the hinges and crashing into the sidewall, shattering like glass upon impact. The footsteps were now in the same room, lurching forward at a faster pace. They could hear it - wooden shards snapped and clattered about, heavy equipment jostled.

Thunk. Thunk. More footsteps. Heavy, muffled breathing crept into the room. The air in the room got warmer. Beads of sweat began to creep down the back of their necks. Above the slow, staggered walking and snarling of the grey-men, the footsteps did not stop.

A soft click echoed from the darkness - a gun being loaded.

Thunk. Thunk. The footsteps sped up. ThunkthunkthunktTHUNK.

BOOM!


A gunshot tore the air into twine, clapping into the grey-man closest to Eli. The shambler's torso popped open like an overripe pumpkin, a sloshing stew of red meat spilling out from its mangled torso as the force of the buckshot sent its tattered remains crashing into the horde behind it - a few of the grey-men behind it collapsing as parts of their heads split open from the piercing shot.


View attachment 7423

The Slayer barrelled past Eli and Toren, the Light Monk being shoved to the ground as the Hell Walker made his presence known by the ragged, hate-filled breaths wheezing out from beneath his helm. The wrist-blade on his other gauntlet shot outward from its compartment with a sharp click as the Slayer stepped ahead and thrust the point of the blade through one of the grey men's abdomen.

The meat squelched like a wet garbage bag as the metal blade punctured it's pallid skin, though not before the marine twisted his shotgun arm upward and shoved the end of the barrel down into the creature's waiting throat. The zombie angrily snarled and flailed against the assault, impotently slapping its claws against the marine's greenish armor.

BOOM!

The second clap of gunfire shook the room. The creature's head exploded in a dazzling display of gore as supple chunks of pink matter painted the Slayer's armor in a distinct red hue. Several more grey-men standing directly behind the beheaded one collapsed again as the piercing shot took chunks of brain matter and shoulder skin from their atrophied bodies. Whisps of steam rose from the gurgling, viscous remains of the first one's head as the Hell Walker spun around in his boots and hurled the remains into another contingent of grey-men shambling towards his flank.

The group stumbled to the ground as their fallen kin slapped against them like a human-sized body pillow before hitting the ground with a wet pop. The Slayer sheathed the ash-coated rifle on his back holster and leaned forward slightly. As he did so, the machine gun mounted on one of his shoulders came to life and tilted downwards towards the pile of angry, gnashing bodies.

FWOOOOOSH!


Any darkness in the basement was vanquished for a moment, as a gout of bright orange flames spewed from the shoulder gun.

Almost instantly, the staggered group of grey men shrieked and howled in agonizing hatred as a steady geyser of fire began to bubble and broil their pallid hides to crispy completion. The vision was like something from a drug-induced nightmare; shrieking, burning bodies frantically clawed out from the black pile and flailed their hands at the towering man - the towering creature - that continuously cooked them in their skins.

As some of them got close to slap the marine's boots with their charred hands helplessly, the Hell Walker simply heaved his boot up and brought it down on the back of their skulls. As their skin had already been roasted at that point, the sound was more akin to a satisfying crunch followed by a wet pop.

But the massacre was not over yet. There were more targets. More demons. Need to kill them.

The Slayer descended further into whatever of the horde remained after his initial assault, swinging his arm-blade and gauntlet about as he hacked through flesh and bone as an explorer would hack apart jungle bushes with a machete. He'd tear limbs from their shoulders with one rugged pull before smashing the victim's head apart with their arm. He'd raise one fist to the hair before slamming it atop their skulls, forcing entire skulls back into their chests like smashing a square peg through a circular hole.

He would rip and tear until it was done.

And the two mortal souls still standing in the room were forced to watch.

@Sark
 
The Book of Sheng Long? Now that was interesting...it'd be nice to get his hands on that as an old keepsake. Plus, you never know. Maybe the need for a religious hoax would rear its head again? It's a big Multiverse, after all. While his ally dealt with the fiery little number, Rei made his move. He slipped along the pathway, picking up what papers of the old book he could (and the book itself if Mercedes had dropped it), then would try to track the young lady down. Judging by the wink, Valkyrie already called dibs. May as well help get her little lady to safety.

@Sark @Jeremi @Library
LIBRARY
The scattered papers were easy enough to collect without attracting the Librarian's attention, as was the Book of Sheng Long. Valkyrie's distraction had proven effective. Rei was able to sneak off into one of the library's private record cambers and straight into--
"Oh!" Mercie exclaimed as Rei's body met hers, sending the rapper's freshly collected papers flying once again.
View attachment 7428
"Forgive me. I should not have been loitering so close to the door... Let me help you, sir..." Avoiding Rei's eyes, Mercie squatted down beside him and quickly scrambled to reorganize his notes. "Oh... Perhaps the Librarian was right about me... Maybe I am useless... Maybe all I'm good for is searching the records and dusting shelves... Are you looking for any more books, sir?" She added morosely. "I can direct you towards the approved section, if you wish?"

Things weren't going the way she had hoped in the wider library... back to business as usual...

@Yun Lee
It was quiet for a moment as the onslaught of books and shelves came crashing down on Valkyrie. Then with a loud crash, she emerged from the wreckage sending debris flying around her. Looking at the firewoman, Valkyrie placed her sword against her lips and hushed. "Tis a library. Thou should be quiet to not disturb other patrons."
"Oh... you swine!" The Librarian screeched. "You mock me? You mock me?"
The Witch raised her hands skywards. The tattered books and splintered shelves that laid at Valkyrie's feet began to quiver and vibrate. Obeying her command, they began to fold themselves into strange, unusual shames.
Before the Asgardian could say 'thou', 'thine' or 'tis', Valkyrie was surrounded by 6 origami soldiers, each armed with wooden swords and shields. Placing their flaming splinter-blades atop their shields, they slowly circled the Asgardian, waiting for her to make the first move.
"Save your quips for the Reaper, whore!"

@Jeremi
Jeff looked at No-Name’s secret passage in awe. He mainly focused on the little trinkets on the wall, the candy wrappers in the shape of a family catching his eye.

Then, he heard Katara and No-Name converse, and he turned around.


"Oh! Katara!" Jeff said, "I didn't expect you to be back so soon!"
Katara's gaze softened and she smiled. Approaching, she stood beside Jeff.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." She spoke up. Then when asked about if there were any questions needed to be asked, she looked thoughtful.
SECRET CHAMBER
"Flayn says 'it's a pleasure to meet you too!'" No-Name waggled the fish's fin between her fingers, allowing 'Flayn' to wave back at Katara. "Are you from Outside too? Flayn wants to know. She likes 'Outside' almost as much as I do!"

Her eager eyes danced between her first and old visitors. She followed their eyes as they admired her room, leaping at ever opportunity to talk about her collection that came her way.
"Oh! I see you like my miniatures!" No Name grinned. "They were a challenge to get make. Their arms were very fiddly. My, it must have taken me a dozen attempts before I truly got the hang of it. Flayn came to my rescue in the end. She used some of her magic to help stick the tin back together. Do you have any Outisde-people food wrappers in your pockets? I could try to make some for you? Or some of you, seeing that we are all such good friends now!"

@Capri @Takumi
He would rip and tear until it was done.

And the two mortal souls still standing in the room were forced to watch.
BASEMENT 1
For the first time since Murderworld, Eli was taken back. Stunned by the violent display and helpless into intervene, he was little more than a silent witness to the Slayer's latest massacre. The air was stained black with the spray of undead blood. He stopped trying to cover his face after the first few seconds crawled by. There was no point. The spray showed no sign of stopping.

For the first time since Murderworld, Eli was stunned.
For the first time since the Death of Mephisto, Eli holstered his gun.

Toren- exhausted from part in the massacre- slowly staggered to his feet, wiping the soot and sweat from his brow. He didn't say a thing. He could barely muster the will to look at the horrid scene. He simply raised Wally's arm up over his shoulder and started his trek across the field of corpses. He told himself that they were already dead. That it was a matter of survival. That they didn't count. It didn't make his stomach heave any less. He had killed before. But it had all been so... sanitized. He prayed to the Light. He prayed for the souls the Grey Men had lost long ago. He followed the Killer down his bloody path. A bitter glare burning in his eyes.

The Slayer's footsteps were drowned out by even louder steps. A pen at the end of the hall slowly creaked open. A tall, dark creature emerged... one large enough to dwarf even the Slayer himself. A flash of silver shone in the crimson glow of the emergency lights. A sword. A flash of yellow. Fangs. The lowered his head and lunged through the doorway to face his foe.
"No..." Eli removed his knife from his belt. "Not you..."
View attachment 7430
"Your eyes do not deceive you, little one... Though you are not so little anymore..." Blackheart growled, his teeth twisted into a smile. "How long has it been for you, Liquid? 4 years? 5 years?"

"Impossible... I watched you die..." Eli growled through gritted teeth. "You were crushed beneath the heel of the Inheritor! You can't be back!"

"The rules of Hell no longer apply, Captain..." The disgraced Hell-Lord chuckled. "You can thank my murderers for that... When Mother freed the souls of Hell, yours was not the only one to be restored... I was one of the first to walk the earth again, rescued by oblivion by my killer's bloody hand. Though my flesh still rots, my mind remains clear... but the others? They weren't so lucky..."

"Impossible... those... things... they're not all native to Mephisto's realm..." Toren muttered in disbelief.

"Yes... their soul's never made it to my fath--" He clenched his jaw. "No, the Inheritor's realm. You cannot simply wake the dead and expect the world to go on turning. Mother and Eliphas broke the laws of reality... and we are their punishment... their sentence..."

"Souls barred from both heaven and hell... Neither living nor dead... Gray Men..."

"The Empire is fighting change. Their doing what they can to slow the Great Return... but even they cannot hold back the coming night. Father Crimson embodies the coming evolution of the Goddessian Ideals. They will learn to embrace his Prophecies, or they will be replaced. Through him, but new subjects will be made complete... Just like the Souls of Prudence... just like the Souls of Murderworld..."

Blackheart continued his approach, grinding his broadsword across the concrete all the while. It's screeching cry was hard to endure.

"As we speak, he stands of the verge of greatness. He has found the Phoenix. Soon, the Order Death Demands will be here... all I have to do is delay you until her trials are complete..."

A warning siren sounded. Dozens more pens opened hundreds more Gray Men flooded the chamber, each more savage than the last.

Blackheart threw his arms wide and welcomed the Godless' coming assault.

"Hell's Betrayer! The Last of the Light Monks! He who has killed more of my kind than I care to count! Have at you! Face me! Face the gray, and taste the fate that awaits all men!"

@Crunch

Her right hand shot out, fist going to connect with Crimson's cheek, huffing from her nose.

"You ever think about the fact that if I tried to fix this he'd probably end up being a piece of shit again?" She asked in irritation. Did you think about me possibly messing it up and making him even worse? She didn't say. She wasn't sure if she could bring herself to.
BASEMENT 2
As Alice's struck Crimson's cheek, she heard a strange popping sound. Pain flooded her knuckles, fingers and wrist. Crimson's expression didn't change. He had barely flinched. He brushed Alice's broken hand off of the red light-barrier that had risen to protect his face.
[Rage Detected]
"Feel better, do you?" The Priest scowled. "Lucky for you, you only need one hand to operate the Lantern..." Shan gestured towards Alice's stone fist. "Try not to break the important one..."

Crimson turned away from Alice and wiped the blood from her knuckles from his cheek.

"My father was and forever will be a piece of shit..." He muttered. He called for all the will he could muster to control himself once again. With a tense brow and gritted teeth, he did his best to reconstruct his facade. "Then again, this isn't about him. He is a means to an end. He is just another trial for you to conquer on your journey to becoming the Mistress of the Black Light. Shan Yu is the last creature upon this earth who deserves your compassion... and you must show it to him regardless. The Lantern feeds upon emotion. You must provide it with a powerful emotional sacrifice if you are to command its power. We're marching into uncharted territory here, Alice. We're experimenting. I apologize if I am not the Mentor you need me to be, but I am doing all I can. I understand this power better than anyone... but there are still so many things I don't know about it. We're scraping the surface of what that lantern can do. You need to trust me. You need to listen to me. My reasons for selecting my father for this trial are my own, and they will be made clear in due time... but his presence does not change our goal. We're going to defeat death, Alice. Freeing the minds of the living will be one of our first milestones... So use that Lantern... Have some faith and and do as I have instructed... do it now..."

@Takumi
 

LIBRARY
The scattered papers were easy enough to collect without attracting the Librarian's attention, as was the Book of Sheng Long. Valkyrie's distraction had proven effective. Rei was able to sneak off into one of the library's private record cambers and straight into--
"Oh!" Mercie exclaimed as Rei's body met hers, sending the rapper's freshly collected papers flying once again.
View attachment 7428
"Forgive me. I should not have been loitering so close to the door... Let me help you, sir..." Avoiding Rei's eyes, Mercie squatted down beside him and quickly scrambled to reorganize his notes. "Oh... Perhaps the Librarian was right about me... Maybe I am useless... Maybe all I'm good for is searching the records and dusting shelves... Are you looking for any more books, sir?" She added morosely. "I can direct you towards the approved section, if you wish?"

Things weren't going the way she had hoped in the wider library... back to business as usual...

@Yun Lee

"Oh... you swine!" The Librarian screeched. "You mock me? You mock me?"
The Witch raised her hands skywards. The tattered books and splintered shelves that laid at Valkyrie's feet began to quiver and vibrate. Obeying her command, they began to fold themselves into strange, unusual shames.
Before the Asgardian could say 'thou', 'thine' or 'tis', Valkyrie was surrounded by 6 origami soldiers, each armed with wooden swords and shields. Placing their flaming splinter-blades atop their shields, they slowly circled the Asgardian, waiting for her to make the first move.
"Save your quips for the Reaper, whore!"

@Jeremi


SECRET CHAMBER
"Flayn says 'it's a pleasure to meet you too!'" No-Name waggled the fish's fin between her fingers, allowing 'Flayn' to wave back at Katara. "Are you from Outside too? Flayn wants to know. She likes 'Outside' almost as much as I do!"

Her eager eyes danced between her first and old visitors. She followed their eyes as they admired her room, leaping at ever opportunity to talk about her collection that came her way.
"Oh! I see you like my miniatures!" No Name grinned. "They were a challenge to get make. Their arms were very fiddly. My, it must have taken me a dozen attempts before I truly got the hang of it. Flayn came to my rescue in the end. She used some of her magic to help stick the tin back together. Do you have any Outisde-people food wrappers in your pockets? I could try to make some for you? Or some of you, seeing that we are all such good friends now!"

@Capri @Takumi

BASEMENT 1
For the first time since Murderworld, Eli was taken back. Stunned by the violent display and helpless into intervene, he was little more than a silent witness to the Slayer's latest massacre. The air was stained black with the spray of undead blood. He stopped trying to cover his face after the first few seconds crawled by. There was no point. The spray showed no sign of stopping.

For the first time since Murderworld, Eli was stunned.
For the first time since the Death of Mephisto, Eli holstered his gun.

Toren- exhausted from part in the massacre- slowly staggered to his feet, wiping the soot and sweat from his brow. He didn't say a thing. He could barely muster the will to look at the horrid scene. He simply raised Wally's arm up over his shoulder and started his trek across the field of corpses. He told himself that they were already dead. That it was a matter of survival. That they didn't count. It didn't make his stomach heave any less. He had killed before. But it had all been so... sanitized. He prayed to the Light. He prayed for the souls the Grey Men had lost long ago. He followed the Killer down his bloody path. A bitter glare burning in his eyes.

The Slayer's footsteps were drowned out by even louder steps. A pen at the end of the hall slowly creaked open. A tall, dark creature emerged... one large enough to dwarf even the Slayer himself. A flash of silver shone in the crimson glow of the emergency lights. A sword. A flash of yellow. Fangs. The lowered his head and lunged through the doorway to face his foe.
"No..." Eli removed his knife from his belt. "Not you..."
View attachment 7430
"Your eyes do not deceive you, little one... Though you are not so little anymore..." Blackheart growled, his teeth twisted into a smile. "How long has it been for you, Liquid? 4 years? 5 years?"

"Impossible... I watched you die..." Eli growled through gritted teeth. "You were crushed beneath the heel of the Inheritor! You can't be back!"

"The rules of Hell no longer apply, Captain..." The disgraced Hell-Lord chuckled. "You can thank my murderers for that... When Mother freed the souls of Hell, yours was not the only one to be restored... I was one of the first to walk the earth again, rescued by oblivion by my killer's bloody hand. Though my flesh still rots, my mind remains clear... but the others? They weren't so lucky..."

"Impossible... those... things... they're not all native to Mephisto's realm..." Toren muttered in disbelief.

"Yes... their soul's never made it to my fath--" He clenched his jaw. "No, the Inheritor's realm. You cannot simply wake the dead and expect the world to go on turning. Mother and Eliphas broke the laws of reality... and we are their punishment... their sentence..."

"Souls barred from both heaven and hell... Neither living nor dead... Gray Men..."

"The Empire is fighting change. Their doing what they can to slow the Great Return... but even they cannot hold back the coming night. Father Crimson embodies the coming evolution of the Goddessian Ideals. They will learn to embrace his Prophecies, or they will be replaced. Through him, but new subjects will be made complete... Just like the Souls of Prudence... just like the Souls of Murderworld..."

Blackheart continued his approach, grinding his broadsword across the concrete all the while. It's screeching cry was hard to endure.

"As we speak, he stands of the verge of greatness. He has found the Phoenix. Soon, the Order Death Demands will be here... all I have to do is delay you until her trials are complete..."

A warning siren sounded. Dozens more pens opened hundreds more Gray Men flooded the chamber, each more savage than the last.

Blackheart threw his arms wide and welcomed the Godless' coming assault.

"Hell's Betrayer! The Last of the Light Monks! He who has killed more of my kind than I care to count! Have at you! Face me! Face the gray, and taste the fate that awaits all men!"

@Crunch


BASEMENT 2
As Alice's struck Crimson's cheek, she heard a strange popping sound. Pain flooded her knuckles, fingers and wrist. Crimson's expression didn't change. He had barely flinched. He brushed Alice's broken hand off of the red light-barrier that had risen to protect his face.
[Rage Detected]
"Feel better, do you?" The Priest scowled. "Lucky for you, you only need one hand to operate the Lantern..." Shan gestured towards Alice's stone fist. "Try not to break the important one..."

Crimson turned away from Alice and wiped the blood from her knuckles from his cheek.

"My father was and forever will be a piece of shit..." He muttered. He called for all the will he could muster to control himself once again. With a tense brow and gritted teeth, he did his best to reconstruct his facade. "Then again, this isn't about him. He is a means to an end. He is just another trial for you to conquer on your journey to becoming the Mistress of the Black Light. Shan Yu is the last creature upon this earth who deserves your compassion... and you must show it to him regardless. The Lantern feeds upon emotion. You must provide it with a powerful emotional sacrifice if you are to command its power. We're marching into uncharted territory here, Alice. We're experimenting. I apologize if I am not the Mentor you need me to be, but I am doing all I can. I understand this power better than anyone... but there are still so many things I don't know about it. We're scraping the surface of what that lantern can do. You need to trust me. You need to listen to me. My reasons for selecting my father for this trial are my own, and they will be made clear in due time... but his presence does not change our goal. We're going to defeat death, Alice. Freeing the minds of the living will be one of our first milestones... So use that Lantern... Have some faith and and do as I have instructed... do it now..."

@Takumi

Valkyrie chuckled at the woman's outburst, nor did she seem particularly perturbed by the new foes that had emerged.

Vpimd0J.png


"What is it you think you can accomplish, demon?" Valkyrie asked. "Thou are nothing but another minion of Muspelheim to me. I will give you death if that is what you wish. A Valkyrie's job is to ferry the dead onwards to Valhalla after all." Her face went serious as she continued.

QOQyPcl.png


"Thou assume yourself to be a lord but you are only a commoner. You ask for the Reaper but, she is already in front of you." Sword and spear in hand Valkyrie got ready for them to deliver the first attack. "If thou persist I am willing to lead you to your creator."

@Sark
 
Henry Hart

Henry had actually tuned the hologram only half listening to his long explanation and decided that the hologram had gotten on his nerves as well. " Hey Libtard, I never said that she cared more about the reality tv stars, just why she was interested in them. I can be interested in a sandwich, that doesn't mean I care for it. Now why do you think she cares more about the reality TV stars..... because I certainly didn't put that thought in your head."

@Sark

Jester and Caleb

Jester and Caleb had followed Valkyrie to the library, Caleb going to take a look at the book. " This is a library, why are you shouting?" Jester asked the librarian as well quietly.

@Sark @Jeremi
 

LIBRARY
The scattered papers were easy enough to collect without attracting the Librarian's attention, as was the Book of Sheng Long. Valkyrie's distraction had proven effective. Rei was able to sneak off into one of the library's private record cambers and straight into--
"Oh!" Mercie exclaimed as Rei's body met hers, sending the rapper's freshly collected papers flying once again.
View attachment 7428
"Forgive me. I should not have been loitering so close to the door... Let me help you, sir..." Avoiding Rei's eyes, Mercie squatted down beside him and quickly scrambled to reorganize his notes. "Oh... Perhaps the Librarian was right about me... Maybe I am useless... Maybe all I'm good for is searching the records and dusting shelves... Are you looking for any more books, sir?" She added morosely. "I can direct you towards the approved section, if you wish?"

Things weren't going the way she had hoped in the wider library... back to business as usual...

@Yun Lee

"Oh... you swine!" The Librarian screeched. "You mock me? You mock me?"
The Witch raised her hands skywards. The tattered books and splintered shelves that laid at Valkyrie's feet began to quiver and vibrate. Obeying her command, they began to fold themselves into strange, unusual shames.
Before the Asgardian could say 'thou', 'thine' or 'tis', Valkyrie was surrounded by 6 origami soldiers, each armed with wooden swords and shields. Placing their flaming splinter-blades atop their shields, they slowly circled the Asgardian, waiting for her to make the first move.
"Save your quips for the Reaper, whore!"

@Jeremi


SECRET CHAMBER
"Flayn says 'it's a pleasure to meet you too!'" No-Name waggled the fish's fin between her fingers, allowing 'Flayn' to wave back at Katara. "Are you from Outside too? Flayn wants to know. She likes 'Outside' almost as much as I do!"

Her eager eyes danced between her first and old visitors. She followed their eyes as they admired her room, leaping at ever opportunity to talk about her collection that came her way.
"Oh! I see you like my miniatures!" No Name grinned. "They were a challenge to get make. Their arms were very fiddly. My, it must have taken me a dozen attempts before I truly got the hang of it. Flayn came to my rescue in the end. She used some of her magic to help stick the tin back together. Do you have any Outisde-people food wrappers in your pockets? I could try to make some for you? Or some of you, seeing that we are all such good friends now!"

@Capri @Takumi

BASEMENT 1
For the first time since Murderworld, Eli was taken back. Stunned by the violent display and helpless into intervene, he was little more than a silent witness to the Slayer's latest massacre. The air was stained black with the spray of undead blood. He stopped trying to cover his face after the first few seconds crawled by. There was no point. The spray showed no sign of stopping.

For the first time since Murderworld, Eli was stunned.
For the first time since the Death of Mephisto, Eli holstered his gun.

Toren- exhausted from part in the massacre- slowly staggered to his feet, wiping the soot and sweat from his brow. He didn't say a thing. He could barely muster the will to look at the horrid scene. He simply raised Wally's arm up over his shoulder and started his trek across the field of corpses. He told himself that they were already dead. That it was a matter of survival. That they didn't count. It didn't make his stomach heave any less. He had killed before. But it had all been so... sanitized. He prayed to the Light. He prayed for the souls the Grey Men had lost long ago. He followed the Killer down his bloody path. A bitter glare burning in his eyes.

The Slayer's footsteps were drowned out by even louder steps. A pen at the end of the hall slowly creaked open. A tall, dark creature emerged... one large enough to dwarf even the Slayer himself. A flash of silver shone in the crimson glow of the emergency lights. A sword. A flash of yellow. Fangs. The lowered his head and lunged through the doorway to face his foe.
"No..." Eli removed his knife from his belt. "Not you..."
View attachment 7430
"Your eyes do not deceive you, little one... Though you are not so little anymore..." Blackheart growled, his teeth twisted into a smile. "How long has it been for you, Liquid? 4 years? 5 years?"

"Impossible... I watched you die..." Eli growled through gritted teeth. "You were crushed beneath the heel of the Inheritor! You can't be back!"

"The rules of Hell no longer apply, Captain..." The disgraced Hell-Lord chuckled. "You can thank my murderers for that... When Mother freed the souls of Hell, yours was not the only one to be restored... I was one of the first to walk the earth again, rescued by oblivion by my killer's bloody hand. Though my flesh still rots, my mind remains clear... but the others? They weren't so lucky..."

"Impossible... those... things... they're not all native to Mephisto's realm..." Toren muttered in disbelief.

"Yes... their soul's never made it to my fath--" He clenched his jaw. "No, the Inheritor's realm. You cannot simply wake the dead and expect the world to go on turning. Mother and Eliphas broke the laws of reality... and we are their punishment... their sentence..."

"Souls barred from both heaven and hell... Neither living nor dead... Gray Men..."

"The Empire is fighting change. Their doing what they can to slow the Great Return... but even they cannot hold back the coming night. Father Crimson embodies the coming evolution of the Goddessian Ideals. They will learn to embrace his Prophecies, or they will be replaced. Through him, but new subjects will be made complete... Just like the Souls of Prudence... just like the Souls of Murderworld..."

Blackheart continued his approach, grinding his broadsword across the concrete all the while. It's screeching cry was hard to endure.

"As we speak, he stands of the verge of greatness. He has found the Phoenix. Soon, the Order Death Demands will be here... all I have to do is delay you until her trials are complete..."

A warning siren sounded. Dozens more pens opened hundreds more Gray Men flooded the chamber, each more savage than the last.

Blackheart threw his arms wide and welcomed the Godless' coming assault.

"Hell's Betrayer! The Last of the Light Monks! He who has killed more of my kind than I care to count! Have at you! Face me! Face the gray, and taste the fate that awaits all men!"

@Crunch


BASEMENT 2
As Alice's struck Crimson's cheek, she heard a strange popping sound. Pain flooded her knuckles, fingers and wrist. Crimson's expression didn't change. He had barely flinched. He brushed Alice's broken hand off of the red light-barrier that had risen to protect his face.
[Rage Detected]
"Feel better, do you?" The Priest scowled. "Lucky for you, you only need one hand to operate the Lantern..." Shan gestured towards Alice's stone fist. "Try not to break the important one..."

Crimson turned away from Alice and wiped the blood from her knuckles from his cheek.

"My father was and forever will be a piece of shit..." He muttered. He called for all the will he could muster to control himself once again. With a tense brow and gritted teeth, he did his best to reconstruct his facade. "Then again, this isn't about him. He is a means to an end. He is just another trial for you to conquer on your journey to becoming the Mistress of the Black Light. Shan Yu is the last creature upon this earth who deserves your compassion... and you must show it to him regardless. The Lantern feeds upon emotion. You must provide it with a powerful emotional sacrifice if you are to command its power. We're marching into uncharted territory here, Alice. We're experimenting. I apologize if I am not the Mentor you need me to be, but I am doing all I can. I understand this power better than anyone... but there are still so many things I don't know about it. We're scraping the surface of what that lantern can do. You need to trust me. You need to listen to me. My reasons for selecting my father for this trial are my own, and they will be made clear in due time... but his presence does not change our goal. We're going to defeat death, Alice. Freeing the minds of the living will be one of our first milestones... So use that Lantern... Have some faith and and do as I have instructed... do it now..."

@Takumi

"Yes, I'm from the Outside too." Katara responded, listening as the young woman excitedly told them about her miniatures.

"I don't think I do." She added, patting herself down a moment. No stray wrappers on her person.

"Is it okay if I ask who these miniatures here are?" She asked then, glancing to both No-Name and 'Flayn' as she spoke about the tinfoil people already made, curious, but not wanting to possibly offend the girl before her and Jeff. She couldn't think of anything to ask about specifically, at least anything that might not make the young woman uncomfortable in any way.

@Sark @Capri

Pop!

Sucking in a breath through gritted teeth, Alice's eyes widened slightly as a shudder ran through her. A tingling sensation ran up her arm and through her spine and settling in the back of her mind to register as pain.

Pain wasn't a new sensation, but it was one she hadn't made an aquaintence with to such a level until today, really. She knew pain, she did a lot of dumb shit and got scolded a lot from Renfred in his own special way but none of the pain hurt like this until she was being punched and kicked by brick walls of muscle and punching something akin to concrete.

She would not think about pain from the earlier stages of her life. That stayed in the very back of her mind for now. Alice wouldn't even look at how bad her hand was, seeing Crimson flick the blood away as if it was a minor inconvenience and not her fucking her hand up royally.

"Fuck!" She hissed out, instinctively curling into herself a second. Broken hand cradled to her chest, Crimson's quips about her other hand earned a withering, and pissed, glare from the blonde in response. Hopefully, the lantern could heal it.

If she wasn't as focused on how much that had hurt, she'd probably have set his hair on fire by now. His mentor comment, however, caused her face to screw up in an unreadable expression.

Alice always had a hard time trusting people, even more so after everything on Murderworld. Trusting Crimson wouldn't be easy, and she was honestly a bit skeptical.

So she just had to...feed it some emotion? That's what got it to work? She stared at the black lantern for a moment.

Shan Yu was nothing more than a test subject then, a Guinea Pig more or less, in this instance. She wasn't sure how she felt about it really. For all she knew she could accidentally turn the man inside out or something, and that was an image she wished she didn't give herself.

She wasn't sure she felt compassion for him, but she felt a bit of pity for the sad excuse the man he was and currently is. She tried to find it, compassion, through the haze of pain starting to fog her mind. At least, whatever ounce of compassion there may be for a man like the Hun in this situation.

@Sark @Basement
 
Last edited:
Henry Hart

Henry had actually tuned the hologram only half listening to his long explanation and decided that the hologram had gotten on his nerves as well. " Hey Libtard, I never said that she cared more about the reality tv stars, just why she was interested in them. I can be interested in a sandwich, that doesn't mean I care for it. Now why do you think she cares more about the reality TV stars..... because I certainly didn't put that thought in your head."
MUSEUM
The hologram simply buried his head in his hands.
"This is a farce. A fucking farce..." He groaned. "You're jumping on every word I say. You're not Sherlock Holmes. I'm not Doctor Moriarty. There's no scheme here. No deeper layer. No conspiracy. You're trying to twist what I'm saying and frankly? I'm sick of it. Sick of you. Find another hologram to bother with this ridiculous game you're playing. Better yet, get out of the museum. You're clearly not here to learn."
With a fizz and a snap, the hologram turned itself off.
@Lucky
"Yes, I'm from the Outside too." Katara responded, listening as the young woman excitedly told them about her miniatures.

"I don't think I do." She added, patting herself down a moment. No stray wrappers on her person.

"Is it okay if I ask who these miniatures here are?" She asked then, glancing to both No-Name and 'Flayn' as she spoke about the tinfoil people already made, curious, but not wanting to possibly offend the girl before her and Jeff. She couldn't think of anything to ask about specifically, at least anything that might not make the young woman uncomfortable in any way.
SECRET CHAMBER
"They're of m---" No-Name bit her tongue, stopping herself mid-word. "They're of Flayn's family. She commissioned them a long time ago. The little one is her, the one on her left is his mother and this one..." She leaned over to the miniatures and picked up a tall, thin figure. Crumpled, emerald hair was wrapped around its tiny head, salvaged from an old mint sweet wrapper. "This one is her brother... or father... I can't remember... no she can't remember..." Her hands started to shake. She reached out to return the figure to its place on her shelf, only for it to slip between her trembling fingers. It's poorly-combined parts were sent rolling across the floor. No Name leaped back across the room, her hands raised up to her cheeks. "Ah! Forgive me!" She fell to her knees and started searching for its parts. It was hard to tell if she was apologizing to Katara, 'Flayn' or the miniature itself...
@Takumi
Jester and Caleb had followed Valkyrie to the library, Caleb going to take a look at the book. " This is a library, why are you shouting?" Jester asked the librarian as well quietly.
Valkyrie chuckled at the woman's outburst, nor did she seem particularly perturbed by the new foes that had emerged.
"What is it you think you can accomplish, demon?" Valkyrie asked. "Thou are nothing but another minion of Muspelheim to me. I will give you death if that is what you wish. A Valkyrie's job is to ferry the dead onwards to Valhalla after all." Her face went serious as she continued.
"Thou assume yourself to be a lord but you are only a commoner. You ask for the Reaper but, she is already in front of you." Sword and spear in hand Valkyrie got ready for them to deliver the first attack. "If thou persist I am willing to lead you to your creator."
LIBRARY
"You wish to send me to my Goddess, whore?" The Librarian hissed. "She and I are already one!"
The Asgardian's sword and spear passed harmlessly through the the Librarian's body. With a screeched, Madame dragged Valkyrie's torso into her own, dousing her in a wave of heat. Tongues of fire lashed against every patch of exposed skin. Content that her foe had had been suitably tortured, the librarian allowed Valkyrie to pass through her. With a whoosh, the Asgardian was sent flying out of the librarian's back. She crashed straight into Caleb and Jester. The three formed a groaning, smoking pile at the back of the room.

The librarian's flames burned brighter. Soon, she was hard to see through the heat mirage. Her body seemed to melt and morph. It was hard to tell were she was, and it was even harder to tell where she was moving too. All they Returned were certain of was that she was burning brighter... and the room was getting hotter.
"Don't worry about the noise, scum!" She cackled. "You're about to find yourselves in a very quiet place!"

[BOOM]

A wall of fire stampeded towards the Return. Impossible to avoid. Impossible to hide from. A painful, inevitable demise awaited them. And it was getting closer. Closer. Closer.

[BOOM]

An indigo barrier surged forth from the stones beneath the Returned. The force of the rising shield was enough to shake the entire library, from its few remaining, burned books to its flaming rafters.

View attachment 7586
"Fucking dumbasses..." Willow growled, removing her fingers from the purple wall. QORI's prediction had proven accurate. Willow was... different. The half an hour that had passed between their last interaction had aged Willow several years. Unlike the usual, metaphorical/internal aging that the multiverse's citizens seemed to feel after a conversation with the Returned, Willow's transformation was a physical one. Her hair was longer and framed with the occasional died white strand. The wound the golfer had burdened her with had long since closed. A scar was the only souvenir she had kept from their last meeting. "You guys want to get up? Or do you want to take another nap?"

The flaming wall slowly dissipated. The Returned could make of the outlines of several figures battling the Librarian. Ferdinand, Niles, Eponine and Willow's brother stood among the shattered remains of the library's stained-glass windows.

"I hope you've got a plan here, miss-y!"
Niles exclaimed as he leaped out of the path of another flaming blast. Forced to retreat from the librarian's path, he scrabbled to the top of one of the hall's last, untouched bookshelves. He loaded another arrow into his bow bared his teeth. "I doubt arrows are doing to do much to slow a woman with such a fiery spirit!"

Eponine rolled her eyes.

A flaming blast shattered the shelf into splinter before Niles could shoot his shot. The sight of her father silently falling- too proud to scream- was enough to squeeze the slightest concerned gasp from Nina's lips. Before she could rushed to his aid, the Outlaw found himself resting in the arms of Willow's brother. Ferdinand rushed between the librarian and the pair, shielding them from another blast with his shield. Despite her best efforts, Nina couldn't exploit the Librarian's flank. Her tossed knives were melted to slag on contact.

"Use your head, Niles!"
Yuri cried, emerging from the shattered window. Dressed in some of Niles' old clothes, Yuri flourished his sword before directing its tip towards the Librarian.
View attachment 7590
"She's made of fire. What do you do when you encounter a raging fire?"
"Suffocate it." Nina thinned her eyes.
"Smother it!" Niles smirked, cradling his cracked ribs.
"Stamp it out!" Balthus cheered, throwing the library's doors wide.
"Ah, those are excellent plans, each and every one of them..." Odin smirked, drawing his own sword as he emerged from Balthus' shadow. "But the spirits... they've guiding my hand! Yes! They command! And they demand---"
View attachment 7591
"That we drown this foul fiend!"
With a swish of his sword, Odin summon a wet wave. The cold water struck the Librarian's back and sizzled into steam. Unharmed, the Librarian slowly turned towards him. Taken back, Odin staggered back behind Balthus.
"She's still standing? Good! Would have been a let-down if she hit the floor before thing got r--"
A fireball tossed the brawled back through the Library's doors.

"We've... We've got this..."
Willow lied. "I'll help the cavalry deal with the Librarian. You're welcome to help, but we need someone to go find the book. If we can't find it, it'll all have been for nothing. One of you guys has to scope this place out. Check the records room at the back."

@Jeremi @Lucky
Pop!

Sucking in a breath through gritted teeth, Alice's eyes widened slightly as a shudder ran through her. A tingling sensation ran up her arm and through her spine and settling in the back of her mind to register as pain.

Pain wasn't a new sensation, but it was one she hadn't made an aquaintence with to such a level until today, really. She knew pain, she did a lot of dumb shit and got scolded a lot from Renfred in his own special way but none of the pain hurt like this until she was being punched and kicked by brick walls of muscle and punching something akin to concrete.

She would not think about pain from the earlier stages of her life. That stayed in the very back of her mind for now. Alice wouldn't even look at how bad her hand was, seeing Crimson flick the blood away as if it was a minor inconvenience and not her fucking her hand up royally.

"Fuck!" She hissed out, instinctively curling into herself a second. Broken hand cradled to her chest, Crimson's quips about her other hand earned a withering, and pissed, glare from the blonde in response. Hopefully, the lantern could heal it.

If she wasn't as focused on how much that had hurt, she'd probably have set his hair on fire by now. His mentor comment, however, caused her face to screw up in an unreadable expression.

Alice always had a hard time trusting people, even more so after everything on Murderworld. Trusting Crimson wouldn't be easy, and she was honestly a bit skeptical.

So she just had to...feed it some emotion? That's what got it to work? She stared at the black lantern for a moment.

Shan Yu was nothing more than a test subject then, a Guinea Pig more or less, in this instance. She wasn't sure how she felt about it really. For all she knew she could accidentally turn the man inside out or something, and that was an image she wished she didn't give herself.

She wasn't sure she felt compassion for him, but she felt a bit of pity for the sad excuse the man he was and currently is. She tried to find it, compassion, through the haze of pain starting to fog her mind. At least, whatever ounce of compassion there may be for a man like the Hun in this situation.
BASEMENT 2
Contact
A wave of blackness poured from the lantern. The smog didn't affect Alice in the slightest but Crimson? He could hardly breathe. He retreated from the heart of the storm that was slowly swirling Alice and his father. He kept his lantern close. He held its crimson light close to his chest. He vanished in the cloud. The light of his lantern vanished a few seconds later. For a second, Alice and Shan were alone, their eyes locked together by some unseen force. A second later, it happened.

Their minds compained.

The Lantern magnified Alice's compassion. The moment her mind connected with Shan's, it was as if she had shattered a dam. Emotion. Raw. Pure. It poured from his spirit and into Alice's. It was overwhelming. Mind shattering. For a brief, unbearable moment, their minds began one. Alice became Shan. Shan became Alice. A lifetime of memories ran through Alice's head. Memories of War and Conquest. Memories of battles won and enemies disposed of. And it felt.... good. For a single, disgusting moment, she felt the primal joy Shan had felt in every second he had spent on the battlefield. Beneath all the masks of anger and hate, Shan had loved his life. As their minds merged, Alice's felt the same way.

She felt disgust and contempt for the bastard son that he--

No. She felt disgust and contempt for the bastard son that she had fathered.

Bliss overwhelmed her as she thought of how he--

No... Bliss overwhelmed her as she thought of how she had abandoned her runt of a son behind at a camp as she had left for war.

She felt the shame sting of his...

No... She felt the shame sting of her defeat at Guy Gardner's hand. She felt the crushing guilt that came with the burden of the Indigo Ring.

Alice's fingers recoiled against his will. She dropped her Lantern.

[//ERROR//ERROR//]
Shan Yu's ring hummed.
[//ERROR//]
[COMPASSION NOT FOUND]
[//ERROR//]

[SEARCHING FOR SUITABLE REPLACEMENT]
The ring slipped from his finger and took to the skies. In a flash of purple, it vanished down the hall.
Shan Yu slowly climbed to his feet.
"It's been too long... Far too long..." He growled. A predator's grim grin clung to his lips. "To live... to feel... And I have you to thank... Son..."
He stared straight through Alice. His eyes locked onto Crimson. Crimson raised his lantern to light better light the room.
"Son..." He scoffed. "I supposed there's a first time for everything... Trust you to address me now. Now that I have all this power... this influence... 'Son'... You never called me that back in China... back when I was nothing... back when I meant nothing..."
"And look at you now..."
"Yes..." Crimson slowly approached the Hun. "Look at me now..."
His father's opened his arms to offer his son an embrace. Chìhóng approached his chest. He nestled a hard-light dagger between his fathers ribs, right where his father had expect him to nestle his head.
"I think we're past the point of hugs now, Father... don't you?"
Shan stumbled backwards, clutching his wounds. His jaw hung loose. He stared down at his hands. Crimson blood poured from his stomach.
"What were you expecting? Me to bend down beside you? To kiss you ring? Rule by your side? No. Your honor is restored, Shan Yu. Your name is mine once again. You can return to the grace Gardner dug for you all those years ago... The deed is done."
He dropped his dagger beside his wounded father.
"Alice..." He turned back to face his 'pupil'. "You have made me proud. Decide the old man's fate. Show some compassion and put his out of his misery. Or, show some hate. Let him bleed to death- let him suffer. We both know he deserves such an ending..."
Shan Chìhóng snapped his fingers, smiling all the while. A staircase descended from the ceiling on his command.
"Our friends from the Kanzuki Foundation will be have just checked in with our border guards. They'll be here any second. Come. I don't want to leave Mr.Pym waiting. After we've finished our little talk, we'll go find that book your after... and find your little friend..."

@Takumi
 
JEFFREY KOVAL
@Sark @Takumi


"They're of m---" No-Name bit her tongue, stopping herself mid-word. "They're of Flayn's family. She commissioned them a long time ago. The little one is her, the one on her left is his mother and this one..." She leaned over to the miniatures and picked up a tall, thin figure. Crumpled, emerald hair was wrapped around its tiny head, salvaged from an old mint sweet wrapper. "This one is her brother... or father... I can't remember... no she can't remember..." Her hands started to shake. She reached out to return the figure to its place on her shelf, only for it to slip between her trembling fingers. It's poorly-combined parts were sent rolling across the floor. No Name leaped back across the room, her hands raised up to her cheeks. "Ah! Forgive me!" She fell to her knees and started searching for its parts. It was hard to tell if she was apologizing to Katara, 'Flayn' or the miniature itself...

“Hold on!” Jeff said. He reached down and grabbed the pieces of the miniature person, clearly meant to be Seteth, and placed it on the counter.

With a steady, yet unskilled hand, Jeff attempted to re-assemble the mini-Seteth. The final product was imperfect, and it it was not as it was before, but there was clear effort and heart put into the the recreation.


“Here, it’s the best I can do,” Jeff said, handing No-Name the wrapper man.

His mind wandered a bit. A little stumble of the tongue caught his ear.


"They're of m---" No-Name bit her tongue, stopping herself mid-word. "They're of Flayn's family.”

He had his suspicions, but they weren’t confirmed until that very moment.

No-Name is most likely Flayn.

He didn’t want to outright question this, being forward would destroy her trust in him. But, there were other ways...

“You must be pretty skilled, if someone wanted to commission your wrapper people,” Jeff said, “Where did you learn how to do that? It’s not something I’ve ever seen done before,”
 

MUSEUM
The hologram simply buried his head in his hands.
"This is a farce. A fucking farce..." He groaned. "You're jumping on every word I say. You're not Sherlock Holmes. I'm not Doctor Moriarty. There's no scheme here. No deeper layer. No conspiracy. You're trying to twist what I'm saying and frankly? I'm sick of it. Sick of you. Find another hologram to bother with this ridiculous game you're playing. Better yet, get out of the museum. You're clearly not here to learn."
With a fizz and a snap, the hologram turned itself off.
@Lucky

SECRET CHAMBER
"They're of m---" No-Name bit her tongue, stopping herself mid-word. "They're of Flayn's family. She commissioned them a long time ago. The little one is her, the one on her left is his mother and this one..." She leaned over to the miniatures and picked up a tall, thin figure. Crumpled, emerald hair was wrapped around its tiny head, salvaged from an old mint sweet wrapper. "This one is her brother... or father... I can't remember... no she can't remember..." Her hands started to shake. She reached out to return the figure to its place on her shelf, only for it to slip between her trembling fingers. It's poorly-combined parts were sent rolling across the floor. No Name leaped back across the room, her hands raised up to her cheeks. "Ah! Forgive me!" She fell to her knees and started searching for its parts. It was hard to tell if she was apologizing to Katara, 'Flayn' or the miniature itself...
@Takumi


LIBRARY
"You wish to send me to my Goddess, whore?" The Librarian hissed. "She and I are already one!"
The Asgardian's sword and spear passed harmlessly through the the Librarian's body. With a screeched, Madame dragged Valkyrie's torso into her own, dousing her in a wave of heat. Tongues of fire lashed against every patch of exposed skin. Content that her foe had had been suitably tortured, the librarian allowed Valkyrie to pass through her. With a whoosh, the Asgardian was sent flying out of the librarian's back. She crashed straight into Caleb and Jester. The three formed a groaning, smoking pile at the back of the room.

The librarian's flames burned brighter. Soon, she was hard to see through the heat mirage. Her body seemed to melt and morph. It was hard to tell were she was, and it was even harder to tell where she was moving too. All they Returned were certain of was that she was burning brighter... and the room was getting hotter.
"Don't worry about the noise, scum!" She cackled. "You're about to find yourselves in a very quiet place!"

[BOOM]

A wall of fire stampeded towards the Return. Impossible to avoid. Impossible to hide from. A painful, inevitable demise awaited them. And it was getting closer. Closer. Closer.

[BOOM]

An indigo barrier surged forth from the stones beneath the Returned. The force of the rising shield was enough to shake the entire library, from its few remaining, burned books to its flaming rafters.

View attachment 7586
"Fucking dumbasses..." Willow growled, removing her fingers from the purple wall. QORI's prediction had proven accurate. Willow was... different. The half an hour that had passed between their last interaction had aged Willow several years. Unlike the usual, metaphorical/internal aging that the multiverse's citizens seemed to feel after a conversation with the Returned, Willow's transformation was a physical one. Her hair was longer and framed with the occasional died white strand. The wound the golfer had burdened her with had long since closed. A scar was the only souvenir she had kept from their last meeting. "You guys want to get up? Or do you want to take another nap?"

The flaming wall slowly dissipated. The Returned could make of the outlines of several figures battling the Librarian. Ferdinand, Niles, Eponine and Willow's brother stood among the shattered remains of the library's stained-glass windows.

"I hope you've got a plan here, miss-y!" Niles exclaimed as he leaped out of the path of another flaming blast. Forced to retreat from the librarian's path, he scrabbled to the top of one of the hall's last, untouched bookshelves. He loaded another arrow into his bow bared his teeth. "I doubt arrows are doing to do much to slow a woman with such a fiery spirit!"

Eponine rolled her eyes.

A flaming blast shattered the shelf into splinter before Niles could shoot his shot. The sight of her father silently falling- too proud to scream- was enough to squeeze the slightest concerned gasp from Nina's lips. Before she could rushed to his aid, the Outlaw found himself resting in the arms of Willow's brother. Ferdinand rushed between the librarian and the pair, shielding them from another blast with his shield. Despite her best efforts, Nina couldn't exploit the Librarian's flank. Her tossed knives were melted to slag on contact.

"Use your head, Niles!" Yuri cried, emerging from the shattered window. Dressed in some of Niles' old clothes, Yuri flourished his sword before directing its tip towards the Librarian.
View attachment 7590
"She's made of fire. What do you do when you encounter a raging fire?"
"Suffocate it." Nina thinned her eyes.
"Smother it!" Niles smirked, cradling his cracked ribs.
"Stamp it out!" Balthus cheered, throwing the library's doors wide.
"Ah, those are excellent plans, each and every one of them..." Odin smirked, drawing his own sword as he emerged from Balthus' shadow. "But the spirits... they've guiding my hand! Yes! They command! And they demand---"
View attachment 7591
"That we drown this foul fiend!"
With a swish of his sword, Odin summon a wet wave. The cold water struck the Librarian's back and sizzled into steam. Unharmed, the Librarian slowly turned towards him. Taken back, Odin staggered back behind Balthus.
"She's still standing? Good! Would have been a let-down if she hit the floor before thing got r--"
A fireball tossed the brawled back through the Library's doors.

"We've... We've got this..." Willow lied. "I'll help the cavalry deal with the Librarian. You're welcome to help, but we need someone to go find the book. If we can't find it, it'll all have been for nothing. One of you guys has to scope this place out. Check the records room at the back."

@Jeremi @Lucky

BASEMENT 2
Contact
A wave of blackness poured from the lantern. The smog didn't affect Alice in the slightest but Crimson? He could hardly breathe. He retreated from the heart of the storm that was slowly swirling Alice and his father. He kept his lantern close. He held its crimson light close to his chest. He vanished in the cloud. The light of his lantern vanished a few seconds later. For a second, Alice and Shan were alone, their eyes locked together by some unseen force. A second later, it happened.

Their minds compained.

The Lantern magnified Alice's compassion. The moment her mind connected with Shan's, it was as if she had shattered a dam. Emotion. Raw. Pure. It poured from his spirit and into Alice's. It was overwhelming. Mind shattering. For a brief, unbearable moment, their minds began one. Alice became Shan. Shan became Alice. A lifetime of memories ran through Alice's head. Memories of War and Conquest. Memories of battles won and enemies disposed of. And it felt.... good. For a single, disgusting moment, she felt the primal joy Shan had felt in every second he had spent on the battlefield. Beneath all the masks of anger and hate, Shan had loved his life. As their minds merged, Alice's felt the same way.

She felt disgust and contempt for the bastard son that he--

No. She felt disgust and contempt for the bastard son that she had fathered.

Bliss overwhelmed her as she thought of how he--

No... Bliss overwhelmed her as she thought of how she had abandoned her runt of a son behind at a camp as she had left for war.

She felt the shame sting of his...

No... She felt the shame sting of her defeat at Guy Gardner's hand. She felt the crushing guilt that came with the burden of the Indigo Ring.

Alice's fingers recoiled against his will. She dropped her Lantern.

[//ERROR//ERROR//]
Shan Yu's ring hummed.
[//ERROR//]
[COMPASSION NOT FOUND]
[//ERROR//]

[SEARCHING FOR SUITABLE REPLACEMENT]
The ring slipped from his finger and took to the skies. In a flash of purple, it vanished down the hall.
Shan Yu slowly climbed to his feet.
"It's been too long... Far too long..." He growled. A predator's grim grin clung to his lips. "To live... to feel... And I have you to thank... Son..."
He stared straight through Alice. His eyes locked onto Crimson. Crimson raised his lantern to light better light the room.
"Son..." He scoffed. "I supposed there's a first time for everything... Trust you to address me now. Now that I have all this power... this influence... 'Son'... You never called me that back in China... back when I was nothing... back when I meant nothing..."
"And look at you now..."
"Yes..." Crimson slowly approached the Hun. "Look at me now..."
His father's opened his arms to offer his son an embrace. Chìhóng approached his chest. He nestled a hard-light dagger between his fathers ribs, right where his father had expect him to nestle his head.
"I think we're past the point of hugs now, Father... don't you?"
Shan stumbled backwards, clutching his wounds. His jaw hung loose. He stared down at his hands. Crimson blood poured from his stomach.
"What were you expecting? Me to bend down beside you? To kiss you ring? Rule by your side? No. Your honor is restored, Shan Yu. Your name is mine once again. You can return to the grace Gardner dug for you all those years ago... The deed is done."
He dropped his dagger beside his wounded father.
"Alice..." He turned back to face his 'pupil'. "You have made me proud. Decide the old man's fate. Show some compassion and put his out of his misery. Or, show some hate. Let him bleed to death- let him suffer. We both know he deserves such an ending..."
Shan Chìhóng snapped his fingers, smiling all the while. A staircase descended from the ceiling on his command.
"Our friends from the Kanzuki Foundation will be have just checked in with our border guards. They'll be here any second. Come. I don't want to leave Mr.Pym waiting. After we've finished our little talk, we'll go find that book your after... and find your little friend..."

@Takumi

War. Violence. Bloodshed. Glee, disgust, contempt, shame--all feelings and memories she felt and experienced from Shan Yu. An abandoned son, a lost fight on a battlefield that should of left him dead, an indigo ring left on his hand. She felt it all.

His memories were her's, and her's were his. A towering figure that held him down and got him high as a kite, who yelled and hit and cursed and made him go out and be nothing more than an addict, and a dealer to the very thing that'd kill Father one day.

Time spent on the streets as an urchin, with nothing left to do but do as she-he's been taught of the trade, avoiding beatings and sleeping in trash when things get rough, a knife in your pocket the only protection you have. A life of pain and numbness and despair, no hope for anything better because there was no one better than Father. How could there be people better when all you've known is people like Father? When all you've known is drug addicted trash?

If there were good people out there, people who were better, then why didn't they help you? Why did the ones who said they'd take care of you hit you and make you get them their next fix? Anger, desperation, pain. Pain pain pain. Then, hope. One man, one random man in a suit, gives you the first glimmer of hope. He gives you hope the moment he asks about leaving your current life behind. Gains your trust the moment he risks his life for you and proves that there are men better than Father. You promise to be better, to protect him, because he protected you when you're sure no one else would of in his shoes and say they were glad you were okay.

Self-doubt and anger towards yourself happens on a night when fireworks are going off in the distance and the man who's done so much for you loses his arm and gets the wounds around his eye reopened by a creepy brat while you're unable to do much but sit and wallow in pain after being thrown into the wall by that kid's pet chimera. Then you meet your first friend, who risks her life the first time you actually have a conversation with her. You never do get your Mentor's arm back, and it's a little upsetting.

Anger, guilt, and loss greet you during memories of Murderworld. The smug taunt of junkie and monster leaves your fists clenched in anger, the smell of blood and death leaves a heaviness of guilt and loss on your shoulders that makes you feel so, so tired. The anguish never really leaves, the hurt settles deep and remains even years after. The memory of a small body losing the last shreds of life in your arms never leaves, the memory of dead eyes staring up at you never leaves.

The feeling of blood and dirt stuck to your skin leaves, but the reason they're there stays as a reminder that guardian is a loose title. Everyone you've initially tried to protect ended up hurt in some way after all.

And then, eventually, some of the weight lifts from your shoulders and life goes on. Some of the edges and bitterness lingers in sharp tongued responses, in the occasional drunken night where you sit and think for a while.

Then, the multiverse decides to fuck with you again, and eventually you find yourself here with a mending hand and another that's stiff as cold stone against heat and fire under your skin.

Alice blinked slowly a moment then turned her head as Crimson spoke to her, trying to comprehend the emotions and memories she just experienced. Her gaze became more attentive, more alert, once she turned her head back and really saw Shan Yu. Bleeding and dying, her face twisted at the sight in a grimace.

She was so damn tired of blood and death. Now, she didn't think he didn't deserve it. He did. However, compared to another asshole who just happened to be a cocky ginger with a stupid name, she didn't really want to watch him suffer anymore than he had. Of course Crimson'd make her choose how his old man would go out.

A frown came across her face, her brows furrowed, before there was the glint of steel and in seconds her own blade was lodged into the man's heart. Hope for a quick painless death, jaw clenched at the initial feeling she got.

She had told Eli she'd gladly dirty her hands some more, but actually doing it now made her stomach twist up. There was no joy, no glee on her part. She knew, in the back of her mind, that Shan Yu would feel those things, that she had felt those same things when she looked at things from his perspective.

Stepping back, she wiped the blood away and on Shan Yu's clothes before putting the switchblade back where it was hidden in her own clothes before heading to the stairs.

@Sark @Basement

JEFFREY KOVAL
@Sark @Takumi



“Hold on!”
Jeff said. He reached down and grabbed the pieces of the miniature person, clearly meant to be Seteth, and placed it on the counter.

With a steady, yet unskilled hand, Jeff attempted to re-assemble the mini-Seteth. The final product was imperfect, and it it was not as it was before, but there was clear effort and heart put into the the recreation.


“Here, it’s the best I can do,” Jeff said, handing No-Name the wrapper man.

His mind wandered a bit. A little stumble of the tongue caught his ear.




He had his suspicions, but they weren’t confirmed until that very moment.

No-Name is most likely Flayn.

He didn’t want to outright question this, being forward would destroy her trust in him. But, there were other ways...

“You must be pretty skilled, if someone wanted to commission your wrapper people,” Jeff said, “Where did you learn how to do that? It’s not something I’ve ever seen done before,”

"They're a lovely family." She murmured softly, fingers gently brushing the necklace she wore out of habit.


Katara was quick to try and help gather the pieces to the little tinfoil man for Jeff to attempt to put him back together again.

"It was a simple mistake, no need to apologize. It's okay, see?" She reassured the young girl calmly as Jeff did his best to repair the mini Seteth.

She carefully held out her hands, offering them for the other to hold if she wished. She wanted to help calm her down a little, having noticed she had begun to shake before dropping the miniature tin man.

@Sark @Capri @Secret Chamber
 
Last edited:

MUSEUM
The hologram simply buried his head in his hands.
"This is a farce. A fucking farce..." He groaned. "You're jumping on every word I say. You're not Sherlock Holmes. I'm not Doctor Moriarty. There's no scheme here. No deeper layer. No conspiracy. You're trying to twist what I'm saying and frankly? I'm sick of it. Sick of you. Find another hologram to bother with this ridiculous game you're playing. Better yet, get out of the museum. You're clearly not here to learn."
With a fizz and a snap, the hologram turned itself off.
@Lucky

SECRET CHAMBER
"They're of m---" No-Name bit her tongue, stopping herself mid-word. "They're of Flayn's family. She commissioned them a long time ago. The little one is her, the one on her left is his mother and this one..." She leaned over to the miniatures and picked up a tall, thin figure. Crumpled, emerald hair was wrapped around its tiny head, salvaged from an old mint sweet wrapper. "This one is her brother... or father... I can't remember... no she can't remember..." Her hands started to shake. She reached out to return the figure to its place on her shelf, only for it to slip between her trembling fingers. It's poorly-combined parts were sent rolling across the floor. No Name leaped back across the room, her hands raised up to her cheeks. "Ah! Forgive me!" She fell to her knees and started searching for its parts. It was hard to tell if she was apologizing to Katara, 'Flayn' or the miniature itself...
@Takumi


LIBRARY
"You wish to send me to my Goddess, whore?" The Librarian hissed. "She and I are already one!"
The Asgardian's sword and spear passed harmlessly through the the Librarian's body. With a screeched, Madame dragged Valkyrie's torso into her own, dousing her in a wave of heat. Tongues of fire lashed against every patch of exposed skin. Content that her foe had had been suitably tortured, the librarian allowed Valkyrie to pass through her. With a whoosh, the Asgardian was sent flying out of the librarian's back. She crashed straight into Caleb and Jester. The three formed a groaning, smoking pile at the back of the room.

The librarian's flames burned brighter. Soon, she was hard to see through the heat mirage. Her body seemed to melt and morph. It was hard to tell were she was, and it was even harder to tell where she was moving too. All they Returned were certain of was that she was burning brighter... and the room was getting hotter.
"Don't worry about the noise, scum!" She cackled. "You're about to find yourselves in a very quiet place!"

[BOOM]

A wall of fire stampeded towards the Return. Impossible to avoid. Impossible to hide from. A painful, inevitable demise awaited them. And it was getting closer. Closer. Closer.

[BOOM]

An indigo barrier surged forth from the stones beneath the Returned. The force of the rising shield was enough to shake the entire library, from its few remaining, burned books to its flaming rafters.

View attachment 7586
"Fucking dumbasses..." Willow growled, removing her fingers from the purple wall. QORI's prediction had proven accurate. Willow was... different. The half an hour that had passed between their last interaction had aged Willow several years. Unlike the usual, metaphorical/internal aging that the multiverse's citizens seemed to feel after a conversation with the Returned, Willow's transformation was a physical one. Her hair was longer and framed with the occasional died white strand. The wound the golfer had burdened her with had long since closed. A scar was the only souvenir she had kept from their last meeting. "You guys want to get up? Or do you want to take another nap?"

The flaming wall slowly dissipated. The Returned could make of the outlines of several figures battling the Librarian. Ferdinand, Niles, Eponine and Willow's brother stood among the shattered remains of the library's stained-glass windows.

"I hope you've got a plan here, miss-y!" Niles exclaimed as he leaped out of the path of another flaming blast. Forced to retreat from the librarian's path, he scrabbled to the top of one of the hall's last, untouched bookshelves. He loaded another arrow into his bow bared his teeth. "I doubt arrows are doing to do much to slow a woman with such a fiery spirit!"

Eponine rolled her eyes.

A flaming blast shattered the shelf into splinter before Niles could shoot his shot. The sight of her father silently falling- too proud to scream- was enough to squeeze the slightest concerned gasp from Nina's lips. Before she could rushed to his aid, the Outlaw found himself resting in the arms of Willow's brother. Ferdinand rushed between the librarian and the pair, shielding them from another blast with his shield. Despite her best efforts, Nina couldn't exploit the Librarian's flank. Her tossed knives were melted to slag on contact.

"Use your head, Niles!" Yuri cried, emerging from the shattered window. Dressed in some of Niles' old clothes, Yuri flourished his sword before directing its tip towards the Librarian.
View attachment 7590
"She's made of fire. What do you do when you encounter a raging fire?"
"Suffocate it." Nina thinned her eyes.
"Smother it!" Niles smirked, cradling his cracked ribs.
"Stamp it out!" Balthus cheered, throwing the library's doors wide.
"Ah, those are excellent plans, each and every one of them..." Odin smirked, drawing his own sword as he emerged from Balthus' shadow. "But the spirits... they've guiding my hand! Yes! They command! And they demand---"
View attachment 7591
"That we drown this foul fiend!"
With a swish of his sword, Odin summon a wet wave. The cold water struck the Librarian's back and sizzled into steam. Unharmed, the Librarian slowly turned towards him. Taken back, Odin staggered back behind Balthus.
"She's still standing? Good! Would have been a let-down if she hit the floor before thing got r--"
A fireball tossed the brawled back through the Library's doors.

"We've... We've got this..." Willow lied. "I'll help the cavalry deal with the Librarian. You're welcome to help, but we need someone to go find the book. If we can't find it, it'll all have been for nothing. One of you guys has to scope this place out. Check the records room at the back."

@Jeremi @Lucky

BASEMENT 2
Contact
A wave of blackness poured from the lantern. The smog didn't affect Alice in the slightest but Crimson? He could hardly breathe. He retreated from the heart of the storm that was slowly swirling Alice and his father. He kept his lantern close. He held its crimson light close to his chest. He vanished in the cloud. The light of his lantern vanished a few seconds later. For a second, Alice and Shan were alone, their eyes locked together by some unseen force. A second later, it happened.

Their minds compained.

The Lantern magnified Alice's compassion. The moment her mind connected with Shan's, it was as if she had shattered a dam. Emotion. Raw. Pure. It poured from his spirit and into Alice's. It was overwhelming. Mind shattering. For a brief, unbearable moment, their minds began one. Alice became Shan. Shan became Alice. A lifetime of memories ran through Alice's head. Memories of War and Conquest. Memories of battles won and enemies disposed of. And it felt.... good. For a single, disgusting moment, she felt the primal joy Shan had felt in every second he had spent on the battlefield. Beneath all the masks of anger and hate, Shan had loved his life. As their minds merged, Alice's felt the same way.

She felt disgust and contempt for the bastard son that he--

No. She felt disgust and contempt for the bastard son that she had fathered.

Bliss overwhelmed her as she thought of how he--

No... Bliss overwhelmed her as she thought of how she had abandoned her runt of a son behind at a camp as she had left for war.

She felt the shame sting of his...

No... She felt the shame sting of her defeat at Guy Gardner's hand. She felt the crushing guilt that came with the burden of the Indigo Ring.

Alice's fingers recoiled against his will. She dropped her Lantern.

[//ERROR//ERROR//]
Shan Yu's ring hummed.
[//ERROR//]
[COMPASSION NOT FOUND]
[//ERROR//]

[SEARCHING FOR SUITABLE REPLACEMENT]
The ring slipped from his finger and took to the skies. In a flash of purple, it vanished down the hall.
Shan Yu slowly climbed to his feet.
"It's been too long... Far too long..." He growled. A predator's grim grin clung to his lips. "To live... to feel... And I have you to thank... Son..."
He stared straight through Alice. His eyes locked onto Crimson. Crimson raised his lantern to light better light the room.
"Son..." He scoffed. "I supposed there's a first time for everything... Trust you to address me now. Now that I have all this power... this influence... 'Son'... You never called me that back in China... back when I was nothing... back when I meant nothing..."
"And look at you now..."
"Yes..." Crimson slowly approached the Hun. "Look at me now..."
His father's opened his arms to offer his son an embrace. Chìhóng approached his chest. He nestled a hard-light dagger between his fathers ribs, right where his father had expect him to nestle his head.
"I think we're past the point of hugs now, Father... don't you?"
Shan stumbled backwards, clutching his wounds. His jaw hung loose. He stared down at his hands. Crimson blood poured from his stomach.
"What were you expecting? Me to bend down beside you? To kiss you ring? Rule by your side? No. Your honor is restored, Shan Yu. Your name is mine once again. You can return to the grace Gardner dug for you all those years ago... The deed is done."
He dropped his dagger beside his wounded father.
"Alice..." He turned back to face his 'pupil'. "You have made me proud. Decide the old man's fate. Show some compassion and put his out of his misery. Or, show some hate. Let him bleed to death- let him suffer. We both know he deserves such an ending..."
Shan Chìhóng snapped his fingers, smiling all the while. A staircase descended from the ceiling on his command.
"Our friends from the Kanzuki Foundation will be have just checked in with our border guards. They'll be here any second. Come. I don't want to leave Mr.Pym waiting. After we've finished our little talk, we'll go find that book your after... and find your little friend..."

@Takumi

Smoldering slightly, Valkyrie emerged from the demon. While her exterior didn't seem to have any wounds from the ordeal and she was holding a brave face, it was clear that she was pitched in a losing battle. The untimely arrival of reinforcement however was a welcome one...even with who was with them.

"Nay," Valkyrie put her sword into its scabbard and her spear to her back. "'Tis my battle and I will not run for it." Valkyrie cracked her neck as she continued. "I suggest you and your allies take a step back from the demoness. I have another skill I wish to try. Also...cover thine ears." Hoping that they followed her instructions Valkyrie made her way close enough to their foe to feel the heat on her skin. Railing her arms back as far as she could she'd proceed to slam her palms together with such a force that it would have created a sonic boom right in the librarian's face. While she knew this wouldn't be enough to snuff the flames, perhaps it was at least enough to stagger her and let the others jump in.

@Sark @Lucky
 
She had told Eli she'd gladly dirty her hands some more, but actually doing it now made her stomach twist up. There was no joy, no glee on her part. She knew, in the back of her mind, that Shan Yu would feel those things, that she had felt those same things when she looked at things from his perspective.

Stepping back, she wiped the blood away and on Shan Yu's clothes before putting the switchblade back where it was hidden in her own clothes before heading to the stairs.
BASEMENT--> MUSEUM
Crimson didn't say a word as his Father's limp body slump back down onto the floor. The corners of his cheek had already twisted to form a subtle smile. His work was done. His prodigy had revealed herself. Upstairs, a new day was dawning... and Crimson was determined to be a part of it.

***
A small shuttle came in to land before the great, marble arches of the Temple museum. Crimson and Alice watched and waited for its passengers to disembark, a row of stoic Goddessian Inquisitors standing proud and tall beside them. The shuttle's back door slowly creaked open to reveal a familiar face.
"Doctor Pym!" Crimson proclaimed, throwing his arms wide. "It's been too long. I trust you trip was pleasant enough?"
View attachment 7683
"That depends on how you define 'pleasant', Father Crimson." Hank squinted in the morning Sun. With a hand raised to shield his eyes, he slowly made his way up the stairs towards his hosts. "It wasn't exactly a bumpy ride, but the conversation I shared with one of my fellow passengers... well, frankly, it was troubling."

"Troubling?" Crimson squinted, raising his guard. "Passengers? I was under the impression that you would be traveling alone."

"Things have changed, Crimson." A sharp, clipped voice interjected. A Nohrian Noble stepped out from the shuttle's rear, his hand resting upon the handle of his sword. "You weren't responding to my summons..."
View attachment 7684
"We have some important matters to discuss. I believe that our conservation might be more productive if it happened in person." Xander squinted slightly, testing the Priest's facade. Crimson presented Xander with an equally stern glare.
"I am a busy man, your majesty. I'm sure you of all people understand the need to prioritize. What troubles you?"
"Terror. The tighter the Empire tightens its hold over it's worlds, the great the threat of opposition becomes. My siblings and I recently dealt with a sect of Terrorists beneath Garreg Mach. I almost died in the process. But of course... you're already aware of that... you're standing next to one of the women responsible for the incident. Perhaps its time we discussed the finer details of our alliance..."
"I can vouch for Alice." Crimson replied bluntly. "Whatever you're accusing her of, you are clearly mistaken. She has been working with me for several months. She rarely leaves the Temple grounds for anything other than official business." Lying came naturally to him. It was his second nature. He didn't even have to try. "You should be more careful, you highness. Leveling such dangerous accusations against my proteges could harm your reputation in the long run. Besides... I'm sure Doctor Pym can vouch for her character, isn't that right, Hank?"
Hank turned to face Alice. He didn't quite look at her... it was is if he was staring straight through her.
"Yes...Yes..." He replied aloofly. "I know her character well enough."
A small group of Kanzuki Foundation volunteers flocked to Pym's side. Their faces were obscured by heavy, white pilots helmets and glass gas masks. The bullet proof vests and grey fatigues were all identical. Faceless and indistinguishable, the volunteers carried a collection of supplied into the Temple. Pym stayed behind with his hosts. He turned back towards Crimson.
"Well... let's not waste any more time. Would you care to come inside? Alice and I would love to give you a quick tour of the museum before were discuss the terms of our new partnership, right Alice?"

@Takumi @Lucky
JEFFREY KOVAL
@Sark @Takumi



“Hold on!”
Jeff said. He reached down and grabbed the pieces of the miniature person, clearly meant to be Seteth, and placed it on the counter.

With a steady, yet unskilled hand, Jeff attempted to re-assemble the mini-Seteth. The final product was imperfect, and it it was not as it was before, but there was clear effort and heart put into the the recreation.


“Here, it’s the best I can do,” Jeff said, handing No-Name the wrapper man.

His mind wandered a bit. A little stumble of the tongue caught his ear.


He had his suspicions, but they weren’t confirmed until that very moment.

No-Name is most likely Flayn.

He didn’t want to outright question this, being forward would destroy her trust in him. But, there were other ways...

“You must be pretty skilled, if someone wanted to commission your wrapper people,” Jeff said, “Where did you learn how to do that? It’s not something I’ve ever seen done before,”
SECRET CHAMBER
No-Name held the miniature in her hand for a moment. She was still. Silent. Her eyes slowly welled up with tears.
"Thank you..." She smiled, trying desperately compose herself for her new friends' sake. "Thank you... It is... I m self taught... I do not have much free time... but I do not have many possessions to distract myself with, either... I have learned to use what little I have effectively... the need to make things... it forced me to get good at things such as this..."
"They're a lovely family." She murmured softly, fingers gently brushing the necklace she wore out of habit.


Katara was quick to try and help gather the pieces to the little tinfoil man for Jeff to attempt to put him back together again.

"It was a simple mistake, no need to apologize. It's okay, see?" She reassured the young girl calmly as Jeff did his best to repair the mini Seteth.

She carefully held out her hands, offering them for the other to hold if she wished. She wanted to help calm her down a little, having noticed she had begun to shake before dropping the miniature tin man.
"Yes... yes they were lovely..." No name whispered, half to Katara, half to herself. She crouched down before he little display and watched her tiny friends sparkle in the chamber's limited light. "They were all so very, very lovely..."

@Takumi @Capri
Smoldering slightly, Valkyrie emerged from the demon. While her exterior didn't seem to have any wounds from the ordeal and she was holding a brave face, it was clear that she was pitched in a losing battle. The untimely arrival of reinforcement however was a welcome one...even with who was with them.

"Nay," Valkyrie put her sword into its scabbard and her spear to her back. "'Tis my battle and I will not run for it." Valkyrie cracked her neck as she continued. "I suggest you and your allies take a step back from the demoness. I have another skill I wish to try. Also...cover thine ears." Hoping that they followed her instructions Valkyrie made her way close enough to their foe to feel the heat on her skin. Railing her arms back as far as she could she'd proceed to slam her palms together with such a force that it would have created a sonic boom right in the librarian's face. While she knew this wouldn't be enough to snuff the flames, perhaps it was at least enough to stagger her and let the others jump in.
LIBRARY
"Cover our ears? Why do we need to--"

BOOM

"FUCK!" Willow's brother cradled either side of his skull and grinned his teeth, almost dropping Niles in the process. "FUCK!"

The Witch was similarly caught off guard. The shock wave sent streams of flames leaping back from her 'body'. Her body lost its form for a moment, like the light of a birthday candle flickering before a strong puff of air. Only her smoking, black heart remained. But the moment didn't last. A heartbeat later, the Librarian has back to her screaming, howling form.

"Oh shit..."
James muttered to himself as he set Niles back down upon some solid grounded. "That might... that might actually..." Focusing up, the boy cracked his knuckles and lowered his stance. With a grunt, he threw his hands together, forming his own sonic-boom.

BOOM

"Oh, crap... Cover your ears guys!"

BOOM

James clapped again. His sonic claps weren't as strong a Valkyrie's had been, but the effect was similar. The Librarian's former flickered and faded for half a second at a time... just long enough for her to take a step closer to Valkyrie.

"Alright! Lets... Let's see what we can do with this, Aunt Asgard!"

@Jeremi @Lucky
 

BASEMENT--> MUSEUM
Crimson didn't say a word as his Father's limp body slump back down onto the floor. The corners of his cheek had already twisted to form a subtle smile. His work was done. His prodigy had revealed herself. Upstairs, a new day was dawning... and Crimson was determined to be a part of it.

***
A small shuttle came in to land before the great, marble arches of the Temple museum. Crimson and Alice watched and waited for its passengers to disembark, a row of stoic Goddessian Inquisitors standing proud and tall beside them. The shuttle's back door slowly creaked open to reveal a familiar face.
"Doctor Pym!" Crimson proclaimed, throwing his arms wide. "It's been too long. I trust you trip was pleasant enough?"
View attachment 7683
"That depends on how you define 'pleasant', Father Crimson." Hank squinted in the morning Sun. With a hand raised to shield his eyes, he slowly made his way up the stairs towards his hosts. "It wasn't exactly a bumpy ride, but the conversation I shared with one of my fellow passengers... well, frankly, it was troubling."

"Troubling?" Crimson squinted, raising his guard. "Passengers? I was under the impression that you would be traveling alone."

"Things have changed, Crimson." A sharp, clipped voice interjected. A Nohrian Noble stepped out from the shuttle's rear, his hand resting upon the handle of his sword. "You weren't responding to my summons..."
View attachment 7684
"We have some important matters to discuss. I believe that our conservation might be more productive if it happened in person." Xander squinted slightly, testing the Priest's facade. Crimson presented Xander with an equally stern glare.
"I am a busy man, your majesty. I'm sure you of all people understand the need to prioritize. What troubles you?"
"Terror. The tighter the Empire tightens its hold over it's worlds, the great the threat of opposition becomes. My siblings and I recently dealt with a sect of Terrorists beneath Garreg Mach. I almost died in the process. But of course... you're already aware of that... you're standing next to one of the women responsible for the incident. Perhaps its time we discussed the finer details of our alliance..."
"I can vouch for Alice." Crimson replied bluntly. "Whatever you're accusing her of, you are clearly mistaken. She has been working with me for several months. She rarely leaves the Temple grounds for anything other than official business." Lying came naturally to him. It was his second nature. He didn't even have to try. "You should be more careful, you highness. Leveling such dangerous accusations against my proteges could harm your reputation in the long run. Besides... I'm sure Doctor Pym can vouch for her character, isn't that right, Hank?"
Hank turned to face Alice. He didn't quite look at her... it was is if he was staring straight through her.
"Yes...Yes..." He replied aloofly. "I know her character well enough."
A small group of Kanzuki Foundation volunteers flocked to Pym's side. Their faces were obscured by heavy, white pilots helmets and glass gas masks. The bullet proof vests and grey fatigues were all identical. Faceless and indistinguishable, the volunteers carried a collection of supplied into the Temple. Pym stayed behind with his hosts. He turned back towards Crimson.
"Well... let's not waste any more time. Would you care to come inside? Alice and I would love to give you a quick tour of the museum before were discuss the terms of our new partnership, right Alice?"

@Takumi @Lucky

SECRET CHAMBER
No-Name held the miniature in her hand for a moment. She was still. Silent. Her eyes slowly welled up with tears.
"Thank you..." She smiled, trying desperately compose herself for her new friends' sake. "Thank you... It is... I m self taught... I do not have much free time... but I do not have many possessions to distract myself with, either... I have learned to use what little I have effectively... the need to make things... it forced me to get good at things such as this..."

"Yes... yes they were lovely..."
No name whispered, half to Katara, half to herself. She crouched down before he little display and watched her tiny friends sparkle in the chamber's limited light. "They were all so very, very lovely..."

@Takumi @Capri

LIBRARY
"Cover our ears? Why do we need to--"

BOOM

"FUCK!" Willow's brother cradled either side of his skull and grinned his teeth, almost dropping Niles in the process. "FUCK!"

The Witch was similarly caught off guard. The shock wave sent streams of flames leaping back from her 'body'. Her body lost its form for a moment, like the light of a birthday candle flickering before a strong puff of air. Only her smoking, black heart remained. But the moment didn't last. A heartbeat later, the Librarian has back to her screaming, howling form.

"Oh shit..." James muttered to himself as he set Niles back down upon some solid grounded. "That might... that might actually..." Focusing up, the boy cracked his knuckles and lowered his stance. With a grunt, he threw his hands together, forming his own sonic-boom.

BOOM

"Oh, crap... Cover your ears guys!"

BOOM

James clapped again. His sonic claps weren't as strong a Valkyrie's had been, but the effect was similar. The Librarian's former flickered and faded for half a second at a time... just long enough for her to take a step closer to Valkyrie.

"Alright! Lets... Let's see what we can do with this, Aunt Asgard!"

@Jeremi @Lucky

"Aye," Valkyrie readied her hands again. "Let us end this!"

BOOM

She joined in with James to double the efforts against the librarian. "Thou now face to storms!" She shouted before firing off another one. "Are thou strong enough to survive such an onslaught!"

@Lucky @Sark
 

BASEMENT--> MUSEUM
Crimson didn't say a word as his Father's limp body slump back down onto the floor. The corners of his cheek had already twisted to form a subtle smile. His work was done. His prodigy had revealed herself. Upstairs, a new day was dawning... and Crimson was determined to be a part of it.

***
A small shuttle came in to land before the great, marble arches of the Temple museum. Crimson and Alice watched and waited for its passengers to disembark, a row of stoic Goddessian Inquisitors standing proud and tall beside them. The shuttle's back door slowly creaked open to reveal a familiar face.
"Doctor Pym!" Crimson proclaimed, throwing his arms wide. "It's been too long. I trust you trip was pleasant enough?"
View attachment 7683
"That depends on how you define 'pleasant', Father Crimson." Hank squinted in the morning Sun. With a hand raised to shield his eyes, he slowly made his way up the stairs towards his hosts. "It wasn't exactly a bumpy ride, but the conversation I shared with one of my fellow passengers... well, frankly, it was troubling."

"Troubling?" Crimson squinted, raising his guard. "Passengers? I was under the impression that you would be traveling alone."

"Things have changed, Crimson." A sharp, clipped voice interjected. A Nohrian Noble stepped out from the shuttle's rear, his hand resting upon the handle of his sword. "You weren't responding to my summons..."
View attachment 7684
"We have some important matters to discuss. I believe that our conservation might be more productive if it happened in person." Xander squinted slightly, testing the Priest's facade. Crimson presented Xander with an equally stern glare.
"I am a busy man, your majesty. I'm sure you of all people understand the need to prioritize. What troubles you?"
"Terror. The tighter the Empire tightens its hold over it's worlds, the great the threat of opposition becomes. My siblings and I recently dealt with a sect of Terrorists beneath Garreg Mach. I almost died in the process. But of course... you're already aware of that... you're standing next to one of the women responsible for the incident. Perhaps its time we discussed the finer details of our alliance..."
"I can vouch for Alice." Crimson replied bluntly. "Whatever you're accusing her of, you are clearly mistaken. She has been working with me for several months. She rarely leaves the Temple grounds for anything other than official business." Lying came naturally to him. It was his second nature. He didn't even have to try. "You should be more careful, you highness. Leveling such dangerous accusations against my proteges could harm your reputation in the long run. Besides... I'm sure Doctor Pym can vouch for her character, isn't that right, Hank?"
Hank turned to face Alice. He didn't quite look at her... it was is if he was staring straight through her.
"Yes...Yes..." He replied aloofly. "I know her character well enough."
A small group of Kanzuki Foundation volunteers flocked to Pym's side. Their faces were obscured by heavy, white pilots helmets and glass gas masks. The bullet proof vests and grey fatigues were all identical. Faceless and indistinguishable, the volunteers carried a collection of supplied into the Temple. Pym stayed behind with his hosts. He turned back towards Crimson.
"Well... let's not waste any more time. Would you care to come inside? Alice and I would love to give you a quick tour of the museum before were discuss the terms of our new partnership, right Alice?"

@Takumi @Lucky

SECRET CHAMBER
No-Name held the miniature in her hand for a moment. She was still. Silent. Her eyes slowly welled up with tears.
"Thank you..." She smiled, trying desperately compose herself for her new friends' sake. "Thank you... It is... I m self taught... I do not have much free time... but I do not have many possessions to distract myself with, either... I have learned to use what little I have effectively... the need to make things... it forced me to get good at things such as this..."

"Yes... yes they were lovely..."
No name whispered, half to Katara, half to herself. She crouched down before he little display and watched her tiny friends sparkle in the chamber's limited light. "They were all so very, very lovely..."

@Takumi @Capri

LIBRARY
"Cover our ears? Why do we need to--"

BOOM

"FUCK!" Willow's brother cradled either side of his skull and grinned his teeth, almost dropping Niles in the process. "FUCK!"

The Witch was similarly caught off guard. The shock wave sent streams of flames leaping back from her 'body'. Her body lost its form for a moment, like the light of a birthday candle flickering before a strong puff of air. Only her smoking, black heart remained. But the moment didn't last. A heartbeat later, the Librarian has back to her screaming, howling form.

"Oh shit..." James muttered to himself as he set Niles back down upon some solid grounded. "That might... that might actually..." Focusing up, the boy cracked his knuckles and lowered his stance. With a grunt, he threw his hands together, forming his own sonic-boom.

BOOM

"Oh, crap... Cover your ears guys!"

BOOM

James clapped again. His sonic claps weren't as strong a Valkyrie's had been, but the effect was similar. The Librarian's former flickered and faded for half a second at a time... just long enough for her to take a step closer to Valkyrie.

"Alright! Lets... Let's see what we can do with this, Aunt Asgard!"

@Jeremi @Lucky

Alice didn't know what to expect, but her brows furrowed at the sight of Xander. Fight or flight response weighing on her mind due to so many Inquisitors nearby going up a notch at seeing this guy. Fight wasn't an option, and turning and walking away wasn't an option right now, so she'd have to quietly stew in her irritation for who knows how long she'd be stuck here with Xander and Pym.

From the sounds of it, Xander seemed to have forgotten that Alice had tried to help him before nearly dying herself, the fucking noodle brained prick. She opened her mouth, but was cut off by Crimson, and ultimately glanced between them with pursed lips.

Yeah, it was probably for the best she didn't say what she was originally going to. Though, when Pym looked at-no through-her, she almost felt as if she was being judged on the spot, and huffed through her nose.

Terrorists her ass. As Crimson spoke to her she scratched the back of her head.

"Yeah, lead the way Chief." She replied, a bit awkwardly. This whole damn situation just felt weird as hell, and she was pretty sure they were playing some kinda political mind game with each other or some shit. She didn't like it, whatever the fuck was happening.

@Sark

Katara could relate on a certain level. It was almost like with her bending, having to teach herself just to do something basic with it. Even if her skills weren't great until she was taught by a Master, she only got as far as she did when she found the time and had nothing better to do. Yet, she also had wanted to as well.

She looked at the girl before her and the loneliness she practically felt from her came off her in waves and it was down right sad.

@Sark @Capri
 
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