Body Bags [PG-L]

[DeathKnight]

[color=purple]Kaida pulled out the spherical piece of machinery she had pocketed earlier and turned to Unhate, "Do you want the honors or shall I?"

He looked to Sheba's body and pondered for a moment before shrugging, "Have at it. I've wasted enough ammo on that damn thing."

"Alright." Kaida replied and focused her magic into the sphere. A light red hue began to emanate from it that gave the room an eerie tone. "Take cover, Team." She ordered without looking to them. A few seconds passed before she tossed the sphere at the carcass. It plopped into one of the gaping wounds she had sustained and Kaida began to count down in a low voice. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. 0." The light radiating from it flickered a few times before it unleashed a rather sizable explosion that ripped the body into pieces. A large fragment of her body landed on Unhate's face, splattering blood and.. [i]stuff[/i].. across it. His face locked into an intense gaze of irritation that worried Kaida. She blinked and peered up at him, "Uhm, Unhate? Are you.. alright?"

Before he could answer, Tetros came over and took the bloody piece of off Unhate's face. He looked it over for several seconds, deeply examining it. A low 'hmm' escaped his lips before he looked up to Kaida and Unhate, "She is dead." He stated in a serious tone.

Unhate arched an eyebrow at Tetros and shook his head without saying a word. He wiped the blood, guts and otherwise off of his person without much fuss. "Go on." He said calmly.

"And this is real," Tetros tossed the piece to the side and continued, "No illusions are at work here."

"Damn, I hope so." Arachnid stated and kicked another piece across the room. "She was really pissing me off, you know?"

A single spot of blood remained on Unhate's face. Kaida began to point it out but, before she could, it simply.. floated off. Hanging in the air, it moved slowly to where the majority of the pieces were and stalled. All of their eyes fixated on the single, hovering glob.

".. Her presence lingers on." Melinoe finally said.

"Damn this mystical ****.." Arachnid muttered to himself as he took point.

More droplets of blood rose up, congregating where only the one had been before. They conglomerated into a rather heftily sized sphere, larger and larger it grew until finally.. it stopped. All of Sheba's blood was within it now and it stood still, taking no action. A hush fell over the room that was only broken by a low hum emanating from the sphere itself. Sharp bolts of electricity ripped out from it without aim, tracing along the floors, walls and ceiling erratically. The blue bolts came close to striking the team but their lack of aim prevented any of them from being struck.

"Ready yourselves." Kaida said. She raised her pistol as the light show continued.

A single bolt connected with the ruined altar and it began to slowly reconstruct itself. As the altar finished returning to it's former glory the bolts ceased and the orb pulsated repeatedly. An eye formed on it's surface and opened, staring directly at the team.

"Thank you, my [b]lord[/b]. Your powers surpass even death.." Sheba's voice emanated out from the orb.

Kaida turned to the altar and fired a shot at it which was deflected by an invisible force, "The bloody temple is reviving her." She hissed and fired again, even if was hopeless. Taking offense to this, a tendril struck out from the orb and wrapped around Kaida's neck, taking her by surprise. It receded, bringing her back to the orb. The eye narrowed as it looked at Kaida, it's squeeze growing tighter. "D-.." She struggled to get any words out of her mouth.

"You pitiful fools. Now do you realize the futility of your efforts?! Mere mortals killing me.. what folly!" Sheba's voice was tinged with arrogance.

[b]Bang.[/b] Unhate provided the proper response to her egotistical comments. His shot hit the tendril nerve-wrackingly close to Kaida and severed it, saving her from certain death. It turned to ash as Kaida staggered to her feet and was greeted by another tendril sailing at her. Unhate skillfully fired again, intercepting it before it could strike. Multiple tendrils snaked out of the orb, going after several members of the team at once. Kaida rolled forward and began to carefully fire, surgically removing the tendrils as Unhate was.

"Somebody take care of Pandora and Liquid!" Kaida yelled out as she attempted to dodge an oncoming tendril.

"Roger~!" Vernacular replied and rushed toward Pandora. She slapped her on the cheek lightly several times, "Come on, hun. Awaken, arise, get up! This is no time for a nap!"

The tendril wrapped around Kaida's leg and angrily tossed her, sending her flying through the air. She adjusted herself in mid-air and let off a few haphazard shots.

"I've got ya, boss!" Arachnid jogged backwards, his eyes on the flying body of Kaida. He easily caught her and set her down. "Whew. There you go."

She dusted herself off and nodded to him, "Thank you very much. Now.. Melinoe!" She pointed to the 'renovated' altar, "Do you think if we-"

"Yes!" Melinoe interrupted with an answer. "It's the last thing that binds Sheba to this plane. Destroy it if you like living!" Melinoe yelled with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice at the end.

Getting no response from Pandora, Vernacular dragged her back from the battle to a relatively-safe location. "I might not be the best fighter but, hey, I'll protect, defend ya'." She said to her unconscious comrade. "No worries. Now for.."

"I'm alright." Liquid uneasily plopped down next to her. "I just need to recuperate a bit."

"Alright.. take care of yourself." Vernacular said with a look of concern.

Whipping, writhing and otherwise the tendrils were formidable. Kaida, though skilled in combat, was challenged to dodge and destroy the ones that focused themselves on her. She had the support of Melinoe who seemed to be having beginner's luck with the gun she had acquired.

"Somebody, take a look at that altar." Kaida gave the order as she fought.

"The altar, eh? I think I can destroy that little thing." Arachnid rushed it, smashing into it with considerable force. The shield softened the blow enough that there was no visible damage to the altar in the least.

".. Damn." He stepped back and gave it a strong punch.

No damage.

"Oh, come on!" He yelled in frustration and kicked it.

Still, nothing.

"..." Arachnid began to brood and pondered how he could dismantle the altar.

Vernacular looked up to Arachnid and noticed the writing on the restored face of the altar. She gently laid Pandora down and approached it, tilting her head curiously. "This is... hmm, I can read this! These inscriptions are very arrogant in tone, hmph." She shook her head and continued reading them, "The sacrificial ritual involved some kind of item, artifact, relic. I'm pretty sure that's what we want to destroy! But where could it be?.. Hmmm."

Those who could spare a moment in the fight took a glance at the altar. Melinoe rolled her eyes and nodded, "Yes, you figured it out, nice work. Congratulations and whatever, just destroy it!"

Kaida fired off a large ball of fire that burned several of the tendrils to ashes before smashing into the orb itself and exploding. It ripped the orb into differing pieces that awkwardly hovered in place, refusing to come back together quickly. Sheba had been stunned and, with that, the shield around the altar disappeared. Seeing the battle swing in their favor, Tetros sprinted over and glanced over to Arachnid.

"Strike it with all the power you can muster." He said.

"You got it." Arachnid replied. They combined their formidable strength together, hitting in relatively the same area at the same time. The structure of the altar could not withstand it and crumbled, revealing an inner compartment housing a crystalline item the same crimson color as Sheba's orb form. A terrible shriek came from the crystal and it began to glow ominously, preparing to defend itself.

"I'd suggest you hurry.." Kaida said as the orb finally put itself back together. Immediately it started it's assault and focused on saving the crystal. Numerous tendrils flew towards the people gathered near it. She fired off another large shot that consumed the mass of tendrils and fragmented the orb once more. Sheba was barely stunned the second time around and the orb quickly began to come back together.

"A window of opportunity.. move it you two!" Unhate sternly yelled. Arachnid and Tetros complied, leaping backwards from the altar. His line of sight free of the two men, he aimed his shot and fired. It was a classic display of overkill as the his shot slammed into the crystal shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces across the ruins of the altar. Immediately Sheba's last, desperate form fell apart and splattered to the floor. The blood oozed in several directions at once as the eyeball slowly turned to ash.

"It took you long enough." Melinoe said with obvious irritation.

"Hah! The nasty little bugger is dead! Victory is [i]sweet[/i] today!" Arachnid exclaimed.

"That still leaves us without a destination." Liquid stated, having recovered her strength.

The temple went through one of it's routine rumblings as they deliberated what to do next. Pandora awoke at this point and slowly got up, holding her forehead. "Ugh.." Was all she could manage to say. Vernacular walked over to check on her as Tetros glanced around them.

"I think the internal structure of this temple is shifting." Tetros said as the rumbling stopped.

"Is it opening or closing off potential paths?" Kaida asked.

"No way to tell from here. Call it a hunch but it feels like we're being herded somewhere." He responded.

With that thought silence fell over them as Sheba's blood flowed underneath them, following the depressions in the altar. As it flowed past her, something seized Kaida and she fell down, down into it, losing herself in an illusionary hell.. and it consumed her without any sense of mercy or remorse.

"Feel the weight of your sins."[/color]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]The group had fallen silent, each reflecting on the creature they had just triumphed over when Kaida let out a low moan. She had fellen to her knees, and was running her fingrs along the tiny drainage depressions on the platform, and then daubing the blood onto her face. Tears streaked her face and she was muttering under her breath. The blood swirled and glowed where she touched it, and flowed to refill the points she took it from.

Melinoe looked somewhat alarmed "We need to get her out of this room, and quickly... the creature might be destroyed but the platform itself has witnessed too many horrible things to be completely safe.... it's getting to Kaida."

Arachnid stepped forward and picked Kaida up, following Melinoe as she led the team through the ruined doors that had once stood behind the altar. Kaida kicked and struggled, still crying freely. The flickering light from the LED tubes that the team carried with them gave her face a pale and diseased appearance, and with Sheba's blood streaked onto her face the effect was positively disturbing.

It was then that she began to fit. Melinoe glanced back at the struggle Arachnid was having holding onto the now manic Kaida, who was spitting and cussing in a male voice, accusing herself and the team of horrible deeds.

"We've got to get her further away from the platform, and quickly. It's power has tainted this corridor for quite some distance... she will recover, but the key thing is that we move [i]fast[/i]" Melinoe said. Unhate took the lead with Melinoe by his side, and the rest of the team following. Eventually Melinoe told Tetros to take hold of Kaida's head whilst Arachnid carried her.

"Put your hand in her mouth and grab hold of her tongue. Don't let her bite it off, because whatever force is currently tormenting her will take pleasure in causing pain."

Tetros held her neck still with one hand, and forced the other inbetween her teeth. She attempted to bite his fingers but to no avail. Arachnid, who was was carrying her around his back had a secure hold of her arms and legs, as she was frantically trying to kick and scratch him.

As the team moved further down the corridor, it began to slope down and grow rather damp and humid. Kaida eventually stopped fitting, and her struggles died down. She opened her eyes and began trying to speak. Tetros took his hand out of her mouth, wiping it on his uniform, and Kaida asked to be put down. She staggered slightly as she stood, but she straightened and taking her canteen, cleansed her face of the blood.

Looking at the team they could see that the old Kaida was back, if somewhat.... disheartened.

"Let's keep moving".[/size]

[GuyYouMetOnline]

[color=seagreen]As the team resumed their journey into the depths of the temple, Liquid glanced back down the corridor through which they'd come. "I hope that thing's really dead this time," she remarked.[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"The creature's body was destroyed," Melinoe said. "So was the blood sphere, though I am uncertain as to whether it had her mind or simply an image of her mind, an imprint used by the power that formed it. I suspect that it is the latter. Regardless, both the spider-woman and blood sphere forms were destroyed. However, I believe that the mind of the spider-woman survived. Do not worry, though. She will be of no further threat to us. While she may eventually reform her body, it will certainly take centuries, if not longer. And that's if it even happens at all."[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"Okay, so is the thing ailve or dead?" Arachnid asked.[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"Technically, she is alive," Melinoe replied, "in the sense that her mind, her conciousness still exists. But she is only that, and it's likely to be a couple hundred years before that conciousness actually becomes self-aware again. We delivered quite a blow, and the creature's mind is probably quite fragmented right now. It takes time for something like that to correct itself."[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"So we don't have to worry about the thing anymore," Kaida said. "That's good to know."[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]A few seconds later, Liquid spoke again. "Melinoe, you just gave me the answer to something I've been wondering about."[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"And what would that be?" Melinoe asked.[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"This... thing, the whatever it is that's been trying to kill us ever since we got here, it said that it had slept for centuries," Liquid explained. "I've been wondering why it was sleeping. Now I think I have a guess. It was sleeping because its body was once destroyed, just like what we did to that spider-woman thing. Perhaps its mind now resides in this temple. Not 'in the temple' in the sense of being inside the temple, but in the sense of... well, of actually being the Temple. Remember the other stuff it said? About us being inside it? My theroy is that, in essence, this thing isn't in the temple. It [i]is [/i]the temple. Its mind may reside in a specific location-perhaps we're being herded in that direction, if indeed we're being herded somewhere-but that wouldn't change anything. I'm guessing that the damn thing is the temple."[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"That's... well, I'll be honest," Arachnid said. "That sounds pretty dumb to me."[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]"Well, did I ask for your opppinion? Besides, it's not like I'm giving you a well-developed theroy. It's just a guess, something that fits with the little information we have."[/color]
[color=#2e8b57][/color]
[color=#2e8b57]As Liquid finished her sentence, things started shaking again. "I think something's coming!" Tetros shouted over the noise of the rumblings. "Get ready! This could be nasty!"[/color]

[Sandy]

Melinoë stopped to think what Liquid had suggested. What if [B]It[/B] was in fact the Temple of Aton itself? What if [B]It[/B] had possessed these halls and corridors they were walking in? But if that was the case, wouldn't they be dead already?

Unless... [B]It[/B] wanted something from them.

At that moment the earth began to tremor yet again.

"I think something's coming!" the android shouted. Melinoë had a quick thought that she should really learn the names of these people. Detrus, was it? "Get ready! This could be nasty!"

The rumbling became harder as it neared them. The eight Legionnaires were all knocked down. Then they saw it: the tunnel they were on was splitting in two.

Melinoë dodged to the left side of the wall. Dust covered her vision, but she sensed two people with her. Unhate and the woman with the strange accent. Vocabular?

The others were left to the other side of the newly formed wall. Melinoë could sense the corridor the three of them were in moving and transforming. The other corridor was distancing itself from theirs, carrying their teammates away.

Suddenly the tunnel turned and became an almost vertical downwards slope.

"This is mad, insade, crazy!" the other woman screamed as she slided into the darkness of the corridor.

Unhate had a firm grip at the uneven wall, but Melinoë couldn't find anything to hold onto, so she had no choice but to slide after the other woman.

She prepared herself to face whatever would meet her at the bottom of the slope.

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial]The complete darkness of the slope on which they fell was all encompassing, and the only way Unhate knew he wasn't alone at all was Vernacular's cockney cursing . Regardless, Unhate felt they were safe, as the slope seemed to be becoming less severe and the atmosphere was changing from the stale-air of the upper floors to something fresher, almost cleaner. Like they were near a river.

"AH!" Vernacular cried as the slope stopped abruptly and she tumbled forward into, as Unhate had correctly guessed, a free flowing and comparatively clean watercoourse. Unhate landed on the sandy bank with a satisfying thump, and was soon joined by Melinoe, the demoness herself, looking somewhat dishevelled for the journey down. Unlike Vernacular, however, she had wits enough not to get soaked through and quickly stopped movinng before hitting the water.

"Fancy seeing you here," Unhate said dryly, helping up the soaked Vernacular.

"Always a pleasure," Melinoe retorted, quickly composing herself and looking up and down the area to which they'd emerged. "Where are we?" Unhate shrugged. He knew as much as she did.

The area was a huge natural cavity, having been worn out by thousands of years of rushing water. In the centre was the river, it's surface calm, with a sandy beach flanking it on either side. The only entrances in and out seemed to be the slope from which they'd emerged, and curiously man-made arches on either side of the cavity, allowing the river to flow freely through. Even stranger, the whole area was lit by ancient torches - all seemingly lit recently. It was unsettling but, compared to the rest of the temple, serene. Unhate just hoped it stayed that way.

"It's certainly an... odd place, isn't it?" Vernacular said, her voice having abandoned it's cockney tones. "Like a union of the natural and unnatural... perhaps the force that controls this temple are weaker down here?"

"I'd say that's a pretty good guess," Unhate said, pulling out one of his pistols. "But I'd not drop my guard regardless." Pulling out another pistol he handed it to Vernacular. "I trust you know how to use one?" Vernacular nodded and held the weapon with two hands.

"I just hope I don't have to use it..." she said somewhat wearily.

"Yeah, your chances are slim." Unhate motioned for the two women to follow him and started wading out to the centre of the river, intending to take the archway to his right and follow the water. He quickly stopped when he realised how deep the river got, however, and had quickly. They weren't even close to the archway he intended to take. "This... isn't good," he said softly. "Not good at all."

"That's why you wait for the Keeper of the Beast, idiot," an old voice reprimanded him. Looking to the source of the voice he watched as an ancient-looking man on a gondola emerged from the archway to his far left, his frail arms somehow pushing the boat easily through the water.

"And who is that?" Unhate asked warily, stepping backward out of the water and motioning for Melinoe and Vernacular to do the same. "Another demon of this temple?" His gun was trained on the ancient man's head, and his finger twitched.

The gondola slowly came to a stop before the trio and the man looked at him, his eyebrows knitted in frustration.

"You daft, rock-headed fool... hey I made a joke." Unhate rolled his eyes, but was quick to note the man's lips were sown shut. He was using telepathy. "I'm the Keeper of the Beast. And if you want to know what's going on here, or, indeed, to get out of here, you better come with me." The women made to move forward but Unhate held his arm out to stop them.

"And what guarantee do we have that you won't lead us to our deaths?" The 'Keeper of the Beast' laughed, a strange low cackle that made Unhate shiver.

"You don't. But I can assure you it'd be a faster death than starving in here." He laughed again and Unhate grimaced. The old man had a point. Motioning to Melinoe and Vernacular, the trio waded through the shallows and climbed into the ancient gondola, unsure of where the Keeper of Secrets was taking them, but finding no hope in starving to death.

As they pushed off the bank and back into the river, Unhate held his pistol tight. He hated this temple.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Tetros felt the rumblings grow in strength, and called a warning to the team. Barely had he uttered the words than a grotesque re-arrangement was heard, and sounding like a million freight-trains screaming in distress, the corridor split. The Legionnaires were split into two groups by the reformation, and Tetros found himself hurtling down a near vertical shaft surrounded by four or five others. Tetros figured that the shaft would have to end eventually, and he assumed that none of the other Legionnaires would appreciate a 300kg android plowing into them, so unlike the others, who were attempting to grab a hold of the shaft's oddly smooth walls, he streamlined himself and attempted to be the first of the group to reach their... end destination. With a shuddering crash he flew out of the shaft, fists aimed downwards attempting to pummel through whatever he was about to hit.

He hit water with a gigantic splash, and went straight down for almost thirty metres before slowing his descent. As he swam back towards the surface he grabbed hold of two people, dragging them up to the top where another two people were already climbing out of the... well, which it appeared to be. He found that he was holding onto Pandora and Kaida, whilst Arachnid and Liquid were crouched on the ground.

Perfectly dry.

As Tetros hauled himself over the lip of the well, he realised that none of the liquid was sticking to him. He was perfectly dry. On closer inspection it appeared that it wasn't water after all. It was slightly reflective, but of roughly the same viscosity as water. Tetros had never seen such a substance before, and taking out a small vial from his equipment belt he scooped up some of it and secured it tightly on his belt. The Arbiter could be interested in this.

As Kaida pulled herself out of the well, torches along the side of the room burst into flames. Arachnid flicked off his LED tube and moved towards the walls. He could only get within around 6 feet of them though, because a large ditch isolated the main floor onto a kind of island. On three sides of the room this ditch stood, the fourth side was taken up with yet another ornately carved golden door.

But it was the content of the ditches which was most surprising. A crumbly white powder in some areas, but in others there were recognisable shapes. Bones. Some of them so old that they had degraded to bonemeal. The ditch surrounding the entire room which was maybe fifty metres long, and around half that in width, was filled to the brim with bones.

Liquid had started in one corner of the room and was working her way around, examining the carvings.

"These were all sacrifices. These people were killed to appease some local God, in this temple.... in the aim of... getting dark clouds out of people's heads."

Kaida muttered something softly.

"Sorry, what did you say Kaida?" asked Liquid.

"The dark clouds in people's heads were nightmares."

"Hhmm, you could be right" Liquid mused, as she resumed examining the walls. In another corner of the room Arachnid and Tetros were crouched. They were on the fourth side with the door, and in the corner of that wall the ditch ended. There was a fine mesh grate, and beyond that a large drainage hole. It was crusted with red powder. Tetros wiped his finger through the powder and examined it.

It was blood.

Tetros stood and announced to the group "These weren't just sacrifices, these were blood sacrifices. And I don't believe that the villagers were sacrificing to some metaphysical god. They were sacrificing to the temple itself. And yet again, we must follow the blood and continue downwards."

At that moment a splash was heard. Turning towards the well, the team looked in disbelief as a hand grabbed onto the lip of the well, and strained to pull itself further up.
[/size]

[Minako]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Pandora was still feeling a little dizzy from her little outburst when they saw a hand reach up out of the water and grab the edge of the well. She all of a sudden felt a great wave of energy eminate from this being. Whatever it was, it wasn't a good thing, she knew that for sure.

Finally [I]she[/I] emerged from the well. Out came a beautiful woman, dressed in a lovely white gown, with long white hair, going well past her back, almost to the dank and dirty floor. Her skin was very pale, almost as white as her hair, and her eyes were large and a beautiful shade of green. The woman said, [B]Welcome Legionnaires. We've been expecting you.[/B]

Pandora walked up next to Kaida and whispered, "Don't trust her. I just got a REALLY bad feeling about her."

Kaida gave such a slight nod that it was hardly distinguishable, but it was clear that all the Legionnaires had the same thought about this misterious woman.

[B]There is no need to be wary of me and my intentions. Master only wishes to have a word with you, considering what you did to my dear little sister, Sheba.[/B] the woman said, calmly.

"That [I]thing[/I] was your LITTLE SISTER?" Arachnid said suddenly, "so if she's your sister, than you must be..."

[B]Yes, I AM a demoness--of a sort. I was created by my Master to protect this temple, and that's exactly what I plan to do[/B] the woman said, [B]You will soon learn to fear the name of me, Hagar![/B] As soon as Hagar said this, she the bottom half of her dress, where her legs should be, turned into a snake's tail. Her tail was so long that it had to have been at least twenty to thirty feet long. Her tail was the same shade of green as her eyes. The top half of her body, stayed humanoid, as her sister was, with her fangs growing to almost 6 inches long. She reared up onto her long tail and tried to strike Kaida, but Arachnid shot his web at their leader and pulled her to safety.

"Thanks Arachnid, I owe you one if we get out of here alive," Kaida said.

Arachnid only nodded as Kaida yelled, for the umpteenth time at least, "Legionnaires, release fire!"

Pandora was still a bit dizzy, and as she tried to lift Hagar, she fell to her knees. Another Legionnaire came to her aide, and said "Pandora, don't strain yourself, you still have to recover!"

Pandora looked at this Legionnaire dead on into their eyes, and said, without removing her gaze, "I'd rather die than just sit on the sidelines and watch the other Legionnaires fight without me. I know I can't do much, but I'm sure going to try anything I can to get out of this God-forsaken temple, alive." At this, she used her powers to take one of the torches off of the wall, and flung it at Hagar's face, temporarily blinding her. "I sure hope that it will be a good enough distraction for them..." Pandora thought.

--------
EDIT: OoC- Thanks for the tip Sandy! I owe you one![/COLOR][/FONT]

[Sandy]

[SIZE=1]OoC: Minako, Vernacular is [I]not[/I] with Pandora's group, she is with Unhate and Melinoë.[/SIZE]
[CENTER]* * * * *[/CENTER]

Melinoë stepped into the gondola after Unhate and Vernacular - she got her name now. She didn't sense anything threatening from this Keeper of the Beast. In fact, she didn't sense [I]anything[/I] at all from the creepy old man.

The rickety boat left the bank, and slowly made it's way across the murky river.

[I]"This, my dear ones..."[/I] the geezer cackled. [I]"...is the Soulflow. It carries the spirits of those who have died in this Temple, preventing from them to move on. I reckon most of the souls prefer this river from the place they would be moving on to, if you catch my drift. Gyah!"[/I]

Vernacular leaned towards Melinoë to whisper to her. "This man thinks he's some sort of smart-***, wisecrack, barrel of laughs!"

Melinoë couldn't help to chuckle in her mind, but just nodded to the woman sitting next to her.

Then she turned to look into the water. She wondered if she would see anybody she knew there...

[I]"Ah, you are summoning your friends, aren't you, twoface?"[/I] the Keeper asked mentally, turning his cataract-ridden stare at Melinoë.

She wondered what he meant, but it was revealed to her as soon as a face emerged from the surface.

"It's Speedy!" Vernacular gasped. "And look, there's Face, on the other side! Oh no, they are trapped, seized, sealed here!"

The transparent figures of their two deceased team members floated in the surface of the water, staring up with empty eyes.

"Unhate!" Melinoë called as she saw yet another familiar figure surface. "It's Joseph!"

The rock-skinned man looked over the edge of the gondola. "So it seems."

"Joseph?" Vernacular asked. "Wasn't he one of the Legionnaires? The quiet, silent, few-worded man who was always carrying a camera?"

"Yes", Unhate confirmed. "He was with us in the Gold Team mission. He... didn't make it."

[I]"He didn't make it because you abandoned him!"[/I] the Keeper of the Beast croaked in their minds, obviously amused. [I]"Condemned by his team mates to an eternity in this river - how tragic! Gyah gyah cackle gyah!"[/I]

Unhate sat back down, his face darkening. Melinoë felt the slightest sting in her heart, which surprised her quite a bit.

[I]"Cheer up, folks! We've almost there!"[/I] The old man raised his long bony index finger and pointed at the opposite bank, which was less than twenty feet away.

[Domon]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Blue]"Okay, so you were big and ugly's older sister?! So does that mean you're even uglier?? Wait.. I guess you turning into a giant snake thingy answers my question!" Arachnid said tauntingly at Hagar who was hissing as she slithered a the group rather quickly. The wall crawler simply jumped up onto the ceiling and started webbing the slithering creature who was now screaming in frustration at not being able to kill her assailant.

However. Hagar was just as strong as Sheba, if not more so, and she easily shredded the webbing as quickly as it landed on her. Tetros, Kaida, and Liquid were laying down some serious weapon's fire on the creature and then that's when it hit Arachnid. He dropped to the floor near Tetros.

"Hey, Tetros. I have an idea. Follow my lead!" Tetros stopped firing his pistols and followed Arachnid as he was charging the creature.

Hagar was too distracted by Kaida and Liquid's gun fire to notice the two other Legionnaires charging her and she soon found herself being shoulder rammed by Tetros and her face getting pummeled by Arachnid who had managed to rip both of her fangs out with his webbing. Blood spurted everywhere from the wounds and the creature let out a blood curdling howl of pain as she clutched her mouth. Her eyes sparked like wildfires as she rushed Tetros and caught him with her tail. The android however wouldn't have any part of this and simply tore into the snake-woman's tail and blood once again spurted out in multiple directions as her grip loosened.

"Well, I guess she's wounded enough to not charge again for now." Arachnid said as he jumped over towards Kaida.

"All right boss, you got any type of one hit wonders in that little belt there?" Kaida nodded.

"Just give me some time to get it ready and that thing will regret she messed with us." Kaida said as she grabbed a small vial out of the belt. While she was doing this Arachnid ran over towards Pandora who was trying to stand up. He knelt down and helped the woman up.

"Hey, do you know if you're able to draw or borrow any kind of power off of other people?" Arachnid asked. Pandora got an odd look of sorts on her face as she thought this over.

"I don't know, I think I should be able to. Why? No Arachnid, that could be seriously dangerous!" She said with a hint of anger in her voice that one of her team mates would even suggest such a thing. Especially with their own health at risk.

"Oh for god's sake Pandora just do it and see if you can injure her some more!" Arachnid said as he let the woman prop herself against him for support.

"Fine, here goes nothing." Pandora said as she started focusing. After a few seconds nothing really happened.

"Well, I guess that answers your question Arachnid. I can't draw off your strength so we're kind of screwed." She said as she released her grip on him.

Arachnid cursed himself mentally and set Pandora down gently and then jumped over towards Kaida. She appeared to be ready to punish that creature.

"All right Kaida ready for some action?" He asked popping his knuckles like usual. Kaida nodded and pulled out a familliar object. It was her teleporter. Arachnid smirked and he held onto it and the two were teleported right in front of the monster and Kaida fired off a shot into the creature. The wound was big enough for Kaida's little device. Hagar was stunned enough for Kaida to run up to her and dump the device in the wound. The vial broke on contact. The result was anything but odd. Hagar roard and tried to slither towards the group but her body resisted to move. She soon started shivering and then, she went limp and her body got a kind of frosty sheen to it. As soon as the creature went still, she fell to the ground and shattered into millions of tiny pieces.

"Whoa! What was that Kaida? A liquid Nitrogen grenade?" Arachnid said a little dumbfounded.

Kaida was distracted at the moment, her teleporter had just overheated from the recent use but she soon turned towards Arachnid. "Hmm? Yes, its similar to your liquid Nitrogen but its different." Kaida's face twisted into a look of annoyance. "You're kidding me, the blasted teleporter just overheated from the use. Great...Just freaking great." Arachnid twtiched in the face slightly.

"Hey boss. Should we move on? I really am uncomfortable with snake lady's pieces sitting over there." Arachnid said as he eased himself over towards Kaida.

"Where exactly would you suggest we go?" Kaida said, obviously fixatedon fixing the little pyramid.

"Uhh.. The big freaking doors in front of us." Arachnid said pointing towards the doors.

"Ah, those. Okay, let's go then." Kaida said as she walked towards the doors with her look locked onto her device.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

OOC: I hope I didn't goof up on anyone's character. If I did just PM me and I'll fix it ^_^

[DeathKnight]

[color=purple]Kaida continued to examine her malfunctioning teleporter and murmured technical jargon to herself as she approached the massive doors. A sigh of resignation escaped her lips and she slid it back into her pocket.

"Lost cause, boss?" Arachnid asked.

"Yes, unfortunately. It needs a rest for now." She raised her eyes to the doors and nodded to them. "Arachnid, Tetros. Open the door." The two of them swung the heavy doors open with ease and the team slowly made their way into the chamber beyond.

A door stood across the way from them. The walls were lined with mosaics of the past. Most of them depicted sacrifices to a lone, shadowy figure and above the figure there was always a large, opened eye. Above them, the ceiling domed upwards to an impressive height. All along the ceiling there was a cryptic script that was marred by splotches of long-dried blood. Within the center of the dome stood a lone drawing of a the same fully opened eye that stared down upon a pedestal on the ground. Five mirrors circled the pedestal, all of them focusing inwardly to it. Upon the pedestal there stood a rather unassuming goblet. It called to Kaida.. asked her to approach, to come forward. She walked forward partially in a daze, her team following her, unaware of her mental condition.

"Whoa.." Pandora's words echoed inside the room as she followed Kaida forward into the room.

"This is a bit creepier than the last room." Arachnid commented, looking at all the macabre mosaics.

Kaida was silent and continued to approach the goblet. She stopped right next to the pedestal and stared down into the goblet. Down, down into it.. into the fresh blood that rested within it. She knew it had been collected from all that had died on that day thus far. How did she know that..? What did she.. the darkness completely consumed her once more.

"Kaida?" Tetros said with some suspicion. "Are you alright?" Tetros and Liquid exchanged a concerned glance before looking back to Kaida.

"My senses are really blaring now. Some thing is up with this room." Arachnid said, without noticing the odd behavior of Kaida. "****, this place [b]is[/b] creepy."

Kaida took the goblet and walked to one of the mirrors around the pedestal. She dipped her fingers into the goblet and wrote a single runic character upon the mirror. She proceeded to move to the next mirror and write a different character upon it, muttering about [b]his[/b] will.

"She's been possessed again." Tetros said with a shake of his head. "Sheba's blood has weakened her mental resistance."

"Damn it." Liquid cursed and looked over to Tetros. "What do you think we should do?"

"Isn't it obvious? We have to get her out of here!" Arachnid yelled.

Kaida flipped around and raised her hand, the blood within the goblet glowing brilliantly as she did. Both of the doors within the room slammed shut, a loud locking noise reverberating throughout the chamber. She quietly returned to writing upon the mirrors, having only one more to go.

".. So much for that idea." Pandora said in a quiet tone of voice.

"Should we.. kill her?" Liquid asked hesitantly.

"The Rite is completed!" Kaida declared triumphantly, cutting off any reply to Liquid's question. The final character was drawn and Kaida stepped back. She fell to her knees as she regained control of herself and dropped the goblet, splattering the floor with blood. She held her head and let out a low "Ugh.." from the pain that roared throughout her head.

Large cracks appeared on the faces of the mirrors and each of them shattered. The pieces flew onto the walls around them and the temple shook with fury as a bright light appeared from the painted eye above them, bathing the room in it's intensity. It lingered on for several seconds before disappearing. The eye above them was now shut and the doors had reopened.

"The Rite has been completed by the Priestess. Now the nightmares shall run freely..."

"Kaida." Liquid said, ignoring [b]his[/b] voice and shaking her. "Kaida. Get a hold of yourself."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She shakily stood up and looked to the far door. "Keep pushing forward. We must be almost to [b]him[/b]."[/color]

[GuyYouMetOnline]

[color=SeaGreen]It was Pandora who saw it first. Something was appearing on the walls, the walls that they'd all noticed were very polished, and reflective as well. "Um... look at the walls."

What Pandora had seen was five symbols fading in on the walls. The others looked, but they didn't know what the symbols were. Tetros, however, recognized one of them. "We've seen that one before," he said, pointing. "It was on Sheba's altar."

"Anything else you think may be relevant?" Liquid asked.

Tetros nodded. "Yes. The five symbols are evenly spaced around the wall. Their positions correspond exactly to those the mirrors had before they stattered. I'm willing to bet that each symbol is the exact same as the one on the mirror that occupied its corresponding position. i don't know the significance, however."

By that point, the symbols had finished fading in. Liquid took another look around. As her gaze passed over one of the symbols, she became extremely disoriented and fell to the ground. Picking herself up, she looked at the others. The same thing seemed to have happened to Arachnid, who was facing the symbol Tetros had identified as having been on Sheba's altar. Pandora fell over a couple seconds later, and Kaida was next. Each of them had been looking at a different symbol when whatever it was had happened. Those symbols then began to fade back out. The only one who seemed unaffected was Tetros; nothing happened no matter which symbol he looked at. He did pause briefly when looking at the only remaining symbol, which then faded out like the others.

Liquid was wndering what had happened when Arachnid spoke. "Um, guys? Could you come over here for a sec?"

Liquid had been closest to Arachnid, so she got to him first. "What is it?"

Arachnid pointed at the wall. "Explain that," he said.

Liquid looked at the wall, and what she saw shocked her. Arachnid's reflection was there, but there was a second image there as well, behaving as though it were also Arachnid's reflection. But it couldn't be, because that second image was one she recognized, and it wasn't Arachnid. It was the spider-woman, Sheba.

"I have no idea what's happening," Liquid told Arachnid. The others were there now, and they were all as stumped as Liquid. Liquid let them wonder. She turned her attention to her own reflection. There was a second image in her reflection, as well. She could only describe it as some sort of aquatic creature.

By now, the others had noticed that it wasn't just Arachnid's reflection that had a second image. All of their reflections did. Kaida's second image looked kind of like a human woman, but there were mechanical parts showing. Some kind of cyborg, maybe. Pandora's was humanoid, but clearly not human. Liquid wasn't quite sure what it was. But the greatest mystery was Tetros' second image. The second image of Tetros' reflection was a normal reflection. While the dual reflections of the others were a normal reflection and the image of something else, Tetros' dual reflection was just two normal reflections.

"What is this?" Kaida wondered. "Our reflections have two images, and Arachnid's is Sheba. Mine's a cyborg, Pandora's is... something, and Liquid's is a water creature of some kind. And Tetros' is just a second normal reflection. I just don't get it."

"Neither do I," Liquid said. "These second images do seem to have some kind of similarities to us, I can see that. My second image is of a water creature, and I myself am a being of water. Arachnid has the abilities of a spider, and his second image is of the spider-woman, Sheba. Yours is a cyborg, Kaida. Have you ever done anything involving cyborgs?"

Kaida was clearly uncomfortable with the question (which made Liquid suspect that the answer was 'yes'), so Liquid moved on. "Pandora's second image is of some humanoid creature. Maybe that creature has powers similar to Pandora's. Personally, I consider Tetros' second image to be the biggest mystery. All of our second images are of different creatures, but Tetros' isn't. Why are ours of different creatures when Tetros' is of himself?"

"It's not," a voice from behind them said. "He and I simply look exactly alike."

The team spun around to face the unknown speaker. The speaker was standing near the door leading further into the temple. he was flanked by two figures that Liquid immediatly recognizesd as the creatures who were Kaida and Pandora's double images. The creatue from Arachnid's was absent, but then, Sheba was dead (or nearly dead, or whatever the correct term was). The creature from Liquid's was also absent, but Liquid could see and sense water in the room on the other side of the door; perhaps the creature was in there. And the speaker himself was from tetros' double image, meaning that he looked exactly like Tetros.

"Let me begin," the Tetros double-image said, "by saying that you've all been fooled. The one you believe to be Tetros is not Tetros. You may find this hard to believe, but it is the truth."

"You're right," Arachnid told the Tetros double-image. "That is hard to believe. Especially since this crazy place seems to be full of crazy things. Personally, I think you're full of s*^t. I assume that now you'll be telling us that you're the real Tetros?"

The Tetros double-image nodded. "That's right."

"I agree with Arachnid," Liquid said. 'You're just bull$^itting us. And it's not going to work. Kaida?"

"They can't be friendly," Kaida said. "Let's take them out."[/color]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Nightblade knew that the creature before him was not Tetros. Nightblade had personally destroyed the real Tetros, and there were certain design implementations that could still not be duplicated. It was but a shadow of the Temple's nightmares, but it seemed as if it knew enough about him to damage him. Would the others believe anything that it said?

The seed of doubt was sometimes slow to spawn. But given the situation, survival was more important. Reassurance could occur later.

The team spread out in a semi-circle, confronting their foes... themselves. Arachnid and Liquid were left un-matched, but joined the line. This was a team effort. But Liquid could still sense the malevolent presence slowly circulating in the chamber beyond. It tried to make itself seem like a little fish, but Liquid sensed behind it the great big smile of the predator in the shadows.

There was an awkward pause, and then Nightblade felt himself be flung backwards at a tremendous speed. He crashed into the metallic wall, before falling to the floor. Not a mark marred the surface of the wall, but the Pandora doppelganger smirked at him.

With a yell of anger Arachnid leapt forward, whipping a line of webbing around the doppelganger's legs before flipping up onto the ceiling, where he attatched the other end. With yet another smirk Pandora's doppelganger sent him flying away with a burst of power, before psychically cutting the webbing which held her upside down, and dropping lightly to the ground, slowly floating down the last few metres.

It was five onto three, but the Legionnaires were wary.

And then the doppelgagngers rushed them, as from the mirrored surface Sheba screamed and chittered.[/size]

[Minako]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Pandora was absolutely astonished when she saw her doppelganger. It had long, blood-colored straight hair, cut in a straight line, and it flowed as if it were immersed in water. Its arms were unusually long, compared to a human?s. Its hands (or what resembled hands) had long blood-red claws, which contrasted well with its black skin. It had an eye in the middle of its chest, similar to the ones on the walls of the temple. At its waist, there was a shining jewel and from it came a long blood red skirt-like garment. It seemed to float in the air, its feet never touching the ground.

As soon as Pandora?s green eyes met with her doppelganger?s bright red ones, she knew exactly what it was. This was the embodiment of her dark side, the side that takes over when she loses control. [I]Maybe I?ll be able to defeat her, and be able go gain complete control of my powers![/I] Pandora thought.

[B]They say that absolute power corrupts absolutely. If you had complete control of your power, you wouldn?t be able to deal with it even then, foolish mortal! Don?t think you can get away from THAT easily [/B] the humanoid doppelganger said as she charged Pandora.

They faced a duel of psychic energies. The doppelganger was surrounded by Pandora?s green glow, and Pandora was surrounded by the doppelganger?s red power. Pandora was already weak, and struggled to stay on her feet, but she knew what she had to do. She focused all of her energy, even the energy to keep her own heart beating and focused it all on her doppelganger. Pandora?s eyes glowed even brighter than ever as her feet began to leave the floor.

Pandora?s voice boomed at her doppelganger, ?How dare you challenge ME, your creator! You foolish figment of my mind! You will never have control of me again; I will make sure of it!?

Pandora brought her two fists out in front of her, both of which were glowing bright green; this made the glow around the doppelganger glow brighter. The doppelganger?s eyes grew wide, because it knew what would happen. Pandora then whipped her hands to the side, ripping the doppelganger in two, straight down the middle. Everyone in the chamber seemed to have stopped battling for a moment as the doppelganger was destroyed. Pandora lightly landed on her feet. She had finally gained control of her power, thus being stronger than ever.

She calmly walked over to Kaida to help her fight her doppelganger.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Sandy]

[SIZE=1]OoC: I'm sorry for the extremely long post, but try to read through it as it contains important exposition gained from our honored Arbiter.[/SIZE]

The front of the gondola scraped the stone pier as they arrived to the other side of the Soulflow.

[I]"Here you are. No need to tip - it's not like I can get anywhere to spend it, gyah!" [/I] the Keeper of the Beast laughed at their minds.

Melinoë pitied the old man - doomed for eternity as a gondolier in a river filled with souls of the death, and having nothing else to do but to come up with bad jokes.

Unhate got off the boat, followed by Vernacular and Melinoë. They were standing in front of another tunnel, but this one was paved all over with gold. There were carvings on the gilded walls, all picturing some sort of gory ritual of sacrifice, watched over by a radiant eye.

"Let's go", Unhate said bluntly.

"Are you sure, positive, certain?" Vernacular asked in amazement. The man just nodded, and walked into the tunnel.

Melinoë was about to follow, when the Keeper of the Beast stopped her.

[I]"I believe this belongs to you, twoface."[/I]

She turned around, and saw the old man hold a familiar item - the infernal scythe-whip Phlegethon! But it had changed. It was no longer burning, or even red. It was now deep blue, with an aura of frost around it. The edge of the blade was jagged.

[I]"The Soulflow changed it. It is now imbued with the wrath of all those who died here. Oh, and it has a new name too, after the true name of this river."[/i]

The Keeper smiled with his shut-sown mouth.

[I]"Acheron."[/I]

Melinoë gasped. Acheron was the river of wails in Hell! So it must stream to this place as well...

"Melinoë, are you coming?" Vernacular asked from the corridor, interrupting Melinoë's thoughts.

The half-demon took the whip back from the Keeper, and felt the familiar sense of power that came from it, only this time it was accompanied by a more deeper feeling. An eternal hatred and lust for revenge...

Melinoë gave a thanking nod to the Keeper of the Beast, and quickly ran after her two team-mates.

She caught up with Unhate and Vernacular in front of a golden door at the end of the corridor. The door had a large carving of the shining eye.

"Eye of Aton..." Melinoë whispered. Unhate pushed the door open, and the threesome stepped in.

They walked into a room lighted by thousands of candles. The light reflected from the golden walls, but didn't reach the ceiling.

At the center of the room there was an altar, where sat a small woman with crossed legs.

The woman was a horrible sight - even to Melinoë. Her skin - or what was left of it - was strained to her skeleton. The sockets of her eyes were empty, and her gaping mouth toothless. Her white hair was like a spider's web around her skull. She was wearing the remains of a dress, that seemed to disperse on the lightest touch. What was most horrible about her was the fact that she was still [I]alive[/I].

The old woman raised her right hand, slowly and feebly, but they could see that in her palm was a golden medal with the Eye of Aton.

Suddenly a searing light shot out of the medal, blinding the three Legionnaires momentarily.

When Melinoë regained her vision, she saw that she an image of a savanna behind the corpse-like woman.

[I]"I am... the [B]Beast[/B]."[/I]

Melinoë saw a procession walking through the savanna, and arriving to a temple. It was the same temple as the one above them. The procession was made of black-skinned tribal warriors lead by a negro woman wearing a white dress and a golden head-ornament.

[I]"Oh [B]Aton[/B], you gave me such powers! But what a [B]curse[/B] you put upon me at the same!"[/I]

Melinoë watched as the priestess in the illusion walked into the main hall of the temple with the warriors. Suddenly the warriors were surrounded by monsters with the upper body of a woman and the tail of a serpent. The creatures began slaughtering the warriors, until the hall was covered in the men's blood.

[I]"I did as [B]you[/B] told me to. Your sacred Lamias took the lives of the [B]greatest[/B] warriors in all Black Lands. I was your most [B]loyal[/B] follower."[/I]

Melinoë couldn't believe the same beautiful priestess was now sitting before them as the Beast. The illusion continued, with the young priestess sitting on the same altar as the ancient woman was now.

[I]"My body and soul were [B]tied[/B] to this temple, and [B]you[/B] promised that as long as this temple stood, I would [B]live[/B]. Little did I know then that my body would decay at the [B]same[/B]..."[/I]

The vision showed other warriors entering the temple, and getting devoured by the many monsters living there.

[I]"My only [B]escape[/B] was to feast with the minds of those who were [B]foolish[/B] enough to enter. By driving them [B]insane[/B], I got the power to preserve my body. All this while serving [B]you[/B], my God. I sought for suitable [B]successors[/B] for my priesthood among those who came here. And [B]now[/B] I've found another one."[/I]

The vision vanished, and the Legionnaires were brought back to reality. Melinoë saw the woman extending her index finger to point at something.

She pointed at Unhate.

[DeadSeraphim]

[size=1][color=indigo][font=arial]"Him!" The old woman's voice echoed throughout the chamber and Unhate stepped back unsteadily, his eyes narrowed.

"What is she talking about, Melinoe?" he whispered tersely. His knuckles were white as he squeezed his pistol nervously.

"She.. I think she wants you to take her place." Unhate's eye twitched.

"W-what?" the stone skinned man gasped. His hands began to tremble uncontrollably as his mind played over the fate that would await him if Melinoe was correct. For the first time in decades, staring at his possible fate in this decrepit corpse, he exhibited fear.

"The half-breed is right." The old woman spoke again. "You are to take my place. Though... in a different capacity I think. A capacity that is for our God to decide. " Unhate snarled and steadied his shaking hands, suddenly angered by the old woman's brazenness in thinking he would willingly submit. Slowly he raised two pistols, trained on the woman before him.

"He's no God of mine!" Unhate roared, pulling the triggers. The bullets exploded out the end in a flash of heat and quickly lodged themselves deep within the woman, eliciting a screech of pain. Again Unhate fired, sending lead through the withered frame. The crack and shatter of bones was, to his ears, disturbingly audible. Beside him, Vernacular was shaking and slightly green.

He went to fire again but Melinoe's hand on his arm stopped him.

"She's gone..." she said quietly, her voice wary. "I felt her essence disappear before you even fired." Unhate raised an eyebrow. His guns stayed horizontal and smoking.

"What do you mean before I fir--" But he never got to finish his sentence. A great pain had shot through his body, as if his very heart was being torn out through his throat. His guns fell from his grip as Vernacular and Melinoe watched him slowly levitate, his back arch in pain. "What is thiiiiis?" Unhate shouted, a blast of light appearing out his mouth as he spoke. His eyes were shining yellow, his brown-stone skin was taking on a reflective, gold sheen. Transforming into something too familiar.

"I don't think you had a choice in the matter of this temple, somehow," Melinoe whispered quietly, taking Vernacular by the shoulders. "I think whatever this God is has taken you without your consent or not..." Unhate painstakingly turned his head to look at the demoness. His vision was doubling, he was seeing her as both a horrid monster and Melinoe. The same with Vernacular.

"God..." he whispered as only the monsters consolidated in his vision. The temple's God was taking him. Changing his perception. It... would make him kill these two. He knew it. "RUN!" he roared. "RUN FROM ME AND THIS PLACE, BEFORE I'M FORCED TO KILL YOU."

The women seemed uncertain.

"NOW!" His voice was distorted, filled with some omnipotent force. And so the women ran from the room, and ran until they came to a upward stairway they'd somehow missed on the way in. Barrelling up it they heard a mighty roar as Unhate transformed below them, almost not noticing when they burst into a new room. In the next room were the sounds of battle, in the centre of this a large leviathan-like creature swam in a murky pool.

They'd found their team. And by the sounds of the large boots thundering behind them, Unhate was going to quickly find them.[/font][/color][/size]

[DeathKnight]

[color=purple]Kaida looked at her doppelganger in surprise. It was hardly a monster, in fact it was an almost-mirror image of her save for her right arm and eye which had been replaced by cybernetic devices. Her uniform, her hair style- even the bow in her hair was exactly the same as the 'real' Kaida's. A noticeable difference was her armament- she wielded a sizable assault rifle that was somewhat more impressive looking than the magical pistol Kaida used. A low hum escaped from the rifle as energy flowed into it and the doppelganger casually approached.

"Greetings~" The other Kaida said and waved with her free hand. "Consider me an alter ego. I must say, I am surprised we do not look much different."

Kaida shrugged and wagged her finger, "Don't make implications. I have never stated I am 'good', I simply do my duty."

"Indeed. We are both monsters, I suppose." She responded and raised the assault rifle. "Let it begin, then."

Kaida raised her pistol and the two began their fight. As Kaida dodged something caught her eye- a slight shift in the appearance of the reflective wall behind the doppelganger. She didn't have time to examine it further as another flurry of magical projectiles streaked towards her and she was forced to dodge. She righted herself and arched her eyebrow at the wall- another one of her mechanical creations was coming out of it. The surface rippled as it left, leaving Kaida in a two on one fight.

From out of nowhere, one of Arachnid's webbings ensnared the war machine. It's mechanical eye shot to the left, staring right at Arachnid. On it's belly, a compartment slid open and an autocannon dropped down. On it's top, similar compartments opened and dual minigun turrets rose. All three turrets swiveled around and aimed at Arachnid, coming on line with the same low hum as all the other machines.

"Err..!" Arachnid stammered as the turrets roared to life and opened fire on him, ripping through his webbing with ease. Pandora intervened, stopping the projectiles one-by-one just short of their target. "Damn that was close." Arachnid said and let out a quiet sigh. The machine noted the strange anomaly affecting it's shots and leapt at Pandora, catching her by surprise. Arachnid made the save this time, webbing it in mid-air. With a strong yank he sent it flying in the opposite direction and straight into the two fighting Kaidas.

Kaida leapt backwards and the other Kaida mirrored her efforts. Between them the robotic war machine slammed into wall and quickly rose, seemingly unaffected.

"Why the hell did you design these things?!" Arachnid yelled as he charged the war machine and tackled it.

"Call it a hobby." Kaida responded as she and her doppelganger restarted their fight. The other Kaida made the first move, disarming Kaida with a single shot. "Bloody blast it.." She muttered to herself as she found herself at a great disadvantage.

With his great strength, Arachnid lifted the war machine straight up and slammed it harshly on the ground. The autocannon was destroyed beneath the force of the slam but the mini guns threatened to blow Arachnid's head off. A green glow surrounded the two turrets and they were ripped clear off, falling to the ground. Incensed, the war machine rammed Arachnid, sending him flying. The green glow spread to the entire machine and Pandora ripped it apart, littering the ground with it's remains. The other Kaida paused for a moment and glanced to the wall- five of the same war machines poured out of it at her whim.

"Damn it!" Arachnid spat out as he leapt up and looked at the machines. "Pandora, take care of this ****. You're better at it than me." With that, he went to assist Tetros and Liquid. Pandora seemed pleased with the prospect of testing her newly-strengthened powers and merely nodded in response.

The other Kaida smiled as Arachnid departed and turned back in time to see Kaida's fist slam into her face. Another quick hit and the doppelganger was disarmed as well. Her cybernetic arm shot up and gripped Kaida by the throat. Kaida grabbed the cybernetic arm and poured her magical energy into it, overflowing the circuits and causing it to short out. The arm lost all it's strength and dropped Kaida to the floor. The other Kaida was visibly displeased and kicked her opponent in the face, sending her to the floor.

Another machine fell to the ground ripped to pieces nearby, sending sharp pieces of metal skittering across the floor. Kaida took one of the pieces and stabbed it into her doppelganger's leg. She let out a painful yell as her blood flowed down from the wound. Kaida rolled away and as she stood, the other Kaida flipped out her combat knife, deftly throwing it. Kaida barely dodged a fatal hit and it sank into her upper arm instead, sending a sharp pain throughout her body.

The other Kaida laughed and shook her head, "I'm never out of moves, my friend. Always keep something in store to surprise your opponent." As she said that the hulk of the last war machine smashed into her from behind, sending her hurtling into the wall. She crashed against it and slumped down to the floor.

"Sound advice." Kaida said and approached her doppelganger. She was sprawled out on the floor and in visible pain, gritting her teeth from the multiple bones that had just broken. As Kaida approached she leaned down and grabbed the assault rifle. She aimed for the doppelganger's head and fired, definitively ending the fight.

"Are you alright?" Pandora asked with a concerned look.

"I believe so." Kaida said and removed the knife. She walked over to the body of the doppelganger and shredded a large piece of her uniform. She bandaged her arm up, ignoring the blood that had already poured down it. She went and retrieved her pistol, holstering it for now. "With that done we should help finish off the last -.."

Through the sounds of battle, just a short distance away a sound emanated. It was a blood-chilling, inhuman roar that echoed throughout the room.[/color]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Nightblade and Tetros fought hand to hand in the cavernous hall. Nightblade had earlier emtpied his clip in the battle against Sheba, and this doppelganger of his appeared unarmed. Flurries of blows occurred each second, the two androids almost evenly matched. There was no clear advantage apparent, but Nightblade had experience that his doppelganger mightn't necessarily have.

Plus he'd beaten Tetros before.

The doppelganger leapt backwards from a kick Nightblade levelled at him, before springing back onto the wall. He leapt forward, arms extended, catching Nightblade in the throat and sending him flying across the room. He crashed into the metallic wall for the second time that day, and as he ran back towards his opponent a lumbering monstrosity emerged from the wall... another of Kaida's creations. It paid him no heed, instead heading towards it's creator and her doppelganger.

Nightblade grabbed his doppelganger from behind, attempting to tear his head off, but was crushed against the wall when his doppelganger drove backwards. Standing back up, he leapt over the head of his foe, landing behind him again. With all the force he could muster he punched him right in the small of the back, sending him flying into the wall. He then dodged a hail of bullets from yet another war machine, and un-clipping a small device from his equipment belt, he slid on his back along the floor, between the robot's legs, he attatched the device to to it's underside. Hooking his arm around one of it's legs he pulled it off-balance and threw it across the room. A piercing whine was heard, and then the bottom half of the robot completely disappeared, disitengrating into billions of tiny particles. Nightblade's smile was removed by the appearance of an arm around his throat as the Tetros doppelganger whispered "Time's up".

Nightblade flipped backwards, wrapping his left arm around his opponents neck. As he cannoned face first into the ground, they were again evenly matched, each having an arm around the other's throat. Nightblade grabbed another of the devices from his belt and groped blindly for his opponent's face. With a decisive punch he forced his closed fist into the doppelganger's mouth and partway down the replica throat. He let the device go, and dislodging his opponents hold on his neck, threw him in the direction of the half-ruined war machine.

The doppelganger was destroyed in a firey explosion, as his internal systems were destroyed by the tiny bomb, which was powered by an infinitesimal speck of dark matter. Nightblade grinned, thankful for the powers of another of the Legionnaires, Astros.

And then an inhuman, pain-filled roar shook the Temple to it's very foundations.

Tetros did a double-take, and re-analysed what he had heard. It distinctly followed the speech wave-patterns of.... Unhate.

It couldn't be.[/size]

[Domon]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Blue]Arachnid's senses blared louder than anything he'd ever felt in his time crimefighting. The demon lady and Vernacular came peeling down a hallway with looks of terror on their faces. Vernacular more so.

"Whoa! Ladies! What the heck is..." Before the wall crawler could get his last words out, Unhate blasted through the door. His face was contorted into that of a man struggling for sanity.

"Oh, I guess that answers that question." Arachnid said as he got got closer to Kaida. "Boss, is that damn teleporter thing a ma-jig working or am I going to need to provide a distraction?" Kaida fumbled around with it slightly some more and nodded.

"Its working. I can.." Unhate started to make his move. He tried to rush the group and Arachnid rushed the crazed Legionnaire in an attempt to stop him. Arachnid started to web the crazed Unhate up but soon found his webbing just seeming to burn off. With this in mind he ran towards the nearest wall and used his momentum to springboard off the wall and directly into Unhate's side. The force took Unhate down and off guard. Arachnid was able to pin him to the ground long enough.

"BOSS! GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL HOLD HIM BACK, DESTROY THIS PLACE NOW!!" Kaida looked at him a little in shock. But nodded, she knew that Arachnid knew what he was doing.

"Don't you die!" She said as she led the group back down the hall that the two women had come from. Arachnid smirked as he was elbowed in the face and sent flying backwards into the wall. He could feel blood gushing from his nose and he ripped his mask off as he glared at Unhate but then decided to try and stop him.

Arachnid started by webbing up the doorway as quickly as he could, but Unhate was on in him seconds. However, the wall crawler's senses allowed him a second long window to avoid getitng splattered. He managed to dodge the punch and he continued to try and web the doorway up. This continued for a minute or so until Arachnid finished. When he did he waited for Unhate to come at him again with another attack, this time however Arachnid landed a swift kick onto Unhate's face. The force sent a jolt up Arachnid's leg and sent Unhate reeling to the ground.

Landing with a soft thud Arachnid got into a fighting stance.

"All right you ******* its time to finish this. I will not let you harm the others!" With that said and done the two went at it. The fight basically was in Unhate's favor because he was super charged but Arachnid did manage to do some serious damage by webbing Unhate up twice and snapping one of his legs and one of his arms. But this didn't go without punishment. Arachnid came away with a broken hand and one of his ribs was broken. He was starting to feel dizzy and the blood from a cut on his head was blurring his vision. Unhate on the other hand seemed unphased by his injuries and finally it happened. It was so fast that Arachnid didn't even have time to react even with his senses.

It was as if the sun god Aton gave a larger amount of energy to Unhate at that moment because he soon rushed Arachnid at a super speed. Without any recourse he slammed his uninjured arm into Arachnid, the force was so strong that Unhate's arm went through Arachnid's abdomen and shattered his spine.

The pain in Arachnid was overwhelming, he knew he was dying if not dead already. He could see his life flash before his eyes and then he felt cold as he slid off of Unhate's arm. His blood coating the legionnaire's arm and pooling around his body.

"Dammit....I...Promised....I...wouldn't die..." Arachnid said as he fired off a tiny strand of webbing at Unhate but Aton's wrath was stronger and it forced Unhate to grab Arachnid's body and hurl it as hard as he could into another wall. The force shatterd what was left of Arachnid's back and he fell to the ground with a gasp of air. The last thing the wall crawler saw of the living world was Unhate tearing the webbing he'd erected, down and he was pacing the group.

As Arachnid died he thought of his parents, and his friends, as well as his teammates who were now in terrible danger and how he'd failed them. With this in his mind he died quietly but still in agonizing pain. However, Arachnid was not alone, but instead was greeted by the very spider who'd bitten him and caused his whole ordeal to begin. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[DeadSeraphim]

[color=indigo][size=1][font=arial]The man, now more beast than human, thundered through the golden halls, his heavy steps creating impact marks where they fell. He didn't know what he was doing, he didn't know what he was, he just knew.... he needed to kill these intruders. For Aton. His lord. He was nothing without his lord.

As he rounded a corner he noticed a tiny blinking device and, somehow, recognized it as distinctly bad. It would... it would cause destruction. Reaching low as he ran, he picked up the device and ran on, sensing himself growing closer and closer to his targets... no, not targets. His prey. A throaty roar escaped his lips as he noticed and scooped up another of the devices. Placing these destructive things would earn them a painful death indeed.

Bursting into a golden passageway he saw his prey gather, their weapons and abilities all charged or pointed at him. Snarling he considered them like a lion might his prey, pacing slowly forward, fists clenched.

~~~

"Okay everyone, remember, this [b]isn't[/b] Unhate anymore," Kaida instructed. "Unhate is dead. This is just a monster pretending to be Unhate. He's lost to us now." The group nodded in affirmation, watching the once-proud man slowly edge toward them, it's fists glowing yellow with power. It seemed to pause and the group flinched, but it didn't appear to be making any move to attack. Then, suddenly, it lunged forward, showing no signs of the man they all once knew.

"Fire!" Kaida roared and the sound of weapons and powers collectively exploding outward echoed around the tunnel. They hit Unhate hard in the chest and he went flying backward, landing with a sick crunch on his back, but not staying there for long. With preternatual speed he burst to his feet again and dove at them, showing no sign of the tact he once knew, and yet again got slammed backward. The man's chest was gaping in places and smoking. Slowly it raised to it's feet again.

~~~

Unhate slowly got to his feet, wincing in pain. What was happening? Last he'd remembered, he'd been in the underground chamber and... Looking at his arm he saw blood. Not his, it wasn't thick enough. His chest gaped and bled openly, and before him his entire team stood with their weapons at the ready, prepared to destroy him. A tear escaped his eye.

"Oh God..." he whispered. "What have I become?" The question was unnecessary though. He already knew what he had become. And the slow, dumbing haze sweeping over his brain, filling him with rage, confirmed it doubly. He was just a monster of this temple now. And he'd killed one of his own. Despite his revulsion though, he couldn't fight off the fog in his mind forever. He just couldn't. And if he couldn't be who he once was he'd have to die... take the temple out with him.

"DON'T SHOOT!" he roared, intending to make as much of these final moments of clarity as he could. "I'm me! Unhate! For now." He winced as he bled and clutched his stomach. Only then did he realise he was holding timed mines in his hands. Perfect.

"Unhate?" Kaida asked, almost relieved. "You're okay again?" The group broke into a run to aid their fellow Legionnaire but Unhate held up his hand.

"No... no don't come any closer." His words were pained. "This is only temporary. I'll be myself again soon.... the beast... the monstrosity." He struggled to think. The fog was becoming thicker. Shaking his head in an attempt to dispel it, he held out the mines. "Do you have any more of these?"

Kaida frowned. "Dozens... but why? What are you going to do?"

Unhate laughed, then coughed painfully. "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to take this place out with me."

Kaida was aghast. "No! We can fix you!" Unhate allowed his mind to be filled with the fog for a moment and looked up at the naive team leader, his eyes glowing gold.

"Nothing can save me now," he growled, his voice tainted with the dark power. Already he could feel strength returning, despite his wounds.. "Now... just give me the mines." Noone moved, shocked by this caricature of the man they once knew. "NOW."

His voice shook the temple, demonstrating his true, as yet untapped, power.

Kaida went pale as she reached into her belt and threw the remaining mines at Unhate, who caught them easily. Attaching them to his stony body, the man stood, and pointed behind the group. "Flee." he said simply in the power-tainted voice, before tearing back the way he'd came.

~~~

His mind was almost all gone now, and he could barely remember his own name. But he had enough sense to know his final purpose, that, if he could hold off the fog for long enough, he could do it. He could finish this sorry tale the way it was intended.

As he burst into the chamber in which the old woman had granted him this curse, he probed the temple with his new powers and felt that they were almost out. Good. It'd give him just enough time to do what he intended. He laughed as vague thoughts of the greater good drifted through his cloudy mind. Yes, this was definitely in the greater good. It was the only good his mind registered in these last few fateful moments

He sat in the old woman's golden throne, crushing her feeble corpse, and groaned as his body surged with power. At once, he knew his plan would be successful - the mines on him, attached to him, had became super-charged. More than powerful to destroy this whole place.

Once again he probed with his mind for them and found his temple empty, except for the abominations of his predecessors creating. A contentment passed over him as he hit the detonate button on one of the timed mines, and he breathed deep of the stale air of the temple.

5... thoughts of growing up flooded his mind...
4... the army... recruiting
3... bosnia... overseas conflicts
2... the legionnaires...
1... the original gold team mission
0...

He opened his eyes and gave into the sensation of his body, and the temple exploding around him. And laughed.[/font][/size][/color]

[Shy]

[font=trebuchet ms][center][size=3][b]Mission #111: Epilogue[/b][/size][/center]

The Legionnaires? headquarters were once again silent as its? members waited for word from Kaida and the others. The speed at which she organized and dispatched her group may have surprised some, but in the team?s 30 year history emergency missions were far from being uncommon. Many had expressed their concerns to The Arbiter, asking for him to send additional back-up, but history had proven that their resources and members could only be spread so thin.

The Arbiter was standing near a conference desk in the aptly titled ?War Room? of Legionnaires HQ. Since even the earliest missions he and other group leaders had worked hard to analyze each and every mission, aiming to assign members whose abilities best suited the job: ensuring the safety of the Legionnaires were always the priority, but leading a life of danger always came hand-in-hand with these risks. His flowing black cape dragged along the floor, spreading past piles of past mission briefings and other.

Kaida had survived battles that a common man wouldn?t even be able to pronounce, yet she took each and every challenge with caution. Certainly she had chosen a strong team for the mission, but would even two team leaders be capable of fighting a largely unknown threat?

The Arbiter lowered his head as he thought over the situation, and began to question his own motives. He removed the black, expressionless mask from his face to wipe the sweat from his brow.

His face was porcelain and nearly flawless. Nearly. A single scar spread down across his handsome face. This was a side of The Arbiter rarely seen, that of the man who had experienced a lifetime of pain and loss since traveling to this world. The fear of losing another Legionnaire was growing; his would consider his years of experience useless if Kaida?s team didn?t make it out of there alive.

There was a slight knock on the frame of the doorway, drawing his attention for a moment. Dr. Jessica Marlow, one of several on-site doctors, stood quietly with a tired expression on her face.

?Arbiter, is it alright if I speak to you for a moment? I might have some news??

At one point he had been much closer to Dr. Merlow, who was not only gifted with great beauty, but also one of the most brilliant minds of her time. The times had changed, and as it did so did the nature of their relationship.

She walked closer to The Arbiter, looking over her own notes for a moment as she moved in towards him.

?We have been researching around the clock, and I think you can limit down the list of possible causes,? Dr. Merlow said with a sigh, ?My staff and I are no closer to finding the source of Pygmalion?s illness than we were yesterday, or the day before. We don?t believe it?s anything medical.?

?You know this isn?t the kind of news I was looking for.?

?It?s a start, Arbiter,? she placed her hand softly onto his, ?At least you know what not to focus on now.?

He quickly pulled his hand away, readjusting his mask as Jessica ran her fingers through her graying hair.

?The scientist in me is baffled; the metamorphosis from flesh and blood into stone doesn?t resemble anything I?ve come across before. Oddly enough Dr.?eh, [i]Pygmalion?s[/i] immune system and vital signs haven?t faltered a bit from what would be considered ?normal.? It?s either supernatural in nature or something else so far beyond our science that we can?t explain it.?

?And what of Augur? Is he resting??

?We?ve yet to stabilize his condition, and introducing anything more potent than the painkillers already in his system could have serious effects in the long term.?

?And his visions are still out of control??

?Yes, he?s still conscious. Also, it might be difficult to tell how exactly the drugs are affecting the coherency of his visions. This entire situation is a first for me, and it wasn?t too long ago that I was out adventuring with The Legionnaires myself.?

?It?s never too late,? The Arbiter?s soft blue eyes began to glow. Jessica turned her back away from him, clasping her hands together.

?It?ll never happen. Some of us chose to age gracefully, and left the heroics for the next generation,? she lowered her head as she spoke, ?The only reason I?m here at all is for you? I?m waiting for you. I?ve been waiting for you.?

The Arbiter stepped towards Jessika, placing his arms on her waist and turning her around. He leaned in even closer.

?We can?t discuss this now. Pygmalion?s condition is accelerating at a dangerous pace,? The Arbiter turned towards the video monitors lining the walls, each featuring a different news feed from around the globe, ?It?s not as if we have any time for... for us. The world needs us, and The Legionnaires need you.?

?I? I understand?? she smiled, and kissed him softly on the cheek, ?and as long as it takes I?ll be be here waiting for you, my love??

The Arbiter smiled, embracing her tightly.

??Because you killed me.?

There was a slight knock on the frame of the doorway. Tech, the most brilliant mind on the planet, stood there silently, watching The Arbiter hold a conversation with thin air.

?I?I?m sorry I interrupted, Arbiter. I can come back later if you want some privacy.? She blushed, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

?It?s perfectly fine, Tech.? He donned his black mask once again, reverting from man to Legionnaire in an instant, ?I was only talking to? a ghost.?

?Arbiter, we?ve just received a brief communication signal from Kaida?s group.?

?Play the message.?

Instantly the multiple video screens all began showing the same image. The Green Team leader, bruised, beaten. In the background a handful of other Legionnaires could be seen, each wearing a somber expression on their face.

?This is Kaida? the temple was destroyed,? she paused, wiping sweat from her brow, ?Massive casualties. Unhate sacrificed himself? the others? Speedy, Face?I?m sorry, Arbiter??

The video quickly cut to static, shocking The Arbiter. His eyes began to glow, and he turned to Tech, infuriated.

?Where is the rest of the video feed, Tech??

Terrified, the young woman dropped her remote control device.

?That?s it. The feed was interrupted, and the ship has not responded to our constant attempts to communicate with them??

?And where is the ship?!?

?We have it pinpointed off the South African coastline It should be on base within the hour.?

Darkness spread from beneath The Arbiter?s coat, slowly shrouding the white tile floor. Tech took a step back.

?Tech, inform Sparks that I?m going to rendezvous with Kaida and the others. Prepare the medics and a quarantine unit for when we return.

?You can?t possibly go out there. If they?re infected, too, then you could be killed?.

The Arbiter fully disappeared into the darkness. Only his glowing eyes remained.

?I made a mistake, Tech? Perhaps it should have been me who died in that temple.?[/font]