Difference between revisions of "Shadow Chasers"

Latest revision as of 03:54, 10 December 2012

Riku has posed:
The Labyrinth here is desolate and uninhabited. The denizens say this is because people who try to move into these locales simply pack up and leave after awhile. They can't really explain why, there are a variety of excuses.

The disappearances that stretch from far before Dr. Sevarius put up shop is also troubling. Any ghost story that starts with a disappearance? Down here-- it starts with this part of the maze. The rescued people talked about the rest of their number. They somehow escaped from Dr. Sevarius, but neither the police or Talon's Clan have seen them. The Labyrinth clan are not of the opinion that they will be found-- not if they have strayed down these corridors. They warned against them. Even when Manhattan was whole and connected, this was the place for ghost stories.

There isn't any apparent reason why. The stones here are old and worn. Water pipes and mechanical conduits run alongside the walls and ceiling. Some of them are sheared away or loop back onto themselves, but that isn't uncommon in and of itself. That sort of distortion can be seen in the Labyrinth.

The tunnels are reasonably clean and dry, the last long stretch of sewer tunnels and connections a distance back in the way of the maze to lead, one room into another, into places that shouldn't be all found in the same place but inevitably are. The only point of interest is a lump of metal on the floor, melted as if by a sudden burst of fire. It lays near an archway through which the Labyrinth stretches on before them.

A few fragments of carapace remain of the multi legged construct, and a small scarab design on a shard of the casing.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will was pretty experienced with the Labyrinth...mostly. There are places he never traveled, because he never had to. However, Avira seems dead set on finding the crew of the missing show, and Will can't blame her for wanting to. He's resigned himself to thinking that the heartless got them, or worse, and things have degraded too far to be much help. However, Avira's hard to say no, and Will's not about to leave her by herself without someone to help...it's too dangerous to go alone, so she got a Will Sherman.

This place...or rather, this part, was...odd. Different, and unique to him. His detective senses go to work, trying to use the skills he picked up from both The Boss and Mercade over the years, looking at the metal, and then at the construct and casing. This is odd...very odd.

Was this from Manhattan, or was there a connection to another place here? Will wasn't sure. He looks up towards Avira silently, perhaps asking her what she thought about it.

Avira has posed:
Now this does seem to be a strange "case" to take, given the current situation in Manhattan. But with the military and police thoroughly tied up fighting Heartless in the streets, who else is there to mount a search and rescue operation? It wasn't just those paranormal investigators either. There were still others missing, including some brave escapees.

So she had planned to set out, flashlight and a coil of rope. Avira wanted to go but on her own, but Will insisted that he come along. She's fine with that. Will was reliable. Will was super duper lucky. She trusts that he'll have her back. Will also had his awesome hobo powers.

What she hears from Talon's clan is pretty troubling, especially since none of them really seemed willing to help. Despite the warnings, Avira seems adamant on investigating.

The odd object on the floor gives her pause and she's pretty willing to pick up the fragments and look it over, eyeing the scarab design. "Doesn't seem familiar to me at all." she admits, showing him the design, "I know the bug, sure, but I don't really know anyone who uses that symbol. Seems like an automation of some kind?"

Riku has posed:
The next room is bisected by a channel that runs from left to right across the vague rectangular expanse and disappears through a gloomy archway in both directions, the ceiling threateningly low and even more so as a bridge arches over the dry span.

A closed doorway blandly proclaims 'Authorized Personnel Only' with a peeling yellow sign plastered on the metal door. There are elements to this room that have taken damage. A long claw part marrs the dry channel, but more than that.

There is a faint.. something about the architecture. The colors seem a little too abrupt, too stark as if someone was endeavouring to give you what you would expect to see. Even as the thought occurs, the moment is gone. Everything seems right again.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will blinks...

His eyes give everything a glance...and then fall on Avira. He squints at her, blinking a few times, then shaking his head. Nothing, it was probably nothing at all. Slowly, his eyes move again, taking a breath before continuing to move deeper. "Weird." he says, thinking outside for a brief moment. "Something is up here, I think." he says to Avira, "I think we should stay together."

Avira has posed:
"What did you see, Will?" Unlike other detectives, Avira's a lot more open to the supernatural mindscrewery actually occuring, so if something is off, or sets Will off of all people...

Avira squints at the room, her eyes going to the long claw mark. As she looks, she realizes something does seem off, though she can't really put her finger on it. "I agree, we should stay together." a beat, "...here, through here. Let's check this place out."

Avira goes for the closed door.

Riku has posed:
The door should be locked but a closer examination reveals that someone has forced the lock, destroying the mechanism in the process. The doorjam is slightly bent out of alignment and so the door sticks slightly before opening.

The next room is close and cramped quarters. Waves of heat sizzle from pipes and other machinery. This place looks like it has been trashed. Claw marks are everywhere on the walls here, sparks fountaining up from places where the wires have been cut. The distortion is greater here.

Things seem to fold in on themselves halfway through their construction rather than leading one thing into another in other corridors. There is an archway at about knee height just enough for crawling space through which cooler air drifts. Another metal door in the corner of the room is an unadorned beige.

The heat also comes with a niggling, oppressive pressure. Maybe there was something wrong with this place. Something that really can't be placed but niggles just the same. The people who were lost here are probably already lost to the heartless. There was no sign of them yet, so maybe it would be better to go back.

There are several more shattered husks of those strange machines here, melted or torn apart and scattered across the concrete floor.

Will Sherman has posed:
"Jesus..." Will says, looking at the destruction. This is just...was this a group of heartless? What caused all of this destruction, he wonders. It was frightening, really, as he pushes forward. Slowly, he looks around, looking back at Avira. "The hell is this place? It just looks so out of place." he comments. "Is this caused by the merging?" he asks, shaking his head.

He looks around, "So..." he walks towards the Archway, letting fate decice where he goes, instead of overthinking things.

Avira has posed:
The sparking gives Avira pause. This destruction looks sort of recent.

'They're probably dead, we should go back.' she thinks to herself for a moment. After a beat, she frowns, and chases the thought away. No. She had to find out. They had to be down here!

"Maybe. Is it just me or does it feel strange in here?" she questions, getting down on her hands and knees as she crawls under the archway after Will. "I've never been here before so you'd know this place better than I would, Will."

Riku has posed:
The flashlight bounces off the cramped quarters that opens up into a much more expansive room.

A cool, pleasing aura hangs around this place. It should be clammy and foul, but there is a clean smell to it, like the almost invisible smell of fresh snow. The room, which has very little distinction to it other than a number of short terraces down which water trinkles in a faint stream into a pool in the corner of the room is abruptly jagged by the shadows of movement off to the left side and VERY close to the archway.

This is about a second and a half before someone screams at the top of their lungs and brings a video camera rig down very soundly on whoever is approaching from the crawlspace first. Will in particular as he is in the front.

"HAVE some more of this, you shadowy freakhats" not realizing until a little too late that neither Will or Avira appear to be heartless. Reaction Command: CAMERA! Press X to not Klonk.

Will Sherman has posed:
"There are places down here even I haven't gone...it's a very dangerous place, the city was built over each other several times over because of various reasons...water ways, subways...too much space...and with the worlds as they are, who knows." Will comments, "Better to let sleeping dogs lie, when there are plenty of other things to punch.

Will suddenly slips on some snow, caught off guard by the fact that there was even snow now! Falling on his butt a bit unfortinately, a Camera smashes into the ground where he was. Blinking, Will looks up, "Hey! We're human! Don't go throwing stuff at us!" he pauses. "Hey, are you that paranormal investigator show? We're here to find you, I'm Will Sherman, of the Twilight Detective Agency." he shouts up.

Avira has posed:
That last room was pretty roasty, almost pleasant to someone who was accustomed to desert heat. The extent of the damage there had her pretty worried, sparking her abrupt need to move on, this time towards that cool feeling. She crawls after the hobo, making a noise of discomfort as he admits to not going down this far.

"They have to be alive, Will. Well so far nothings been familiar to me-" Suddenly, their conversation is interrupted as WIll emerges and is nearly smacked over the head with a camera tripod. Avira pauses in the tunnel, then scrambles out quickly, not giving them a chance to smash the camera down on her as well.

"Yeah, hold it! We're here to look for you! I'm Avira, also with the Twilight Detective Agency. ...but mostly VALKYRI. So calm down!"

Riku has posed:
The man, in his mid to late twenties, looks haggard and more than a little crazed. Ethan Cross, whose rugged good looks and charming TV personality doesn't hold up to the panicked man before them.

His overcoat has been torn to bits in a half way competant fashion to make bandages for his wounded side. It has also been sacrificed for the binding around his leg which looks recent and painful. The man's blonde hair is no longer artfully dishevelled but the real deal, and he raises up the camera for a second strike before the words sink in.

"Are you guys nuts?!" he shouts at them both. "You didn't see the signs?!" he slaps a hand to his face, dragging it down his sallow features and muttering. "No. Of course you wouldn't. It probably reset again.. right." he takes a steadying breath. "Well. I'm sorry but now you are the ones needing rescue. Did you--" he swallows thickly, lowering the camera to the ground and leaning heavily against the wall.

"Did you see any sign of Jennifer? She-- She thought there was a way out. It seems like ages ago. Days maybe.. who can tell."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will blinks...

"Wait what? No I am pretty sure we're rescuing you. I am pretty sure that is how this works, because I am...nevermind. And.." he pauses, thinking back, "Just a bunch of destroyed robots. Uh...something with a scarab embulum. Some melted slag...sorry." he says, empathetic. Slowly walking towards the man. He had a potion, just in case of an emergancy, handing it to the man.

"Drink it. IT ain't much for flavor, but it'll help." he says, and looks around... "Look, I'd rather not stay here, but what happened? Was it the Heartless?"

Avira has posed:
Avira has never watched this guy's show. Not that she'd actually watch TV or anything, HA HA that's silly. But she does recognize him because, being wise, she did take a look at a few pictures of the people they were trying to find beforehand.

"Did we what? No, keep talking, what the hell is going on here?" Avira's face turns a little red since she really does abhor the idea of getting rescued all the time. Angantyr did tease her about that a lot, and not without cause.

She looks down to this guy's wounded leg, then up to his face, "You two have been missing for a few days now, yes. We haven't seen any sign of Jennifer...yet."

Riku has posed:
Ethan Cross looks between the two of them. "If you're here.. then you must know about the kidnappings. Did you just sneak past Sevarius like we did? I mean-- when that man gets on a rant" a flicker of humor passes across his face. "Yeah. He likes the sound of his own voice. Which is funny, because Jennifer had that whole plan because she says that I do." he gives them a lopsided smirk, a pained 'heh' escaping his battered body.

"This is--from-- outside, I'm guessing?" he doesn't want to say 'foreign' or 'interdimensional' in case his brain explodes, he looks at it somewhat apprehensively, then nods in thanks. "Will, right? Uh.. Thanks." he makes a face as he downs it, but almost immediately thereafter looks better for it. "That's amazing." he says softly, looking at the bottle. "The things we take for granted now, huh? Just little things.." he trails off, pushing against the wall back onto his feet.

"It's only been a few days, huh? Wow..time does fly." he seems a bit bitter about that statement when something Will says catches his attention." Wait. Scarab Emblem? Little red thing? Small and simple?" he nods in agreement to his own statement. "You mean of course that shill company. Xanatos owns this town, what would he?" he pauses, thinking about it.

"Yeah. I can see that. Fingers in every pie. Yeah-- heartless. There are some still in the rooms. You jump into one, at the wrong time, BAM. There they are. Wandering around."

Will Sherman has posed:
"Oh him." Will says, with a smirk. "Avira knocked his block off, I killed his pet heartless." Will continues. "However, during the fight...the heartless he had got out. Worse, when the police got him, they were ambushed on the way back to the station. So that jerk is missing, but not here anymore. The people he had were rescued...except for a few missing people...your crew." Will says, a bit sadly.

"...Hm. Lets get you out of here then, we can ask you more questions about what happened once your...safe...ish." he says. "I say that because of the heartless situation."

Avira has posed:
"That's right." Avira has a toothy, vicious grin for the subject of Sevarius, "We totally /kicked his ass/." She's clearly been hanging around Manhattan a little too much lately to use that kind of thing. Her happiness fades a little as she is reminded that the bum escaped. Well, maybe he didn't escape. Maybe Sevarius got eaten by Heartless. "We heard that some people did manage to escape Sevarius's captivity and fled into here...along with you guys it seems."

She glances down to his camera. "Did you manage to tape him at all?"

One of her hands reaches down and settles upon the hilt of the Spine. "We won't have to worry about the Heartless too much. Will and I have been cutting them down ever since this crisis started. C'mon, let's go. Will, you go first."

She points to the archway they crawled in, "Ethan, you go after him. I'll bring up the rear."

Riku has posed:
Ethan looks haunted. "Jennifer and I.." he shakes his head. "I think we're the only ones left. And you say it's gotten even worse out there?" he looks grim. "But you took care of that crazed fruitcake. That has to be worth something." he pauses for a long time.

"Alright. We're doing nobody any good in here. So-- we can at least take a shot at it again. I'll tell you the little that I know. But I have to ask before we.." he looks at the archway, then back to Avira. "Before we... get going. Have you noticed the walls yet?"

Avira has posed:
"What, that they're damaged, clawed, and seem kind of..." Avira wiggles one of her hands in front of her. "...weird? So it's not just me? I thought it could have been heat making the air look weird or..."

She shakes her head and makes a face upon hearing that he and Jennifer might be the only survivors left. "You never know..." Avira says quietly, "...you never know just how much a normal person can fight back until their life is on the line. The results are sometimes...surprising."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will starts to crouch down, and then Avira gets asked a question. He doesn't answer, it wasn't directed at him, but Will starts crawling back to the other side. Eyes looking a bit more deeply around him. There had to be something to see about all of this...

He just had to be more attentive. Right?

Riku has posed:
Ethan looks at Avira for a moment longer than is comfortable, another tired smile flickering across his face as he nods at her in understanding. Whatever it is he thinks he understands he keeps to himself. "I mean. They aren't what they look like. It's smooth stone. Smooth black stone." he then crouches down, wincing a little as his sore leg still twinges a bit. "..You'll see." he follows after them.

The archway is close and confined but after a few long minutes they emerge into a cold room. It's the same cramped space cluttered with pipes and machines, with two metal doors of bland beige. But the heat has been stripped from the air. Even if the machines were not powered, it shouldn't have dissipated as fast.

The distortion is still there, that gnawing sense of disquiet and oppression. The unspoke 'You Should Not Be Here' that hangs in the air where the heat should be, the walls smearing slightly as light passes over them like a hastily constructed oil painting.

Will Sherman has posed:
"...The hell?" Will asks, the machines were cold. He isn't a scientist, but he knows that heat convection DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. Damn it science, why aren't you working anymore! Wait two doors of bland Beige? Whatever, Will knows which way he came from, so he walks towards the door they left from. The weighted words in the air certain;y don't contribute to him being here.

No sir.

He walks carefull to watch the area around himself...if the Heartless come he should have a little warning. "Smooth...black stone?" he asks Ethan.

"This is getting weird, and I'm not exactly normal."

Avira has posed:
Avira gives Ethan a gentle smile, despite the longer-than-acceptable look. "...including the next room?" Avira asks, clearly confused. She'd clearly have to test that out once they've crawled through the tunnel.

Right away, she notices that the heat was gone and she immediately believes that there's definitely something wrong here. Acting on Ethan's previous words, Avira reaches out to touch the walls as if to confirm that it is some kind of smooth black stone, and not machinery.

Riku has posed:
"I'm a person who treasures weird and this place is too much for me" Ethan snorts as he looks around, squinting in the dark. Will finds that the door with the broken lock opens easily enough-- except that staring straight across where there should be a rest of the Labyrinth. There is-- nothing. Just a flat wall where the exit should be, the channel running from side to side empty. No claw marks. No robots. Empty.

"Yeah. I think there's a pattern to it. This room. We.. started calling it the sauna since the only thing that changes about it is the heat." Ethan snorts faintly. "Not exactly the most comfortable, but you get the idea." The walls feel like what they are supposed to feel like. Rough textured stone. Cement. Corroded Metal.

Ethan notices what Avira is doing and comments. "You have to close your eyes first. Run your hand all the way along the wall to the end. There's nothing in these rooms. Not really." This seems a semi impossible task. The indictated wall is crowded with pipes and fittings, Ethan just indictates someone start about a foot away from the first series of pipes and start walking.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will wonders...is this magic?

Then what happens if he...

He takes a breath, slowly reaching out to try and feel the wall, instead he tries to invoke his own power, trying to see if there was SOMETHING he could try and twist in his favor as far as luck goes.

Certainly there had to be something. Grunting, he will pull away if he feels something horribly go wrong...

Avira has posed:
As Avira feels the walls, she thinks Ethan might have been going a little bit crazy while stuck down here. It all felt normal to her. Then Will tries to open the door they came through and there's nothing but solid wall in its place. Immediately, Avira's stomach turns. "...that's supposed to be the door we came in through."

Hearing Ethan's comment, Avira actually tries this, walking to the other end of the room. She closes her eyes, then reaches out with her hand to feel the wall as she walks.

Riku has posed:
Ethan watches silently as Avira, to him, moves to avoid the pipes and fittings, her hand playing over them in the way he expects. To Avira however she feels herself moving in a straight line across the room. A smooth black stone surface meets her questing fingers. So sheer and smooth it would be glass or even crystalline in composition. No flaw or deviation in it at all.

Avira has posed:
"...well I'll be damned." she doesn't open her eyes and continues to feel the wall, walking forward until she hits a corner, and then she changes direction to the next wall, then the next, searching for any sign of doorwway or simply way out of this particular room. Though she is tempted to open her eyes and peek, she doesn't do so.

"This is very unusual. You should try this too, Will." Avira reccommends.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will jerk back suddenly, shaking his head as he starts to overcome the feeling he just got. Looking upwards, then back to Avira he shakes his head...

"Something old...very old...older then...me." he says, and looks around. "Come on...lets go the other way." he says, and walks towards the other direction.

Riku has posed:
"Unusual she says." Ethan remarks with a faint snort, but his eyes are semi distant as he looks around at the room. "Yeah.." he continues softly. "I think that about sums it up." to Avira, there are three exits. The doorway they came through appears to be 'real' or as real as everything else in this room seems to be.

The archway seems real, as well as the door they have not yet taken. These three exits seem to be all the options they have available. Ethan gives Will an odd look but doesn't say anything.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will doesn't clarify, instead he walks towards the Beige door, and sees if the presence will let them go into this area. He just wants to get this guy out, but if this place WANTS to show them something he'll at least listen.

He'll also want to get rid of this headache.

Avira has posed:
"Hey, I've been around and I've seen some pretty weird stuff. You don't know the half of it." Avira mutters, opening her eyes at last. She's about to go for the archway when she sees Will head for the Beige door. She pauses for a moment and Will leans in to murmur something to her.

Trusting the hobo king's instincts, she reaches behind her and pulls the Spine free of its sheath. "Ethan, get behind me and stay close." she warns as she follows after Will.

Riku has posed:
"Man, what a time for the camera to break.." Ethan mutters to himself. "And for Jennifer to get lost.. and for.." He looks a little chagrined to be thinking of such things and he falls to muttering as the group advances. He is rattled out of his thoughts by Avira. "Oh. Right." and he does so gladly. Never get between crazy people and their large pointed objects.

The room beyond looks like it hasn't been disturbed for ages. A thick pall of dust hangs on every surface, the smell of dusty and stale air thick and choking. Withered growths of black mold pattern the walls which are falling apart.

It is roughly hexagonally in shape, with four doors in the corners of the room. One painted black, the opposite painted white, the one they came through was rusted orange in large peeling patches on this side instead of beige. The last was old, greyish blue metal.

This place looks withered and ancient, the fittings have corroded almost into incomprehensible lumps by the ravages of time. The concrete is cracked and wooden struts holding up the wall and forming a bracing lattice across the chamber looking none too secure. Even though he was braced, the investigator lets out a yelp as several Soldier heartless mill around here sluggishly, turning in small circles around and around and around until the group arrives.

They desperately throw themselves at Avira and Will, tearing and clawing at the air with a terrible palsied frenzy of hunger.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will was ready, thanks to his keen eyes...

He's never seen Heartless act quite like this frenzied before.

Will, moves, rolling around the ground and upper cutting the first one. His hand flares, before punching the second that comes at him. He moves, quickly, punching minions as they get close to him, he doesn't go for the killing blows right now.

Avira is smart enough to go for those, as Will moves to distract and strike, aiming to weaken the heartless, making them even less likely to be threats..

Will doesn't chat, or even say much, focusing on the threat at hand...now is not the time for questions, that comes later!

Avira has posed:
"Oh, it's broken?" Avria sounds a little disappointed. Hey, she wouldn't mind being shown on TV kicking Shadow butt. It could do the VALKYRI reputation some good...and prove that they weren't a group of battle maids. Such petty concerns are quickly set aside as she follows after Will.

Sure, the room looks like it hasn't seen a person in ages, but given the illusions she's noticed in the previous room, Avira now has her doubts about this room too. She'll take note of the doors later for she sees and is ready to deal with the very thing that Will had warned her about.

Avira doesn't charge, she patiently waits for the Heartless to come to her, which honestly doesn't take very long. It gives her the chance to work into a good defensive position where she can stab through a Heartless soldier with an easy stroke as it throws herself at her. The Heartless splits into smoke around her weapon and Avira moves the Spine again.

A horizontal slash follows, tearing a solder in two. Shortly after, only now did she move her feet, whirling to her left with an overhand strike as one of the soldiers tries to get around her to get to Ethan.

One eye is kept upon the cameraman, the other on whatever is throwing itself at her. Only after she's dealt with the "active" Heartless does she quickly move to mop up the ones that Will has rendered sluggish or disabled. Those are dispatched even swifter with smooth, continuous blows from the Spine.

Riku has posed:
Ethan doesn't exactly flinch back after the initial startlement but he stays away from the fight and keeps very much out of the way. He takes something out of his pocket and there is a flash. A pocket camera. "Yeah, but I always keep something on hand."

When it's all over he gives a chagrined smile. "And it's my fault really. Clocked one of those over the head with it a little too hard.. and the mad doctor took our phones so-- work with what--" Cue scream. Ethan widens his eyes, rushing for the black door as the muffled sound carries in the silence of the aftermath.

This shows prominantly his absolutely remarkable lack of common sense.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will blinks...

The black door, suddenly he moves, aiming to grab the man, trying to hold him from running to the door. Will's not exactly the strongest, but he manages to do pretty well for pinning and holding people, trying to calm the man down.

"The hell is wrong with you, calm down! What are you DOING?!" he shouts again.

Avira has posed:
The final Heartless meets its end with a two-handed, inverted-Spine, downward stab that actually looks pretty showy. Perhaps that was even on purpose. Avira seems pretty damn proud of herself afterwards.

"Hey, whatever it takes, right?" The huntress doesn't put her weapon away quite yet. If there were more...

Any thoughts are interrupted by a scream coming from what sounds like another room. Ethan rushes off towards it-to the black door, and Avira helps Will head him off. While Will is busy holding him down, Avira slips between Ethan and the door. "At least let one of us go first, okay?"

Avira opens the black door.

Riku has posed:
"Let me go. Jennifer! She's in trouble. I can't just IGNORE it. Not again!" Ethan twists and writhes until Will neatly pins him against the wall. He heaves in giant gasps of air into his panicky lungs, eyes screwed shut as the scream comes again. A yelp really, full of anger and panic.

It comes through the door in a muffled, almost underwater sort of way-- echoing and somewhat distant in some parts, painfully immediate in a way that it shouldn't be at other moments. "Not again." The man pleads with Will, but he doesn't struggle and seems to have slack in his grip.

The Black Door opens up onto the bridge room. Which is very strange because there was no black door when they were standing there inside it. A blonde haired woman in torn clothing is kicking savagely at a crocodile heartless. Beating at it with an old, sturdy backpack until it releases her, sans shoe but luckily not sans foot.

She topples backwards off the bridge onto the dry channel with a distinct 'oof'- The heartless hisses at Avira before sliding down into the channel after easier prey.

Will Sherman has posed:
"You should have told us." Will chastises, and lets go of the man as they slowly realize someone else is inside. Avira rushes forward, and Will ushers the man forward, so that Will is behind him and Ethan is between the two of them. "I'll get him, you get her okay?" he tells Avira, "Stay near me, we don't want anything happening to anyone here." he says, calmly, but understandingly. "Getting yourself killed or worse isn't going to save anyone. Especially if there is another way, it's not brave...it's irresponsible."

Avira has posed:
It takes only a second for Avira to confirm what she might have heard. That kind of reaction out of Ethan must mean that the scream belonged to Jennifer. Door pulled open, she sees that very woman being harassed by a heartless in a room she swore they've already been in.

Avira bursts through the doorway without another word, her weapon thankfully already at the ready since she never put it away in the previous room. Wordlessly, she leaps down into the dry channel and lands on top of the crocodile Heartless. With grim determination, she stabs downward at the creature.

She'll keep stabbing until the Heartless has become vapor.

Riku has posed:
Ethan looks about to respond, his face indignant when "I told you" rings out from the woman as she spots Ethan and the others. "Didn't work did they?!" SMACK. She swings the backpack as the crocodile as she scrambles up onto her feet.

"Hey. We had to do /something/." "This something involves people with big ass swords?" Jennifer eyes Avira and Will warily while Ethan stays on the bridge out of the way, shrugging at Jennifer. "Yeah. Better than signs!" "Which was your idea" "That you prompted!" Jennifer just points at the heartless, starting to run out of room unless she wanted to continue down the archway into the gloom behind her. "KILL IT PLEASE" But that is something Avira is already handling quite deftly.

When it's gone, Jennifer lets out a sigh of relief. as she picks herself up. "Good. That ones been chasing me the last three rooms." Ethan glares at her. Jennifer looks at him. "WHAT?" she snaps. He just continues glaring at her. Eventually she sighs.

"Yeah. I'm alright." Ethan snorts. "Hey. I've got an idea. Let's split up in the spooky twisted time place!" "Give it a break, Ethan."

Will Sherman has posed:
"Yeah okay." Will says looking at the two of them. "Shut up." he says, in a tone that says 'I about had enough of your shit' and he looks at the two of them. "Seriously. Hi, I'm Will Sherman," he says to Jennifer, "That's Avira, she kicked the crap out of the doctor, and I punched out his super heartless. We're with the TDA, and she's also the leader of VALKYRI. Great, we all know each other, next we need to find out how to get out of here, so I can get back to throwing myself at a horde of heartless threatening Manhattan." he says, looking at both of them again.

"Great? Great. Also, hey presence, if you can hear me, I suggest you get to the part where you want us to do something for you. I seriously do not have the patience to deal with you right now, so show us what you want to do, and then let us go home. I mean, unless you wana be sucked into whatever darkness the Heartless come from."

Poor Will has just about had enough of this magic labranith bullshit.

Avira has posed:
Right away, the pair explodes into chatter and arguing with each other. Wer Avira not so focused on destroying this Heartless, she would be getting on both of their cases this instant! These crocodile types were a bit harder to dispatch than the Soldiers so Avira spends an extra amount of time making sure its extra dead.

Only now does she turn towards Jennifer. The TV personality's thanks is the only thing that keeps her from "encouraging" them all to silence themselves in not-so-nice words. "No splitting up anymore. Come on."

Mentally, Avira makes a note to thank Will for that spectacular introduction later. Something else Will's up to has Avira pretty concerned, "Will, who exactly are you talking to?"

Riku has posed:
Jennifer stares at Ethan. Ethan looks back at her sheepishly as she raises her eyebrows in a definate 'CRAZY people and people with big ass swords?' sort of way. Ethan sort of shrugs minutely, shakes his head in the negative.

Whatever Will was, he didn't come off exactly as crazy. Annoyed as hell, sure. Jennifer likewise shrugs minutely and turns to Avira as the most likely to still be sane (ish) "Uh.. okay. Well. Whatever we do, we should always start here. This place never seems to change much, except to reset. I HAD been compiling information on how this place changes." she shoots a glare at Ethan who just flatly glares back at her. He looks away first this time.

"And each room seems to do only one thing. The Sauna gets hot. The fans move or don't move. The waterfall dries up. I just don't know WHY these things happen. Just that they do."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will pauses, as if slapped and takes a moment to shrug it off...

Then Jennifer starts talking, and then he looks at her. Right at her.

"I...think I got an idea." he says.

"Raging fire, Howling Blizzards, Tornados and gales, and earthquakes that split the ground." he says, remembering the feel of this place.

"That's it, I think that's what it's trying to tell me. Maybe that's the way out." he hopes so, "How does the rooms activate?" he asks Jennifer.

Avira has posed:
"Hmmm..." With her free hand, Avira rubs her chin. "Each room only does one thing. Maybe that's a sort of clue as to what the presence wants, Will? Like, hmm, the waterfall. It dries up...so maybe we need water to get it going again?"

Avira looks to Jennifer, "Are these all the rooms you know about, or are there more?"

She continues to turn over the words in her head, now adding Will's words to the mix.

Riku has posed:
Jennifer raises an eyebrow at Ethan. He shrugs again, gestures 'Go on' and crosses his arms. He glances nervously at WIll for a second, but Jennifer just looks fascinated. She looks at Avira and Will and hehs softly. "Man. Our job is too easy these days." "I know." Ethan says quietly and takes up from Jennifer.

"From what we know. There are six rooms. The Sauna, The Waterfall room, the room with the fans, the room with four doors and.." Jennifer jerks a thumb behind her at the gloomy archway in the dry channel. "That one. It's not actually a room. It's just--" she shrugs. "Dark. You can wander for.." she makes a gesture.

"hours? Days? Eventually, you'll just end up in the bridge room again. The rooms only seem to activate if you go through them in a certain order. You go through the Sauna from here? It's hot. Go through to it from any other room? Nada."

Will Sherman has posed:
"Okay, well, it seems the way to go is...the room with fire? Is there a room that gets cold?" he asks Jennifer. "Or has to do with water connected to it? I really think that this vision has our answers." he says. He pauses at their words...and then looks at them again.

Their strings, they should be normal, right? This time he just makes sure. Either they were making fun of him or...

"Man...what the hell did we even find down here?" he wonder aloud. "Anyway, we're not out of here yet so don't say it's too easy, or we'll get jinxed."

Avira has posed:
At the small bit of banter between Jennifer and Ethan, Avira smirks a little. Part of her wishes she could take them out of Manhattan to see the rest of the worlds. Well, maybe, but they should clearly focus on getting out first.

Silent, she's clearly thinking again, "That first room with the pipes we went in was really hot when we arrived, so that could be it. Then the room we crawled into had those pools of water in it-you know, where we found him." Avira gestures at Ethan. "But I think the sauna room was the only way into the waterfall room. Unless there was another exit in that room."

She looks to Ethan, "Did you see another exit in that room?"

Riku has posed:
If eldritch horror is playing merry hell with Will and Avira, then it's just too good to be revealed by just looking. Ethan and Jennifer look like average people to the sight of those who can see these things. Maybe it's waiting in the shadows-- waiting for an opportune time to strike and devour delicious brainmeats.

However, that time is not now.

Jennifer begins to rub her arm nervously, her resolve cracking slightly until she gets a handle on herself. She moves out of the dry channel, Ethan helping her up and then he loudly clears his throat, drawing attention to himself and talking. "That'd.. probably be where I almost gave you a concussion." "You did what?" "I thought--"

Jennifer sighs, sniffling and rubbing her face. "Nevermind. Let's just get this over with." she didn't seem too pleased about their chances. She is surprised when a FLASH of camera goes off nearby. "What was that for!"

"Blackmail material. Impervious hardass gets the sniffles. We can run an entire hour segment. It's certainly abnormal enough." "HOW can you be so CALM?!" Ethan smiles wearily at his co-star. "Because one of us has to." he takes in a steadying breath and turns to face Avira. "Yeah. The four doors goes there. And the room with the fans.." Jennifer grates. "The fans only turn on if the water is running."

Will Sherman has posed:
"But is there a room with cold...like if there was a blizzard or something?" he asks Jennifer.

Will starts moving back with them, the room with the fire seems like the best place to start, from there...well, they'd have to figure it out from there. "This is really getting old. I mean, seriously, what a love of complicated puzzles anchient civilizations and eldrich unknowable beings have! I'd just put a few goddamn doors in, put a Tom Magnusson proof lock on it, and BAM, done. You throw in a door mat or two to keep dirt off the carpet."

"I mean, being a hobo and I all don't care about the mud, but MAN...don't track mud in if Celina is around." he assides to Avira. "She'll eat you alive."

Avira has posed:
Oddly enough, Avira doesn't seem all that annoyed they're being toyed with. Maybe because the 'presence' hasn't exactly killed them, or these two people yet.

It's a bit of a surprise to hear that there was an exit in the waterfall room. She turns to Will. "So from here to the sauna room, then crawl into the waterfall room, then from the waterfall room to the fan room? Since it only seems the fans go when the water goes, then from there that leaves the four doors room. In the four doors room, the black door leads here and the rusty-looking door seems to come from the sauna room..."

Avira heads to the door of the sauna room. "Maybe the blizzard means the waterfall room? Snow comes from water, after all." Gingerly, she opens that door up.

Riku has posed:
Jennifer thumps a fist into Ethan's shoulder, grabbing for the camera at his startled 'oof'. When she doesn't immediately claim the offending camera, she turns to Will and shakes her head. "No. Just the waterfall." she looks at Avira. "Does he always do that?" she asks in response to Will's apparently tangential rambling but doesn't seem to care if she gets an answer or not.

Ethan and Jennifer stick close together, following Avira to the bland door with the 'Authorized Personelle Only' sigh.

Almost immediately, a baking wave of heat greets her as she opens the door. It's returned to the state they found it in when originally coming to this place, wherever it is.

Will Sherman has posed:
"No." He looks back at Jennifer, "But I am really freekin' stressed out right now, and this is adding to my misery." he says, and then turns forward.

Okay so the room is hot. He swears to god, if this is a trick, or there is something they missed, he just might try punching the door they entered to see which gives first. Will isn't sure of his chances, but goddamn he'll punch something.

"Okay...so the archway right?" he says, ducking under and starts to crawl through it.

Thereh as to be a way why they didn't complete the pattern, right? What part of this does it happen?'

Avira has posed:
As an offhanded remark, Avira supplies "It's broken." For Jennifers benefit, but otherwise doesn't interfer with their little feud. Indeed, it was actually rather cute to see on some level! It reminded her a little bit of she and Mercade that time they went to Halloween Town to investigate and delve into the vaults.

Slammed with the wave of heat, Avira finds this a little encouraging. Letting will go ahead of her again, she encourages both Ethan and Jennifer to also go ahead of them, so Avira can once more bring up the rear.

Once back in the waterfall room, Avira looks around. "Jennifer, do you remember where the entrance to the fan room was? I know it's no raging gale or tornado but..."

Riku has posed:
Jennifer nods but says nothing, just glowering at Ethan and them all for good measure. Until Avira makes the comment about the camera. "You broke the /backups?" she hisses at Ethan. "No. Of course not." although he looks down at it speculatively. Jennifer thumps him hard in the ribs with a more pronounced 'OOF' before getting down to move through the cramped spaces of the tunnel.

Once they get back to the room, the irate co star moves to a grey door at the farther stretch of the room they hadn't investigated before turning back. She opens the door, moving through it to reveal a long tunnel.

After several bends, large fans spin with a steady roar of noise. The wind is so fierce here that it pushes everyone against the wall. This is the terminus of one end of the dry channel. There is also a grey door down a rough concrete staircase into a semi-sheltered alcove.

Will Sherman has posed:
"Avira!" he says, trying to shout over the wind. He struggles to brace against it...goddamn, that was some strong wind, he has felt some strong winds before, having suffered a hurricane once, but...geeze. He struggles, "THERE IS A DARKNESS BEHIND THE DOOR...I CAN'T SEE HEARTLESS, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS..." he booms, before moving with her, trying to help her and the others get to the big gray door.

He pulls on the door, trying to get through the wind...but is this a matter of out of the frying pan?

Avira has posed:
An amused giggle escapes Avira as they continue to ramble and now discuss cameras. The backup...must've been the small one Ethan took out earlier@ How resourceful." Soon Avira crawls her way out of the tiny archway and finds them in the "waterfall room" again.

From there, she follows Jennifer to an exit she and Will hadn't caught earlier. When she opens the door, though, she holds Jennifer back so Will is the first one to enter. She brings up the rear again, until they get into the new room-or wind tunnel, more accurately.

Pushed against the wall, Avira must really, really struggle to move forward, spying that gray door that Will is now shouting about.

"I'll go through it first, then!" she calls back to Will, struggling to get past him and go through the door first. "You keep an eye on these two so they don't get into trouble.

It doesn't seem she's full-out afraid of the darkness, but she does seem cautious about it.

Riku has posed:
Ethan and Jennifer hang onto eachother, trying to struggle their way across the room. Ethan's leg gives out about half way, almost sending him and Jennifer sliding across the room and into the dry channel. They finally make their way to the sheltered staircase.

Inside-- is a blasted heath..and a VERY LARGE crocodile. Correction. Charred crocodile. The giant mass hangs limply out of a large mass of water. The room doesn't seem to conform to the original dimensions of anything they have seen before.

It looks vaguely hexagonally, and there are signs that life once flourished here-- but it's dried up and withered like a grassland in a brushfire. The Crocodile is titanic, white scales gleaming with great patches of blackened soot and char.

The four doors have been blasted away from the inside giving a view of the other rooms, including the bridge room.

Will Sherman has posed:
"...Wow." he says, looking at the large creature. "Yeah, lets go." he says, walking around the large thing towards the bridge room. Tip toe, tip toe...just...right through this door and out we go...

"I think we're almost done...still don't get what the deal here with all of this was...or if there was a deal." he says, slightly ignorantly. "Unknowable things appear to be *goosehonk*s."

Riku has posed:
They make their way through the black door back to the bridge room. Ethan snaps a picture of the gigantic crocodile. Both of them just stand there, speechless as the exit seems to have appeared from nowhere.

The wall was no longer a wall and the Labyrinth was reconnected again from.. wherever this was. The signs of heartless activity are much more obvious now here and around the dry channel.

There is something a little different about that tunnel leading into the dark but Ethan and Jennifer don't give it more than a second thought. Jennifer almost collapses, her knees going out from under her. "It's there." "Uh-huh.." "It really is.. right?" "Uh. huh." "We can go?" They look at Avira and Will for askance, looking completely shellshocked and stunned.

Avira has posed:
Once through, Avira sees that giant crocodile and freezes. She turns to the paranormal investigators and makes a quick motion for both of them to be silent, as if their talking would rouse the beast.

Yes, she thinks their bickering could wake even the dead. Well, the crocodile might not really be dead, but Avira doesn't want to take any chances. These poor people need to get out of here.

After sneaking past it and going through the final door to the original room, Avira's just as surprised to see that the original exit has returned.

"Oh yes. We can go. Let's do that, quickly." she looks to the tunnel leading into the dark curiously, but does not follow into that darkness. "More Heartless might be along shortly."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will nods to them, "We're not out of the woods yet...but me and Avira can get you back to relitive safety. We can crash at the TDA, because the streets are NOT safe." he says, "And we got it warded." Will says, and touches the wall once more.

Despite his complaining, it DID give him a clue to get out. Will is not...a complete jerk, even with under the stress that he is.

He radiates some sort of thank you, maybe it'll hear him, maybe not. Rather he gets a response or not, whatever.

Riku has posed:
Something glimmers faintly in that darkness, but only a for a moment. A silver flash of.. something.. and then it's gone. Ethan and Jennifer nod at Will but it's more a reflexive and automatic action than anything.

They would probably agree to a lot of things just to get out of this place. Ethan turns to get another picture when Jennifer wrestles the backup camera out of his hand and bolts for the exit, with paranormal investigator in quick pursuit. "Hey!"

he tries to catch up and stop her, but doesn't manage it and instead of stopping he just barrels straight on ahead after her.

Yeah. They both have no common sense.

Maybe their name is apt.

Will Sherman has posed:
"...Oy. Trouble." Will says, and follows after them.

"...What is this place though.." he pauses. Then walks through, he just has a feeling he should know. Maybe...

"HEY GET BACK HERE! What part of heartless did you not hear? The heartless, or the 'do I wana lose my heart because I can't wait for the hired muscle?"

Avira has posed:
As if to back up Will's words, Avira gives them both a thumbs up. Notably, she still hasn't put the Spine away yet, keeping it at the ready in case more Heartless show up. "I think it might be as you said earlier...maybe it's a small piece from another world, somehow woven deep into the Labyrinth."

Their pair of rescuees run off, "Hey!" Avira calls out and chases after them alongside Will. "I swear, you two are like a chemical equation of bad ideas when mixed together!"