"This guy is called Papyrus, thank you very much," he said, "and he is quiet willing to stay with the kid for a while, if he doesn't mind."

Easton City, Winterbloom's

Fyodor tilted his head slightly "Hello Mr. Papyrus" Seeing that neither Misty nor Hazel seemed to be interested in the mask he quickly stored it securely away again. The ravens outside all the while seemed to have calmed down significantly after the Changeling was gone, only occasionally pecking against the window now.

Winterbloom's

Mongrel arrived, Mongrel entered. Whatever his attitude before, this was an emergency and this was a store. You're kind of expected to just walk in.

"Madam Hazel, I have urgent matters to-"

The monster man, like a zoo puree'd with a rainbow and poured into a stretched man-shaped mold, looked around the mess of the shop, pausing in his speech.

Moving on.

"-urgent matters to discuss with you. This is an emergency and I can assure you that it indeed concerns you as it concerns everybody."

Winterbloom's

Hazel's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well, I don't suppose I can say no to that. The back room is in better shape. Come along."

Winterbloom's

Mongrel had been expecting a lot more argument but didn't question it.

"Good. Allow me to tell you what has been transpiring..."

When taken to the back room, he did exactly that, Roken, the parasites, the threat to this reality.

The Void

Between this reality and non-reality, there was a barrier that did not exist. By its very non-existence, it defined all that which existed and that which didn't. In a way, the things of the Void had more existence than this barrier, merely from the other direction. This barrier which did not exist had a name:

-

ẹ̶̡̥̰͎̬̩̼͎͕̪̾̍ͦ͊̈ͪ̐͂̈́̏̈͊ͧͣͯ̀͟͠^̸̨̬̩̺̪̪͖̼̙̝̫̜̳͕̝͇̹̝͋̏̽͆̌̇͗ͪͧ̂́͜{̶̴̭͖͔̹̠̺͙̲̫̜̩͚͈̖͚͉ͧͮ̊ͫͭ͗̋͛ͧ̾͋ͣ͛ͣͭ̇́́͢ͅͅi̶̢͉̺̜̜̫̜͇͙͒ͨͧ̓̀͜͞\̖͚̟̭͍̻̺̯̰͖̝͚̓̽̆̈̃̈̾ͫ̀͘͡͞ͅp̶̷̨̥̣̖͚̣͎̠̣̞̖̱̩̟̖̘̈́̽̄̌ͪͥ̈̚͡͡ͅi͑̔ͫ̈ͩͤͤͮ͒̅҉̗̼̞̝̭̳̦ ̡̛̫̲̼͚̤̫͚̞̤̳͉͔̗͕͉͍̠̿͒̈ͤͪͫ͋͗̂̒̂ͅ}̸͕̹̠̹̮̰͓͔̼̫͓͖̌ͭͣ̽̀̀ͣ̑ͫ͒̈̎̔͛͋̀ͅ+̨̙̦̞͚̭̟̫ͬͧ̃ͨ̏͊̾̋̓ͥͧͭͪ̋̕͜1̸̴͙̭̰̻̘̣̯͍͙̰̙̙̰͎͉͈ͮ̊ͧͭ́ͅ=̧̧͖̞̼̥͎͇̖̅̐̉̎͌͗̂̄̉̂ͥ͋̅̔̃̔̚͘͢͜0̅͑̉̊̃ͮͩ͑̑̅͂͒ͭ̐ͬͥ҉̴̢̝̟̪̦̮̦͇̞͖̭̜̤͉̥̱ͅ

-

Over this thing that did not exist, a lie was erected. And then another, and another, another. Each lie said that it was the way into this world, the way to cross over from the Void into Reality. Clearly, said each lie, I am the way forward. Here, come through here.

edited 22nd Mar '17 7:08:50 PM by God_of_Awesome

Simon had follow Mongrel inside, but stopped when he saw the place was trashed. His first thought was Oh no! did Misty's enemies somehow made it inside? But then he saw both the girl and Hazel were OK. Then he noticed Fyodor was there, and also some guy he did not recognize.

Then Mongrel and Hazel went to the back of the shop to talk in private. He decided to wait here for now.

"So... what happened here?" he asked to nobody in particular.

Winterbloom's

"Well," Misty said. "I invited Papyrus in, which apparently compromised the wards. Hazel called him a demon, so he got mad and started trashing the store. I tried to set him on fire but couldn't. Hazel told me to go away, I went for a walk, and saw this lady make a fake Fyodor and try to take the real one. I brought them both here, and the fake Fyodor turned into a pile of sticks after he spoke with the voice of someone Hazel called Mab, who is apparently a fairy queen who wants to kidnap Fyodor. I think that's everything."

She snapped her fingers. "Oh, and Papyrus fought some weird guy." She picked up the ax from the ground. "This was his."

Winterbloom's Back Room

Hazel's eyes grew progressively larger as she listened to Mongrel exposit.

"I see. So would the first step be getting the Parasites already here out, or setting up a defense system to keep more of them out?"

edited 22nd Mar '17 7:35:14 PM by emilyorthoclase

Winterbloom

"The step I wish to take is bring you with me to TALOS to pool all our resources," Mongrel said, tapping his fingers. "After that... well, last I talked with my superior, I heard at least one defense was being thrown up." He glanced at her and felt the need to elaborate. "With mages and psychics working in conjunction with the mythos of the Shadow." He eyed her to see if she understood the significance.

Winterbloom's

He wanted to take her away from the shop.

Alright. Fine. She could handle this. Sure, she hadn't been more than five feet away from the shop in almost forty years, but she could handle it. Not without something to take the edge off, though. She got up to fill a hip flask with rum.

"I'll do whatever I can to help."

After exiting the back room, she said "I'm going out for a while. Misty, you're in charge while I'm gone. Fyodor, you're in charge if anything happens to Misty. Papyrus, don't touch anything.

"Simon. Glad to see you're alright. Will you be doing anything to help with the Parasites?"

Simon listened intently to Misty's explanations. It was a lot to take in, but he was used to such matters.

Basically, this supposedly-demonic guy fought someone in the shop, while Fyodor almost got kidnapped by the Dark Queen of the Fae. All of this happened while was out of the shop. Wonderful. Some bodyguard he was. He would be mad at himself, if there where not bigger things to be concerned about right now.

"Well, I'm glad things are, err, resolved now" he said. Then he looked at Papyrus. "Umm, I'm Simon. I work for Hazel, you could say." He was hoping he could get a friendly banter going with the stranger, and find out more about him.

But then Misty came out, apparently having agreed to go over to TALOS HQ. "I'm coming too. Before we go though, I want Mongrel to take a look at that axe. Just in case."

Papyrus nodded at Simon. "Nice to meet you," he said, before listening to everything. This was going to be fun, he could tell.

-Easton City, Roken's Warehouse-

The small camera-like Parasite flew back through the Rift, before landing in Roken's palm.

Like Rine's copies, Roken had a communication ability, which enabled him to talk and command his Parasites to do his will.

Sometimes he wished he hadn't.

He saw that the serpent-like Parasite was slowly, but surely, making it's way towards Dimension 4573.

The dimension he was residing in.

Where did it come from? Did it survive one of the previous dimensional collapses, only to grow to an unprecedented degree? Why was it coming this way? Revenge? Call to arms?

He did not know.

He was scared.

For only the second time in his life.

The first time was seeing the Multiverse initially, intimidated by it's vastness.

But this was one of his own, a horrifying "what if?" of himself.

He needed.... help.

But why? He had faced myriad beings before, and while he had not have won, he was not intimidated.

So, why?

edited 23rd Mar '17 3:32:52 AM by Enirboreh

Easton City, Winterbloom's

Upon hearing that she trusted Fyodor enough to put him in charge Fyodor smiled brightly and gave what was probably a playful - or sloppy, depending on who you ask - version of a salute "Spaseebo balshoye!^Translation Thanks so much! I'll make sure to not disappoint you Ms." Also as Simon opened the door a few ravens finally managed to get inside, one of which landed on Fyodor's shoulder.

Easton, Elizabeth's House:

"Well, then! It seems that the three of you are not against this offer. So, Miss..."

"Elizabeth"

"Elizabeth. What do you have to say?"

Elizabeth was sure that Rine and Valan would be prepared if the Shield's members would betray the Dimensional Guard.

"I accept."

She was aware of the risks. But this was the best option.

"Good, good! Now then, let's go save the humaniy, shall we?"

Alex led the Guard to the car that the Shield prepared. It was big enough tk fit 6 people.

Somewhere else:

Joseoh saw something weird: another corrupt animal super confronting a monster of unknown origin. He had never seen a thing like that before. Joseph assumed that it had to be a "Parasite" that the Roken mentioned.

"I will enjoy slaughtering that egomaniac's army. And the conqueror himself."

Parasite was of the same shape as the werebeast (specifically, spider). It was definitely not Clarissa, who could also transform into a spider. "Using a BFG will finish them off, but that will draw attention. At least there are no civilians here. I can't believe that I was on a way to buy a chocalate cake when I saw this animal fight."

He started the fight as he always did: by throwing his two favorite axes.

edited 23rd Mar '17 8:54:36 AM by kaalban

-Easton City, Unspecified Location-

Feed. Need more. Find portals.

The spiderlike Parasite screamed in pain as it was struck by two axes.

Pain. Cold. So cold. Help. Need help. Feed.

It made a drunken lunge towards the attacker, although it was too disoriented to care if it hit or not.

Name. My name. What is it.

It stumbled backwards, leaking viscous black liquid on the ground.

R. Ro. R-Roken. Name Roken.

It weakly turned to its attacker, and a faint, barely audible rasp came out of its mandibles.

"H-Help us."

edited 23rd Mar '17 10:08:53 AM by Enirboreh

Winterbloom's

Misty offered the ax to Mongrel. "Papyrus would probably be better suited to telling you what happened. I kind of showed up at the tail end."

Outside

Dynamo Lass was waiting by the weird looking shop for Mongrel and the Traveler. She got kind of a weird vibe from the place, but then again, she got a weird vibe from magic in general. (Personally, she blamed Silverbeard. Dude was creepy.)

Easton', Uptown (where the Parasite attacked animal super).

Joseph just cut down the monster. He heard it. He heard it's cries of help. It did not flinch him a bit. Joseph was used to hearing criminals and villains beg for mercy. However, Joseph was not a merciful person. There was no regret in this murder.

He looked at the spider person. He just ran away. He was not corrupt. That meant the Parasite attacked the person, and the animal super transformed into a spider to defend itself. Joseph decided to follow him, so that he wouldn't be in danger. Joseph realized that he would be acting like a stalker, but that was a necessary evil. "As long as he doesn't notice me..."

Meanwhile:

The robot was a driver. Elizabeth wanted to ask so many questions regarding it, but she kept herself in check.

"Our first objective seems to be investigating a train station, is it not? We'll arrive soon, so don't worry."

Alex assured the Dimensional Guard. And, like he said, they did arrive soon.

edited 24th Mar '17 4:01:22 AM by kaalban

-Easton City, Approaching Train Station-

Both copies were looking out their respective windows, apparently bored. In reality, however, they were planning a way to investigate this "Shield of Humanity" organization, to find their true purpose.

After all, if they were a genuine organization with good purpose, they would not act so callous. Especially the damned negotiators. It just doesn't add up.

They also showed interest and knowledge in their xeno-matter. Even though they had only told Eisendrachen and Elizabeth about it.

In that case, they had two possible theories:

1: Either Eisendrachen or Elizabeth was an agent in secret, and had reported their explanations to the Shield (which seemed unlikely) or

2: The Shield had been studying them.

If they had, it would explain Copy 2's disappearance.

They needed to get to the bottom of this.

Suddenly, both copies felt a large jolt in their chests.

It wasn't the feeling of death like Copy 1, but one reserved for a specific situation.

Rine Anok had awakened from his pod.

Winterbloom's

Mongrel hefted the axe, weighing it in his hands as his third eye flickered wildly. "This... this is the same material those parasite were made from, but inert.

"This, I have to take this back too."

He looked up and looked around. "Before we go, I don't want any surprises. What're all you're stories?" He asked, looking between the paper man and the crow boy.

edited 27th Mar '17 7:03:32 PM by God_of_Awesome

Easton, sometime later

Heartstopper walked out of the warehouse. The job was easy. She had guards, but he didn't give them the choice to shoot him. Eliminating her was easy, he regretted that he didn't have time to savor it, but he had places to be, contracts to carry out. He had cleaned up his mess, there wasn't a trace left, he was thorough. Still, he would lay low, as he did after any hit. He had a reservation in town, under a false name, of course. Easton was infamous for the sheer volume of high profile activity, nobody would notice a few missing people.

"I've been possessed by some demon, and got turned into a living paper mache," Papyrus informed Mongrel, "and I just kicked some Roken jerk's ass. Not too hard really. You can call me Papyrus, by the way. So, what have done recently?"

Easton City, Winterbbloom's

Fyodor tilted his head, again mirrored by the raven "So, Ms. Misty? What should I do now?"

Winterbloom's

Misty paused before saying "You don't have to tell Mongrel anything you aren't comfortable with. But if you trust him enough to tell him, go right ahead."

Meanwhile, Hazel rolled her eyes at Papyrus. "You also vandalized my store because I called you a demon. Let's not leave that out."

Easton City, Winterbloom's

Fyodor gave a slight nod as Misty was finished, deciding that telling Mongrel at least how he came here wouldn't hurt "I was playing, and then I followed a raven, and then there was this funny looking woman that wanted to take me... and then I got here." The raven on his shoulder cawed before flying on top of a nearby shelf.

edited 28th Mar '17 11:56:54 AM by Sergey_Smirnov

Feeling that the atmosphere in the shop was growing a *little* bit tense, Simon decided to intervene.

"Yes, well, we can talk details later. Right now we need to get to TALOS HQ as soon as we can- wherever that is" he added, looking at Mongrel (though he'd rather not.) "So anybody that's coming along, get ready. Mongrel, lead the way."