Team 2

Sailor Mercury almost stumbled as her feet found solid ground again.

"Heaven...?" She looked at the city around her, a start contrast from the American city she was in before, and possibly even further in the future than her original time. It had a very similar feel to Crystal Tokyo, which was somewhat comforting. She guessed that this city was called Heaven because it was so advanced, because there was no way she was actually in the afterlife, right? Ami was more motivated to go somewhere when Akrasiel mentioned other groups of people. Were the other teams here too? After bowing and saying thanks to Akrasiel, she started walking towards the strange Greek temple. The black building was a little less comforting, but her curiosity over who this superior was kept her going despite that. What kind of person ruled a place called Heaven, or were they even a person at all?

edited 17th Aug '14 3:31:44 PM by ScorpioRat

Team 3

"Fair enough" I replied, dropping the humorous facade to stick with the professional soldier routine. Raphael was likely as humorless as anyone else who's been in the business of war for so long, and all things considering the man standing in front of me may have been in war longer than anyone else. Or perhaps worst, he may have simply heard all of them before.

"You know that asshat by name? He must be a bigger pest than I thought" Which also asked the question as to why said pest hadn't been squashed yet. When the vial of worryingly green liquid was placed on the desk next to me, my first instinct was to be suspicious that it would poison me. Lifting it up from the table I gave it a thorough look over to find that it was a... vial of green liquid. I didn't have the tools on hand to test it, and that left me to simply have, well, faith in the angel.

But if the angel was expecting me to down it now then he was sadly disappointed. I took it, and the other two, and stuffed them into my medpack for later use. He may only have his sight to see my wounds, but I can simply glance to the corner of my HUD and I could see I was more that fine to keep on fighting. I would save these things for when I NEEDED them. Or Sypha and Marisa needed them, I guess.

"Thanks" I said, tidying up my armor back into place as I stood to fill height "Now, if you would point me to the armory, or wherever it is you keep the good stuff," I patted my plasma gun to indicate what I meant "then I will get out of your office and we can go on doing what we do best"

Sheik was too exhausted to notice Merkava's head scurry away. Instead, she focused on the boy. "Can you lead us there? We must rest and regroup before making for the village."

"Hmmmg... anng... it moved away..." Groans Link, holding herself upright by her blade on the floor as she tries to stand up "The darkness from the blast.. on my shield. It took the head away... the monster may come back from that..."

Taking a step back to hit her back with the wall to remain upright, Link sheathes her blade away and fishes on her pockets for one of her bottles... one containing a potion for her to drink and try to heal her wounds.

Team 1

The boy merely nodded at Sheik's question, leaning on the wall so that he can even walk. As for wounds inflicted by Merkava's strikes, there was, thankfully enough, nothing unusual in them that such a potion wouldn't fix.

After about twenty minutes of a slow walking through the corridors and taking a couple of turns - it seemed that this "underground passage" was much more complex than Sherman apparently assumed - the team would find themselves in a giant hall filled with various constructs made mostly of scrap metal and trash, recycled together into a rather haphazardly-looking settlement. People were walking its streets as if this was any other normal town, but that did little to mask the poor state of people living here.

After some wandering through torch-lit corridors of the temple Sailor Mercury would find herself in front of the wooden door. Upon opening she'd see a peculiar room with minimal furnishing and tons of chains hanged almost everywhere on the walls and ceiling. Behind the large desk sat a peculiar ghastly-looking man, fiddling with a small pocket watch.◊ Upon Ami entering his humble abode his lips curved in an emotionless smile.

"Mizuno Ami, correct? Please take a seat." The man hid the watch deep inside the pockets of his large coat, focusing his attention on his new visitor.

"Suit yourself." Raphael nodded. "As for your request, Michael is supposed to get you and the other weapon-toting folks to the armory once everyone's been gathered, so you'll have to hold your horses for a moment longer. Don't think we've got energy weapons though, so your best bet would be asking Akrasiel for some fancy magic enhancements. He should be by Sammael's temple by now."

Sheik stared at the underground village, amazed that such desolate people could construct something like it.

It reminded her of the Hidden Village: the last remnant of the Sheikah.

Shaking the remorse from her mind, Sheik addressed the boy once more. "Do you know of a place we can rest for a moment? With Link's injuries and my...fatigue, it will be wise for us to sit down somewhere and plan our next move."

Team 2

Ami wasn't entirely sure what to make of the man sitting in the chain filled room. There was something about him that made her think he wasn't even human. A vampire perhaps? Or some kind of demon? They had strange pale skin sometimes. Nonetheless, this must be the person Akrasiel was speaking of. She took a seat in front of him, silent. He seemed like the type who wouldn't take well to slights, and she didn't want to accidentally push a button by saying the wrong thing.

Team 3

Sypha noticed that she felt better... A lot better. Sypha closed the book and headed to where Marisa went.

"Hey!" Sypha yelled out to Marisa. "You might want to sit in the house for a bit!"

"It has..." Sypha then tried to explain what just happened. "It has healed me."

Team 3

The thought of stocking my ammo once again, or even finding myself a new weapon, was more than enough to tide me over for now. I could still feel a definitely frown when I heard that they didn't have (or at least not sharing) anything for my plasma gun. Which meant I would be holding on to the ammo until I could find a generator powerful enough to hot charge the cells, which was about as dangerous as it sounds. Now, for those of you reading this and haven't handled the heavenly ordinance of a plasma-based weapon, this particular model can create it's own and the cells that are fed into it provide the energy. And they don't like it if you try to recharge them with jumper cables. Like a small bomb. And yes, I have done that before.

At the sound of magic, however, my eye had practically rolled into the back of my skull. And likely the rest of my body language revealed that.

"No thanks. I'm not letting anyone mess with my guns. They're mine, I know how they work, and I don't want someone screwing them up with them" That may sound mean for what was friendly advice, but it's a soldier thing. Racers have their cars. Soldiers have their guns.

With that, I left the office and headed off in the direction of where the girls were going. Oh wait, I'm not suppose to know Sypha is a girl at this point. My bad.

Ami

"...I should perhaps start with an apology for the fate of your friends." Sammael spoke, focusing his stare on the girl, tenting his fingers together. "We were sadly unable to recover your team the same way we did with the other one and the one currently extracted due to enemy presences. You will meet with them shortly. Secondly..." A small frown crossed the spooky-looking man's face. "I will be blunt: you and the others were tricked by the one who pretended to be the so-called "Man of Ipsum". The quest for restoring equilibrium is naught but a plan devised by him to thin out your numbers. It saddens me to say that the sacrifices of your team and the other one that vanished without a trace were pointless."

Team 2

At first Ami was shocked, but then the gravity of the situation kicked in. The Man of Ipsum and the entire mission had been fake? So the dream she had requesting her help, and even the gathering of heroes was nothing but a ploy to pick them off.

"It was all a lie?" They had all been used like tools, just as she had first suspected but then dismissed as paranoid thoughts. And now at least three good people were dead for no reason at all. She had been so stupid and trusting. She looked down at the desk in front of her, vision going blurry from the tears threatening to fall. Crying was the only reaction she could have at the moment, so frustrated by how pointless it had all been. Ami's breath caught a few times, but she pulled herself back together again after a minute, wiping her eyes with her hands.

"...Is there a way to fix this?" she asked Sammael. "I want to help, if I can."

Team Ami

"As a matter of fact, you are more than capable of helping." The emotionless smile returned on Sammael's lips. "Once we gather the last group remaining I will share the plan at hand in further detail. Put simply, to prevent the man responsible from opening Abyss like he will have to be incapacitated in one way or another and all of you will play a major role in carrying such a plan out."

"Do you have any other questions?"

Upon returning - for some reason the path to the place of resting just seemed to appear in his mind out of the blue - the marine would see the rest of his team and Gabriel by the door. From the looks of it they seemed to be conversing about something.

edited 23rd Aug '14 3:26:19 AM by FergardStratoavis

Team 3

"Pretty much. I'm not the kind of girl who can stand still doing nothin', so I'm gonna take a look around before we leave." said Marisa, grinning.

It was then that Sypha approached and explained what the room did, so it was supposed to heal them while they waited for Killboy? Well, that was nice, but it seemed like Sypha forgot a little detail that Marisa was quick to remind her of.

"I kinda don't need to heal myself, because, y'know, you and Killboy did all the fighting by the time I arrived. It's not like I'm hurt or tired."

Team 2

Ami nodded in understanding. As long as she could stop anyone else from being killed, she would go along with the plan. "What exactly is this place? And if the "Man of Ipsum" wasn't aiming to create balance, then what are you trying to accomplish?" she asked him.

Team 1

The boy nodded in confirmation, leading the team to the biggest scrap house of them all. In there was a lot of beds cobbled together from various materials. For now it housed a couple of bandaged people lying motionless, likely resting.

Then the team was approached by a portly man with an impressive mustache, wearing what seemed to be a long bloodied apron. He had latex gloves on his hands, glancing at this unusual collection of people. "What is this?" He said, glancing at the boy and grabbing a chair for him to sit on. "Who did you bring in here, David?"

"You're currently in Centrum Mundi, the very heart of Paradiso itself. My name is Sammael and I happen to be a stand-in for my dear friend who lies dormant. You mortals likely know him as Lord or simply God." The emotionless smile widened a little. "As for your other question, I wish to prevent the Abyss from opening and pouring out into the mortal world. I do believe Second General - the one impersonating Man of Ipsum - did a good job on describing Abyssians and why we wouldn't want them running rampant, didn't he?"

"By all means, go right ahead." Gabriel grinned encouragingly before crushing the remains of a cigarette in his hand. "In fact, how about I give you two a small tour around? It's the least I can do for all the trouble you went through."

Team 3

Despite the total lack of direction and knowledge of where our housing would be, the same guiding force that got is to Sammael's office in the monolithic build lead me to the archaic house that we were staying at for the undisclosed amount of time. I could tell, because Sypha and Marisa were out front talking to Gabriel. So I could probably have found them without mystical mind-invading compass.

I announced my presence, to those who couldn't notice a large soldier wearing day-glo green armor that was also a walking armory, with a friendly wave. As I got closer I could vaguely hear what Marisa was saying. That she wasn't hurt from the battle we escaped from, and if I had to guess she was explaining to Gabriel that she didn't want to be here. I couldn't blame the witch. Place was boring. Like an old folk's home. After a cold snap.

"I could very well fix that for you, Marisa" I said with a chuckle

Team 3

"Okay," Sypha said to Gabriel, nodding. "Until we can head off to our mission, I do not see why we cannot have a tour."

Team 4

"Don't mind with that arrangement." Henno replied. "Anyone else coming besides you lot?"

The bald commando asked after he looked around to see it was clear.

Team One

"We are warriors, sir. On a mission to find someone in the city. We were on our way there when young David crossed our paths, chased by a demon. The beast is dead, but we are in need of rest and nourishment if we are to continue."

As usual, Linkina let Sheik do the talking as she merely approached the closest thing she could sit on and then let herself fall upon it. Her arm was a lot better now than it had been after the terrible biting, never underestimate the power of a red potion, however she still fell exhausted and full of pain all over.

Team 2

"I've seen creatures like them in action before," Ami said, remembering the description from earlier. This was getting more and more similar to a biblical war, with a God fighting the equivalent of demons. Did that make Sammael an angel? She didn't even want to try and wrap her head around the entire issues scope anymore. She'd just focus herself on destroying the monsters and hope for the best.

Team 1

"...gotta say, you three are a suspicious-looking bunch... but then again, anything's better than Luciferians and their bloodhounds. I'll see to it that you get medical attention and some rest. Who sent you?" The portly man asked, glancing suspiciously at Viktor every now and then.

"Then you likely understand the seriousness of the situation." Sammael nodded in acknowledgement. "As it stands you will be forced to compete with the one team remaining that were not able to transport here. You will have to reach their target before them, but considering your superior firepower that can be arranged."

Upon spotting Doomguy Gabriel answered his wave with his own. "Well, hopefully a quick look-around can somewhat alleviate the boredom." He said, smiling. "Well then, shall we get going? There's this one cafe where we can sit by, not that far away from here."

"Everybody's present already, so I don't think there's a need for that." The blond-maned man grinned. "Anyways, hold on to something, we're gonna fly." Before one could say "holy smokes" the whole warehouse began shaking with all the people and things but the leather-wearing man himself this close to just toppling over. Then, mere moments later it stopped shaking as the walls began falling apart as if made of paper, opening like a box. Before they could even hit the ground however they began to burn and incinerated almost instantly once they began being alight.

The team, their truck and the leather man were in the middle of some giant city with shining skyscrapers and clear air. "Gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce you to Paradiso." The man grinned before pointing at a rather out-of-place building made entirely of black marble, resembling a Greek temple. "The big boss is inside. Get yourselves in there, he wants to talk to you."

Team 4

"Let's go."

Henno told his teammates before he made sure his gear and weapons were secured.

"All right. Thanks a lot."

The commando proceeded to walk towards the direction as pointed out.

Sheik almost answered the man honestly, but she stopped herself and looked to Link. Was it a good idea to tell the whole truth here? They had no idea who could be listening down here. Perhaps it was best to keep at least Sherman out of this.

"We were sent by a man not from this world. Bruschev, the witch doctor, is the one we seek."

Viktor looked at this..place made out of poor materials and what seemed to be wounded people in beds,it somewhat reminded him of the lowest of the lowest parts of the city of Zaun.

Viktor noticed that the man that his two other allies were talking to looked suspiciously at him..of course it had to be expected,he surely hasn't seen a human that upgraded himself to the glorious evolution.

He currently letted his allies talk to the man,hearing to what they said.