In A New York Minute: Sheltering Darkness

In A New York Minute: Sheltering Darkness
Date of Scene:	01 December 2012
Location:	Manhattan - Labyrinth
Synopsis:	The intrepid defenders of Manhattan descend into the depths in order to rescue several innocent people kidnapped by Heartless. What they find is a place beyond what anyone could have expected...
Cast of Characters:	Deidra, Skoll Ulfang, Will Sherman, Sarafina Carenze, Avira, Maira, LEXUS, Kaydin, Valencia, Brooklyn
Tinyplot:	In A New York Minute

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LEXUS has posed:
Heartless are not subtle.

The path of the kidnapped members of Hearts Intertwined (as well as several others) takes one into the sewer system... and then through the sewers into the subway tunnels. Somewhere between the sewers and subway, things get... confusing.

A rare few might know of this place. Most would never know it existed. Past a tangle of sloppy electrical wiring and hissing steam vents, lies a path into the depths. The mishmash of maintenance tunnels and forgotten, ancient (by modern standards) buildings creates a mishmash, a strata that is left to the slow decay of time. There are a number who live down here, bereft of the blessing of sunlight but gaining the comfort of shelter. They scavenge the ruins for anything they can find to survive, only going topside for the most dire needs.

They call this place the Labyrinth.

The path of the Heartless is easy enough to follow, however, despite the unusual and esoteric path. Broken lines, cracked pipes, scrapes, skidmarks, and indentations in walls create a path that any would-be urban tracker could follow. The real problem is...

What else could be down here? As the groups move on,, theres nothing but confusion. Strange noises echo through the tunnels and rooms buried this deep. Could something be close? Or could it be across the way? Is it down this tunnel, or that? At least there is the path to follow...

Avira has posed:
Avira's been paying an unprecidented amount of attention to the developments in Manhattan. Recently she's also been strongly encouraging her fellow members of VALKYRI in joining her as she handles the various issues that are transpiring in this city. The most recent one struck her as particularily insidious.

"Civillians. Really, picking on civillians? And aid workers no less? How awful can you get." Avira scowls to Maira. Even for a novice tracker such as herself, she's able to follow the path left behind by the kidnappings. It has lead her and the VALKYRI members accompanying her today right down into the sewers.

Avira was quick to grab a flashlight before they went down, of course, and leads the way with the light in one hand and her weapon in the other. She vividly remembers the Heartless crocodiles from the attack the other day. This being New York City, Avira -knows- that this would be the perfect place for them to appear.

Each noise makes Avira nervous. In these tunnels, she's discovered that it was oddly difficult to pinpoint the direction of noises. Just when she thought she had a handle on that particular skill too!

Valencia has posed:
Floating through the sewers alongside Avira is Valencia, apparently looking around at the construction as she says, "This is quite elaborate. I must admit, a construction of this complexity is quite impressive... Though of course, I do feel for those who were taken. They could have picked less innocent or useful targets."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will Sherman was a resident of Manhattan for...a little over a hundred years. Not even he's sure when he started living here date wise, he stopped really counting about years...sure he mostly kept aware of things like days and months...years were harder. So much harder...

When they got to the sewers, he started leading the group. Why? Will has also been a hobo in this city for about this long. He knew these places when they were more dirt. He looks around as they run across tunnels, and seems to generally have a good sense of direction underground.

"Okay guys.." he whispers, "Stuff gets kinda weird down here...and this was before there were heartless. So just stay close, and don't get lost or this is going to be a real pain in the butt.." he pauses...

"...Damn it Tom!" he says to thin air. Will facepalms and looks at Deidra. "Well don't you get lost either. I am sure Tom's fine, you on the other hand.." he says with a shrug. He continues...it wasn't as creepy down here to him. He's spent more than one night in with these people.

He wasn't king of the hobos for nothing.

Maira has posed:
Maira, or rather, Uist, is a real asset when it comes to directions and general perception, since he can generally detect without being detected, which has helped Maira more times than she could count. He is also on the look out for trouble. His senses for such a well honed after keeping Maira alive for as long as he has, not to mention what training he had in life.

Maira didn't bring a flashlight. Maira IS a flashlight. She has simply summoned a few balls of brightly glowing flame to light some of the way for them. She has been a little bit thoughtful today in that she is carrying a backpack, in which is an extra set of clothes and the cloak Ivo leant her that time, which he is most likely not getting back.

Maira looks to Avira, nodding in agreement. "Yeah...that's pretty bad..." she begins. "This place is...wow," she adds, still taking it all in. Also, it smells bad. But duh.

The air beside her is unnaturally cool. The only indication of Uist's presence.

Deidra has posed:
The Heartless are about as subtle as mudslinging in a election race.

That's the first thing that comes into the young Gargyole's head as she follows after Will. She's heard about the truth of her friend. So he's 300 years old she's a amature spell caster whose a species that most of the world thinks is a myth. So she's in no real set up to call him on that. She keeps quiet and nods. "I will, and don't worry I don't plan to. I'm sticking with you."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
He wonders if Avira ever noticed that she was being followed. By himself, that is. Not long after the girl made for the sewers, Skoll had followed - wearing a raincoat and a wide-rimmed hat, and walking a dog by a leash. He's really donned the whole 'incognito' angle here for the sake of further teaching the girl about the whole 'paying attention to your surroundings' thing. This of course means that in the scheme of things, he's at the back of the whole lot, probably gone unnoticed until recently.

Now, against the stone of the sewers, and the metal of the pipelines, there's the obvious clicking of the dog as it is lead through. Only those more 'aware' might notice that the dog isn't 'just' a dog. And it certainly is no 'husky' either. It is heavy in body and strong looking.

The 'mysterious man in the raincoat' (with a floofy tail sticking out the back, and cut-outs made in the hat to make his wolfy ears come out) finally moves to approach Avira from behind, trying to lay a hand on her back without saying a word!

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina is interested in this 'Labrynth' that the Mutate spoke of. She has't been involved with this Hearts Intertwined business, but her investigations have no doubt given her the gist of what happened with them. She seems frustrated to be here, perhaps finding the destitute nature of the place offensive. After all, if a Mutate can be a common criminal they can be worthy of anything else too.

"I think it is fair to assume," Sarafina tells Avira. "That the Heartless were not acting on their own in this instance. Kidnapping indicates a guiding influence. Unfortunately, many are quite interested in their power--irregardless of the obvious risks."

She did not bring a flashlight. Maybe she figures with all her extra eyes she'll have plenty of ways to see. They do seem to pierce the darkness--but then, she has never shown a sign of seeing what her wings see before.

Sarafina wears heavy armor but she tries to stifle her movements so she doesn't make a ot of noise. She's never really been a CLANK CLANK CLANKer though, not to the extent of Steiner, but she is no ninja either.

"Mm--so you've been here before." Sarafina says.

Elections are a really sloppy way to conduct business. as if the common man would know what's best for a nation--Sarafina sees these 'labrynths' as just more evidence of that fact. Of course, she has seen well enough the problems of a monarchy lately, so she supposes she shouln't judge.

However ridiculous the concept seems.

"Maira." She says. "your friend is with you?" She's getting used to it.

Maira has posed:
Uist, being a metaphorical watch dog, warns Maira of Skoll's incoming. Maira spoils the surprise by turning around quickly, ready to sling fire if needed. "Hey!" she whispers harshly, as way of warning, flaring her magic to brighten the light emitted from the spheres of flame.

When Sarafina asks if Uist is with her, Maira just nods. Skoll looks sort of familiar, but she's feeling a little more cautious than usual! Until she sees Avira's reaction, she wouldn't back down.

When Avira inevitably does though, Maira is going to want to pet the dog. That is just a thing that is going to happen.

Kaydin has posed:
The sound of cloth fluttering is heard as a man with a long black longcoat is seen, a chain wrapped about his right arm as he holds a black sword. It is Kaydin, the Dark Knight, in manhattan garb! He begins to approach the group of women and dog, approaching them calmly, quietly.

LEXUS has posed:
The groups make their way through the confusing paths. Between their natural direction sense, supernatural abilities, and the assistance of a several hundred-year-old hobo (favored terrain bonuses apply), the group traverses the mazelike passages. The lights flicker off of steam pipes and natural gas mains, running along the walls and ducking in and out and around the tunnel, forcing one to move around them to proceed. Amazingly, the Heartless somehow havent broken these.

As they travel, certain sounds become more distinct, Rustling movements. Murmurs of sound, whispered conversations... Will uses his natural knowledge of the area to go around a blockage, taking a wide path for a short time in order to shortcut what he believes to be the direction of the Heartless path.

Avira and the others take another path, winding their ways through a cistern and descending past an area where the water seems to drop off into deep, unrelenting darkness far below. How deep do these things go, anyway? Careful, they dont seem to believe in safety rails, either.

A yell echoes through the tunnels, alerting both groups. A strong, inhuman voice yells out, "What the hell do you think youre doing, Fang? Youre going to get us all killed!"

Another voice, similarly inhuman, responds. This one is deeper than the other. "More like saving us all. Sometimes deals have to be made, Talon. Youd know that if you werent so busy moping around."

The path of the Heartless seems to go in the direction of those voices.

Avira has posed:
From where she was staying in Manhattan to the sewers? No, Avira really wasn't watching for anyone potentially following her. She honestly didn't believe she was on anyone's "radar" in this particular world, aside from those of the KDA. Past experience was a powerful thing. Her tail, even as suspicious as he might look right now, goes unnoticed.

Besides, she's too excited about doing a VALKRYI mission! "Valencia, I'd say anybody being taken by the Heartless is bad news, innocent or not. In fact, I'd say the non-innocent could be even more dangerous in the hands of the Heartless."

Now inside the tunnels, all bets are off as far as not noticing things. She's still jumping at every sound, trying to pinpoint it, as futile as it may be. The jangle of chains is no exception and Avira turns around to see Skoll, just as he steps up with a hand outstretched. Avira meets that hand swiftly with a...

...high five. "Hey there." Avira smiles. "Surprised to see you here. And you~" The huntress suddenly stoops down to ruffle the "dog" heartily. It's a very, very big dog that looks like it might be able to put his front paws on Avira's shoulders if it stood on its hind legs.

As she stands, she looks at Skoll, then beyond him, noticing another familiar face. Her eyes narrow. "...don't come any closer, Kaydin. I'm in the middle of a mission and I don't have time for your crap."

She nods to the others and hastily makes her way forward. "If he tries anything..." she murmurs quietly to the others, "...make him pay. Otherwise, ignore him, we don't have time for a petty fight."

Heading onward, deeper into the twisting Labyrinth, Avira comes upon a steep drop to their side that appears bottomless-or more accurately, lost in the darkness. Wisely, she avoids the edge.

She pauses at the voices, listening intently. Avira makes a motion to the others for silence, then points in the direction of the voices, creeping towards them silently.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll grins widely when Avira turns around thusday and even goes so far as to surprise him with that high-five! At the same time, Maira has already turned around. The werewolf grins in the fire-lady's direction. "So this is Maira then?" He offers, "I've heard of you from the Shard Seekers." He then turns his attention back to Avira and moves his arm across his body, bowing before her. "My lady, I brought a friend for you." He then kneels down besides the massive dog and undoes its collar. "You might not recog~..." He's just about to finish that sentence when Maira tries to pet the dog, and the thing places its both front paws on Maira and licks her face.

"~nize it... seems your scent must have rubbed off on the fire-lady." Skoll comments, standing up and putting the leash into his pocket. "The portal changed him - but one of your friends in the Bramble Forest seemed to want to see you. He was worried for some reason." He explains, before looking across the others. It doesn't look like the 'wolf' at his feet has noticed Uist. Seems this one either isn't sensitive to such things, or doesn't care.

"Should be more careful. I was tailing your behind for quite a while now, and you never noticed either of us." He slowly takes the wide-rimmed hat off and puts it onto one of the torned edges of a sewerpipe and then turns about. The darkness within Kaydin made his presence known even before he speaks. "Trouble?" he asks Avira, a nod following soon there-after. "Alright - but I don't think he'd try anything amongst this large of a group." He clearly doesn't know Kaydin.

Skoll then turns around, and comes to follow Avira - the 'large dog' wandering right besides Avira, barking at her, and then starting to sniff the ground to help her hunt heartless or anything else she might desire it to find.


>>> [GUEST] Avira's Wolf Friend has joined the party <<<

Will Sherman has posed:
Will nods as he goes around the heartless path...yeah they don't wana get mixed in with that if they can avoid it right now. They need to get to the area, and then he can maybe talk to these people...maybe. Will was worried, more about these people...something was making them desperate.

He holds up a hand as he overhears the conversation. "Lets try to be peaceful...we don't want anyone getting involved with the heartless yeah?" he says, and hopefully still has enough sway. "Alright guys...be cool okay? No hanging people upside down if youc an avoid it?" he says, speaking in hushed whispers.

Hobo lad leads them around, aiming to come right towards where the voice is at, hands up trying to indicate he means no harm. "Hi, Will Sherman, king of the hobos." he says, politely, even if they are monsterous. He approaches them like anyone else. Extra mouths, noses, feet, or babies. Okay, well, maybe not if they have fists made of baby.

Valencia has posed:
Looking up at Skoll, Valencia nods and says, "Well the more the merrier. I mean, who knows what kind of heartless we're going to run into down here?" then floats on at a fairly slow pace as she tries to keep her head down, following Avira in a stealthful manner. Thankfully, floating really doesn't make that much noise to begin with.

Maira has posed:
Maira relaxes and shoots Sk�ll an apologetic smile, then looking down to the HUGE dog. "Awww! Hi there!" she greets, instantly enamored. Maira is very much an animal-lover. She giggles quietly when the dog reaches up and licks her face. "Avira you have dogs and you didn't tell me!? Oh--hi there...yes, I'm Maira. You heard of me from the Shard Seekers? Huh--" What has Ivo been saying. Siiiigh.

Right. Probably best if she focuses on the mission though.

Of course, then Uist brings her attention to another, by way of literally growling his name. Maira spots Kaydin and resists the urge to facepalm. What is HE doing here? Maira turns back to Avira, nodding to her. She's not Kaydin's number one fan at the moment either. She has no arguments with Avira's orders.

As they move past the deep pool of water, Maira looks increasingly nervous. She never did learn how to swim...she stays close to the wall, and close to Avira.

Maira's eyes widen as she hears the voices ahead. She nods, and tries to make some kind of motion to ask if she should send Uist ahead to scout. Which is understandably difficult to convey.

Kaydin has posed:
"I came to help you. If you rather a petty fight I am afraid I cannot afford to do it." Kaydin says as he approaches and holds his black sword tightly. When the voices ahead speak he begins to move ahead. "I will check things out.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina looks Mutate enough herself but she doesn't seem to have ever been in a place such as this. Well okay, she looks more human than a Mutate, but there are still the wings.

"Careful, Will. They seem to be having an argument. These people don't seem as unite as might be preferred."

She does, however, nod her agreement--ideally a fight can be avoided here.

Brooklyn has posed:
"You know me, Mr. Cool." Brooklyn responds to Will. He has been here this whole time, really, and has just been quiet thus far. Brooklyn got hauled along by the Twilight Detective Agency because he's had contact with the Mutates before, on several occasions, thanks to Xanatos' meddling. For now, however, he's doing his best to let Will take the lead until Brooklyn needs to step up.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is looking at Brooklyn and says "We need to talk later, after this Brooklyn. I have some questions I'd like to ask you." Like about xanatos as the TDA is starting to eyebrow raise about their backer. She looks over to Will and nods "I'm not looking to fight, and agreed that would just be terrible for them. She's got no place to talk not being human herself as she follows Will in.

LEXUS has posed:
The voices are coming from a larger section that looks like it was an abandoned mainetnance branch of the subway. It's sealed off from the main lined with a wall of collapsed debris, and tunnels run from it in all directions.

The entire area bears the marks of scavenger life: Corrugated metal and torn plastic sheets made into tents, flammables burning in empty cans for warmth. Several groups of perfectly normal humans cluster around heat or pick idly through piles of materials here and there in vague hopes of finding something that hasn't already been scavenged. A few of the homeless down here smile and wave to Will when he makes himself apparent. He's been down here before as part of his Intensive Hobo Training.

Others, however, look at the two Mutates off to the side of the tunnel. One of them is dark, bearing the lines of a black panther to go with his features. He is sleek and strong if you can get past the inhuman appearance and massive, batlike wings. "You're being reckless and impatient. You're going to bring down all kinds of hell on our heads."

The other looks more hulking. The powerful frame of the man is mixed with the shaggy appearance of a cougar, his brown, furred skin covered with torn clothing. The pair appear to be in a dispute at the moment. "Hell? We're already in it. We're strong and smart, we shouldn't have to live down here like animals! We should be living it up like goddamn Xanatos in his little tower, Talon! Seriously, he did you just like he did the rest of us."

"I don't need to hear it, Fang." Talon folds his arms. "I don't care about what's happening up there anymore. I'm more concerned about what's happening down here... Like that."

Team VALKYRI hears this as they move in, getting a chance to observe what's going on from another tunnel while Team TDA immediately engages Diplomacy Mode.

God help us all.

Talon narrows his golden eyes. "You guys don't belong down here. You should leave." His voice rapidly becomes significantly more menacing as he looks upon the Gargoyles.

Will Sherman has posed:
"I've been down here before, and I ain't going away now." Will says, crossing his arms. "They are with me, and they are friends." he says, noticing their looks at the Gargoyles. "And now's not the time for being xeno...xeno..." he thinks about this, "Isolationists. This city is swarming with heartless...and unlike what you might think.." he pauses, "Fang right? They are dangerous. They'll turn on you in a heartbeat...and then a fate worse than death." he comments. "That's why I haven't been down here lately, and I'm sorry guys. I've been on other worlds, trying to find out what happened to everything, trying to fight the heartless where I can." he says. "But...something else has been going on sense I've been gone." he says, looking at the two...men. "What's happened...what happened to you?" he says, trying to be empathetic. "What does Xanatos have to do with anything?" he asks again...

He's really afraid to hear the answer right about now.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
"My apologies." Sarafina glances to Brooklyn, noting the reaction. He gives him a small look of warning before turning her head back to Talon. "But we have some important questions. Then we can leave you be, if that is what you wish."

It rankles at her but you never get anywhere by forcing help on people. They don't seem too welcome but basic eparture would be inappropriate at this stage--too much is at risk. Talon seems to be the more levelheaded of the two--but doesn't seem like someone who would send out heartless to steal weapons. That sees to be more of a Fang thing. If she was in charge of an operation as a soldier of Baron here, she'd use this sort of split to her advantage. As it stands now, it's just a huge problem. It makes her wonder if she should say everything--but then again, saying everything might encourage Talon to work with them.

"One of your people attacked a shipment of weapons, using entities known as the 'Heartless'. He claimed he got it from 'the boss' but would not name names. Someone providing you with Heartless technology likely does not have your best interests at heart--they are capable of destroying worlds and will turn on their controller without a moment's hesitation."

The technology must surely have been complex. Could either of these people have built one? Hrmm.

Will asks the million dollar question though. Frowning, Sarafina admits, "I too would like to know what Xanatos has done to you. I have some understanding of what it is like to be ... altered."

Brooklyn has posed:
"That's Talon, not Fang." Says Brooklyn as he puts his hand on Will's shoulder as he moves up next to him, "Xanatos is the reason that he and the other mutates are like this to begin with." Says Brooklyn, doing his best to explain. However Sarafina goes into more detail about their real reason for being down here.

"We need your help, Talon. To find out who is using the Heartless and stop them, before they put the whole city at risk."

Avira has posed:
"Maira, yes. Also this is Valencia, another one of our members." Avira quickly introduces before they begin their treck deeper into the Labyrinth. She's seemingly pretty pleased when the "dog" takes to Maira so well. "I am surprised he wanted to visit that badly. That's...touching."

As she pets the large husky, she reddens a little. "I guess I should. Didn't really think about being followed earlier."

Kaydin gets a look of distrust. "A loyal knight of Baron? Helping Manhattan? Forgive me if I don't entirely believe your intentions."

Avira makes soft noises, trying to quiet the wolf as they move along. Where Will makes with the diplomacy, Avira tries to make with the stealth, motioning for everyone to hold up and remain quiet as the mutates and TDA come into view.

'Xenophobic' Avira wants to call out to Will, but restrains herself.

Her mind's a little blown though. How long were these chimera living down here? More importantly, where are the heartless? All these homeless people down here looked fine.

"Hey." she whispers to the others in her group, keeping one ear on the ongoing conversation, which was some darn interesting stuff, "Anyone see where the Heartless trail went?"

Maira has posed:
Maira remains quiet, behind Avira and casually petting the great big dog as if she simply can't help it.

Heartless trail. Maira narrows her eyes a little, then looks toward Uist. She doesn't need to speak to communicate with Uist, he knows what he should do now. "I'll have Uist go look," she whispers to Avira.

Maira peers around Avira, spotting Sarafina. Oh, hey! Maira almost calls out, but catches herself in time. What's that group doing down there? She recognizes Deidre, and what is the other guy's name....Wally? Something like that.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra has only encounted as mutate once before so she's hanging back it Seems Talon's got a bit of a hitory with them she gives bro a look before looking back to Will. She was going to ask about Xanatos but wil has asked at this point. She nods and keeps track of the names. "..." This explains the mutates reaction the other night.

Valencia has posed:
Looking up at Talon, Valencia says, "We're simply looking into the kidnapping of various aid workers by heartless. Unless you have anything to do with them, we aren't going to be starting a fight or the like."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll shakes his head to Maira, to let he know that the appology isn't needed. "She has wolves - to be more exact. And yeah - heard you are a fantastic fire mage." He continues to explain, bowing his head at her before looking Valencia's way. He knows her - as far as he is aware, he was the first to encounter her upon their arrival in Traverse Town. "Good to see you have found good company, Lady Valencia."

Either way, the wolf barks at Avira when she calls it touching, and lols his tongue out, panting a little before it ends up pattering right along with her. Skoll follows a bit further behind, until they come around and finally find the sources of the voices they heard earlier; Fang and Talon. He doesn't recognize them - nor their species. But there's one thing that he immediately notices. Sarafina, who only just came in sight - it's her who he immediately compares to the two.

Yet when she speaks, he notes that they must come from a different sources. The werewolf remains quiet though, serving more as a guardian for the ladies, and keeping an eye out on Kaydin - more than anything else. He knows better than to jump into the middle of a conversation.

LEXUS has posed:
Uist's scouting revales that there appears to be signs of the Heartless path in the tunnels beyond Fang and Talon, but... They're in the way. It might be hard to slip past them. You might be able to take an alternate path if you could find a way around the subway area, but the backtracking would take time.

"The Heartless attack us too. But we're surviving." Talon says shortly, straightening. As Brooklyn summarizes their problem, Talon approaches, holding up a clawed finger accusingly. "That's right. Because of /you/." He growls faintly. "Isn't it /your/ job to be taking care of problems up there?"

It would be inaccurate to say Fang is smiling, because you can basically always see his teeth. He's that kind of guy. "Some Heartless came through here earlier, but Talon and I chased them off. We don't need your help. You guys are just going to come down here and wipe us all out if you get half a chance."

More people show up. Valencia brings up a point as well. "Who the hell would be so stupid as to kidnap people from topside?" Talon bares his teeth, and looks over at Fang.

Fang shrugs. "What are you looking at me for, Talon? Look, these guys are trouble. They're all working for Xanatos. I saw it on the news. They're probably all just using the Heartless as an excuse to do his dirty work."

Talon looks back at the group in front of him. "How the hell would Xanatos convince Gargoyles to do that?" He pauses, looking over at Valencia, who kindly exposed themselves from the VALKYRI team. "Or maybe they're the cleanup squad!?" He braces, preparing for a sudden attack!

Will Sherman has posed:
"I can't solve problems if I don't know about them!" Will turns back at Talon. "Nobody came to me. Nobody told me anything. I'm not a god." he says, and throws his hands up. "And this isn't a problem I can solve on my own!" he crosses his arms, "Between the Shadow Lords, Baron wanting to invade us..." he shakes his head. He pauses as Brooklyn says something that just causes shock in Will. "N-no way?!" Xanatos did this...but...

The hobos have heard stories of the one time Will got really angry at something. He looks cross for a minute but then releases it, "No we're not a clean up squad. God! If we wanted to do that we'd already attack. Simmer yourself down. Look, the reason I am even here is because a guy attacked the harbor last night. Used a device that could CONTROL the heartless. Then when it broke they came down on him. We stepped in and saved him. Had a really hurt arm?" he says, trying to describe the guy more.

"And the heartless are not so easily defeated Talon. They are persistant..."

Avira has posed:
Valencia joins the conversation and blows the stealth of Avira's little group. Not that it would have mattered in the next few minutes as Uist would have revealed that the Heartless trail leads past where the two Mutates are standing. Nevertheless, Avira grits her teeth. "This motion." she says quietly, "It means silence. For sneaking." Maybe the magiscientist didn't have that gesture on her world? Avira's trying to be patient and understanding about this.

She slips out of the tunnel they were waiting in and gives Will and the other TDA members (and Brooklyn!) a brief nod in greeting.

"We've come here hunting the Heartless." Avira says evenly, keeping one of her hands on the head of her wolf friend. For now, she's put her weapon back into the sheath on her back. "Unless you're with them, we have no beef with you."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks up at Avira and nods, "She's with me." he says to Talon. Will keeps addressing these two as if they were anyone else.

Valencia has posed:
"Hey, HEY!" Valencia says, "Calm down. Look, I know about this Xanatos guy but he doesn't seem all that bad. He's trying to help the city, what's wrong with that?" she then pauses before saying, "...Though I would like to hear both sides of the story. After all, no sense in being too biased to hear what someone else has to say."

Maira has posed:
Well, now that they are no longer being sneaky, Maira steps into the light and shoots Sarafina a bright smile, waving enthusiastically. She greets the others as well with a friendly nod, then would let Avira do the talking. And Valencia too, apparently!

Uist shakes his head after reporting his findings, which Maira communicates lowly to Avira. "They went through there. Gotta get past these guys."

Brooklyn has posed:
"Talon, think for a second. Would I really be here if Xanatos had funded this?" Brooklyn says, midly annoyed. Talon has always been quick to fly off the handle, which is part of the reason he was against coming down here in the first place, "Okay, everybody /stop/." Brooklyn puts quite the emphisis on that last word as he stands up from his normally crouched position.

"This will not go well for anybody if we snap off at each other and make rushed conclusions." He looks towards Valencia, "Xanatos puts on a great face for the camera, but believe me, he has nothing but his own goals in mind. If his goals happen to co-incide with saving the city, it's coincidence, I assure you."

Back to Talon, Brooklyn frowns, at least as much as he can, "My clan and I have been doing our best to stop them, but with Goliath and Elisa still gone, I think it's time that we put forth a coordinated effort, instead of each defending what we can, when we can, and telling everyone else to get off our turf."

Kaydin has posed:
"I am here to kill heartless. Forgive me if that goal seems to be in line with helping manhattan." Kaydin says to the woman. When they come out, he remains silent and waits for the reaction of others, letting them do the talking.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Not so levelheaded, Sarafina thinks. According to these people, they have something against Xanatos. She thinks she knows what, too. She will have to question him. But later.

"We wouldn't need excuses to do violence, as you well know, if we were truly that malevolent. We would just attack. We would gain nothing from faking sympathy. I understand it is difficult to trust in your position, however. If you need us to prove ourselvse to be honest men--then we will--but if Xanatos has harmed you, we were ignorant of this fact. It is not something that is advertised. You know this as well." Being level, Sarafina thinks, cool--focused but not enraged, not blubbering either. A true soldier.

she pauses as Brooklyn gives his own piece, since he seems to know a bit more about the situation. He explains Xanatos in brief but then nos slowly to him.

"I will keep your words in mind... unfortunately--even if saving the city is in his interests, we have little choice but to do so. With luck we will be able to do it in a manner that does not serve his interests."

Doubtful though, since not having your city devoured by Heartless is something that, really, should serve any rational-minded individual's interests.

"You do not seem to care for ... Brooklyn ... but his words are wise." She says. "If nothing else, you can keep your eyes on us."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra jaw just hangs open in shock at the cause of the mutates alterations into this state. "Wait... Xanatos did this?! He experimented on people?!" She stares seemingly honesly shocked at this. She listens to the likely older Gargyole as he gives a heads up. his words get her thinking "He's right if we keep going about it on our own the last spec of our world's going to get gobbled up by the Heartless." She nods in agreement to Sarafine "A good idea they can make sure we stay honest right?"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
"Even those with good in their heart, can do dark deeds." Skoll mutters as he moves besides Avira, not speaking too loudly in particular - as he feels that such a thing might arouse further annoyance. It's more Avira he wishes to inform of this. "Much like one of dark heart can do good deeds." And then a glance goes out towards Kaydin for merely a moment. He then reaches a hand out and lets the wolf lick his palm - it seems to be getting nervous because of the emotions in the air.

Kaydin has posed:
"Many believe the ends justify the means. That great things require sacrifice. Unfortunatly they seem to become squeamish when it comes to their life to be paid." Kaydin says as he waits and watches now.

LEXUS has posed:
"Why should we have to depend on you? You've gone topside." Fang replies, folding his arms.

Talon is confronted with LOGIC and EVIDENCE. He relaxes a bit, lowering his guard. "You think it's that easy, Brooklyn?" Talan grimaces. "These people need someone to protect them. You guys can't cover it, and someone has to. They don't have anyone else." He glares at Valencia as she speaks. "You're an idiot to fall for his charms. You'll end up just like me if you keep on with him. Discarded.

"What the hell are you doing, /leader/?" Fang says, perhaps lingering a little too long on that last word. "These guys are just lying to you!"

The description of the errant Mutate causes Talon to widen his eyes. "Wait. I know him. Isn't he one of your crew, Fang?" He says, turning towards the other Mutate...

ZZZAM! A blast of lightning erupts right in his face from Fang's hand. "Well, damn. That didn't go as well as I hoped. Thanks for distracting him, though." He grins maliciously, and produces an arm-mounted device, sleek and black with purple highlights that run through it around a control panel on the fron surface. He clamps it down on his arm with a hiss of pain, and then looks up at the group. "Now, I'll just have /them/ dispose of you. No witnesses, I can blame it all on you." He laughs. "The Labyrinth is mine!"

There is a flash of pooling blackness, as Heartless erupt. Chaos breaks out as people run screaming from the black crocodiles, dark purple taxicabs, and the trenchoat and fedora's Shadows with tommyguns. They rush forward, preparing to assault the heroes as Fang falls back to the cover of the tunnel, laughing!

================================= - <X3 -

LEXUS has posed:
"Why should we have to depend on you? You've gone topside." Fang replies, folding his arms.

Talon is confronted with LOGIC and EVIDENCE. He relaxes a bit, lowering his guard. "You think it's that easy, Brooklyn?" Talan grimaces. "These people need someone to protect them. You guys can't cover it, and someone has to. They don't have anyone else." He glares at Valencia as she speaks. "You're an idiot to fall for his charms. You'll end up just like me if you keep on with him. Discarded."

"What the hell are you doing, /leader/?" Fang says, perhaps lingering a little too long on that last word. "These guys are just lying to you!"

The description of the errant Mutate causes Talon to widen his eyes. "Wait. I know him. Isn't he one of your crew, Fang?" He says, turning towards the other Mutate...

ZZZAM! A blast of lightning erupts right in his face from Fang's hand. "Well, damn. That didn't go as well as I hoped. Thanks for distracting him, though." He grins maliciously, and produces an arm-mounted device, sleek and black with purple highlights that run through it around a control panel on the fron surface. He clamps it down on his arm with a hiss of pain, and then looks up at the group. "Now, I'll just have /them/ dispose of you. No witnesses, I can blame it all on you." He laughs. "The Labyrinth is mine!"

There is a flash of pooling blackness, as Heartless erupt. Chaos breaks out as people run screaming from the black crocodiles, dark purple taxicabs, and the trenchoat and fedora's Shadows with tommyguns. They rush forward, preparing to assault the heroes as Fang falls back to the cover of the tunnel, laughing!

================================= - <X3 - ==================================

                      A FORCE OF DARKNESS HAS ARRIVED                       

                             Banda Senza Cuore                              
                         -- A BAND WITHOUT HEART --                         

                             PREPARE FOR BATTLE                             

================================= - <X3 - ==================================

Maira has posed:
Maira is sort of having a difficult time following what is going on here. There is this Xanatos guy, who those two don't like, who Valencia maybe likes...and Heartless, and people who need to be protected...and...and...STUFF. The people who need protecting is why Maira is hear, aside from the obvious following Avira because she's the leader and all.

Soon enough, all hell breaks loose. Maira is generally aware of what she is suppose to do then. Light things up! "Well, I guess we won't have to go looking for the Heartless, they came to us..." she said, growing understandably uneasy as Heartless begin to swarm toward her, Heartless of a type she hasn't faced before. "Heeey now..." Maira says, casting then a circle of flame around herself, Avira and Skoll to try to keep at least some of the Heartless at bay.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll's eyes widen immediately upon noticing the lightning gathering on Fang's hand. He's just about to say something - but he's too late! The werewolf does however go into a sprint, making for Talon and makes for one of those cool slides before the guy can hit the ground, and then jumps up and away to protect the guy from getting any more zapping. "What the hell are you doing!?" He shouts at Fang - and soon is given said information. They desire to own this underground Labyrinth. What a foolish thing.

Skoll carries Talon a little further off to the hallway they'd come from - passing by Maira in the moment she casts that spell - in order to put him out of the way of harm.

Kaydin has posed:
Kaydin leaps in towards where Avira, Maira and Skoll was at and moves to try and protect them, or atleast protect Maira. "Looks like you need a hand." He says as he readies himself, grip tightening on the sword before waiting for the heartless to come close.

Will Sherman has posed:
The Hobo lad's eyes widen when Talon goes down!

"You little rat fink!" he shouts, before jumping to cover the fallen man. He doesn't even hesitate, going to protect the fallen man with everything he can...which means luck is going to have to be on his side today...

Will smirks at the thought, before he starts attacking the heartless (and maybe even the douchebag that dropped the leader of the Mutates.

The hands move in a barrage of blows, aiming to drive hands into not just the heartless physically, but also grabbing the strings of fate that are twisted in on themselves. The hobo aims to wither them with each blow, as random things might keep the things from doing anything meaningful!

"Come on guys, we gota protect these people!" My people... "You're going to pay for this Fang!"

Brooklyn has posed:
"TRAITOR!" Brooklyn yells out, managing to pull himself out of the way as Talon gets blasted. He's about to launch himself after Fang, but there's a bigger threat to worry about as the Heartless come roaring into area.

Brooklyn turns from his position and leaps onto one of the support pillars, digging his claws in and climbing up rapidly, to put himself into a more advantageous position to attack to Heartless from.

Avira has posed:
Well at least someone from the TDA had the good sense to bring up the mutate from before. Avira had realized that neither Talon nor Fang resembled the guy they had caught after the barricade assault. More importantly, neither of them were missing an arm.

Avira nudges Valencia, "Hey, let the other guys handle the negotiation, alright? They're doing fine. We'll sort out this Xanatos thing later." There will definitely be sorting as all of this information is new news to Avira as well. So far, she'd seen nothing but a charming and accomodating Xanatos-not personally to her, mind, but to other people she was acquainted with.

Suddenly everything goes to hell. Before she, Skoll, and Maira can follow Uist's trail, Fang reveals himself to be some kind of traitor, sporting one of the same devices she saw on the other mutate the other day.

Her hand lifts from the wolf and moves behind her to remove the Spine once more. "Well, we've got the heartless but not the kidnapped people! We're halfway there!" Avira calls out as Maira's friendly flames surge around her.

Leaping into action, Avira runs the Spine through a nearby gangster-type heartless, pulling it out with a flourish and whipping it around to another nearby. "Go! Go get 'em!" she says and...

...her wolf companion leaps up onto a third heartless, this one a crocodile-type, and digs his teeth into it as it thrashes about.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
"Tch. A coward and a bully!" Sarafina charges after Fang, skidding to a stop as the Heartless break her route path. She can't fly easily in the Labrynth, this limits her mobility considerably. She notices Kaydin's presence at about this point, having been focused on the TDA and the discussion thereof. She notices Maira too, her eyes widening faintly.

"Kaydin!? What are you doing hre--" She says. It looks like he's protecting Avira but wasn't he forcing Avira to be a maid before?? "--We will have words later." She tells him, speaking as if she was still a captain in Baron's military and he an officer.

Hovering lightly in place she steps near Talon, swinging her chainsaw before her as the Heartless advance.

She slides a foot forward, swiping rapidly with the chainsaw, going fr quick cuts, mroe focused on keeping Heartless off of Talon rather than destroying them outright.

"We'll have to destroy that device!" She says. "As long as he has it he can control as many as he wants. Whatever happens, we cannot let anything happen to Talon!" This isn't just because it's the right thingg to do, if he gets killed, Fang will see to it they are seen as murderers.

LEXUS has posed:
Fang doesn't seem to care about being called a coward and a bully right now. He's too busy trying to keep the forces of assorted from smashing through the Heartless swarm to reach him. "Talon was too soft!" Fang yells. "He doesn't have what it takes to lead!" Will defends the insensate Talon, while Skoll drags him away to safety. It's simple enough to hide him away from the immediate notice of the Heartless.

After all, there's so many /others/ here...

Will hammers into the Heartless swarm, striking repeatedly with his Hobo Style martial arts. As always, they prove effective... but so does Avira's canine companion, who scythes into the group and knocks several back from Avira as she chops into Goon Heartless with gusto. The wolf appears to enjoy crocodile, even if it is Heartless. Sarafina provides cover, her defensive actions punishing any Heartless that draws close.

But retaliation comes. The Heartless rush forwards, Goons unelashing a barrage of gunfire. The Crocodiles provide a new attack, launching globs of dark water at the heroes as well that not only wounds, but peels away protective magics. Meanwhile, the Killer Taxis are hard at work trying to run down anyone they can, choking the air with noxious exhaust fumes!

Deidra has posed:
Deidra looks for a moment at Fang for a moment and she relaises something had to have been watching over her when she realises just what is coming. There's not much more to say as there's well a hutge heartless here and it's trying to ear them all. However Fang is well laughing like ap irate. So he's known all along hasn't he? She stares in horror at the thing she's focued on slowing the beasts down keeping them weak and away from the people here. She starts casting with her book in hand. Chanting in latin as she unleashes curse after curse upon them.

Maira has posed:
Maira does a double-take when Kaydin steps up to protect her. Seriously? This is seriously happening? In that moment, Maira decides Kaydin has to be the single most confusing person she's ever met!

"Uh....right, sure," she replies, though Uist is giving Kaydin the stink eye. He'll have to admit he's a better meat shield though. What...with..being alive...

That said, when the gun-toting Heartless straight out of Dick Tracey start shooting, Kaydin isn't quite as much of a meat shield as she needs. I mean, really, she'd need a meat wall and that is just an absolutely ridiculous mental image!

Right, Maira gets shot. She gasps, wincing as she struggles to maintain control of her magic. She is NOT going to ignite. Nope. Not and give Kaydin the satisfaction of knowing she can't control her magic. Maira takes a deep breath and gathers her will, focusing it to a fine edge before she unleashes her intent. The air in the underground begins to gather and swirl, bursting around her and he allies to knock the Heartless back with a hurricane force gail of decidedly hot air, followed by a bit of good ol' fire.

Kaydin has posed:
Kaydin parries the glob as it comes for him and uses his sword to push it away. He then rushes in on the goons which seem to be shooting at Maira and begins to try and cut into the heartless, sending in two quick stabs before bringing his sword down to try and cleave one in half.

Kaydin has posed:
"I will explain my presence when there are less creatures to kill, Captain." Kaydin says between strikes to Sarafina.

Avira has posed:
Inwardly, Avira's pretty impressed with how effective just /one/ wolf is against these heartless. Imagine if she had the whole pack here! Well, she can't imagine right now since Maira's helpful magic is being countered and she's busy choking on exhaust fumes. Scowling, she steps sideways, swiftly ducking between Heartless as she tries to get a bead on where the other people in the room have run off to-the noncombatants, specifically. Hopefully, they had the good sense to flee.

"He followed us, claims he's going to help!" Avira calls back to Sarafina, altogether sounding unconvinced. She dislikes the idea that she might be getting stalked by this dude.

Much to Avira's surprise, her wolf is at her feet, nipping and snapping at any Heartless that get too close. In the meantime, Avira tries to do something about this whole 'poison' thing.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will...

Escapes notice! The hobo lad grins, as he looks around...

His hands reach out, aiming to grab several strings of fate and trying to bend them to his will.

Avira and Sarafina's strings are grabbed. For a moment, their threads are made visible to the naked eye as the two strings start to become...stronger, more firm. Things start happening for them. Enemies drop their guard because they trip, they manage to avoid strikes by sheer luck and chance.

Will is a lucky little thing and is not above using his powers to help his friends. "You can do it guys!"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll nudges Talon a bit further into the hallway and slaps his cheek gently. "Wake up." He barks, before he turns around and grabs at the hat he'd left on one of the pipes and sticks it onto his head. "Raincoat. Provides resistance against lightning." He comments then, nodding his head. "I am set." He then rushes back in and is /just/ in time to jump the heck out of the way of one of the racing taxi heartless! Instinctively, he throws a chain up into the air and stabs it into the ceiling of the Labyrinth and swings over a few of them only to /try/ and land to the side of the heartless flood.

"Let's see them deal with this." He then calls out, his hands moving to his sides to grab onto a series of small chains there, and then lashes both hands out forwards. From those small chains, massive ones suddenly spawn. Crossing and spanning, they appear along the ground - stabbing into it. A second go of this - makes it so there's a series of chains at the top. The werewolf then grabs onto the chains and violently lashes onto the bottom ones, shaking the ground and undoing the chains, trying to flick heartless into the air everywhere - before swinging his arms around, digging his feet in, and grabbing the second set and bringing these chains down!

And then he spins around, wrapping his entire right arm around the collection of chains, and tries to heavily swing it up to crush the heartless back into the ceiling and tangle them onto the massive series of metalic chains. Where is he getting these from anyhow!? They must be some form of magic!

Brooklyn has posed:
The noxious fumes are rising rapidly into the enclosed area of the Labrynth, forcing Brooklyn back down to the ground, as some of the bullet fire rakes across him. He roars out, and his eyes go bright white, as he turns towards the assaulting Heartless, "Now it's my turn!"

He rushes at the nearest of the Heartless to him, one of the tommy gun wielders, and drives a shoulder into the monster, before pushing off with his hind legs and taking to the air. He drives one of his foot talons into the heartless, and then strikes out with an elbow as he pushes backwards away from it.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina feels embolddened. She has no idea that WILL has bounded THE STRINGS OF FATE to his WILL but the pun canot be avoided. She gives him a small nod, showing that she's listening even as she's put ill at ease from having to keep an eye on an 'ally' too.

She strikes about with her chainsaw, getting struck by globs of dark water all the same. This doesn't rtouble her too much, Will's hobo magic is quite powerful it seems. Instead, Sarafina sees several stuck in the air, even as she's forced into the ground, and she uses the opportunity to throw herself into the air, punching into one with the power gauntlet, her jetpack keeping her aloft before she spins about in an impromptu chainsawing whirlwind, spinning around and hopefully making mincemeat of the Heartless!

LEXUS has posed:
Will is just a lucky bastard. And Maybe the Heartless recognized one of their own in Kaydin for a moment. Who knows.

Deidra saps the power of the Heartless with her magic, hampering their movements and making the move more slowly. Avira's wolf tries to give her cover while she applies first-aid, but they're everywhere! Heartless tactics have never been very complex. Will manipulates Fate itself against the Heartless, giving his allies another advantage... But how long will it last? Skoll's chain strikes send Heartless flying, the dark links whipping out and expertly sending them flying through the subway tunnel and bouncing off walls... But they seem resilient enough to not be destroyed by such an attack. Maybe you have to weaken the Heartlessmon before you can capture them!

Brooklyn, however, makes use of his aerial mastery to take advantage of Skoll's alley-oop, hammering into several of them and using his powerful strikes to crush them! Unfortunately for the Western Wind, there isn't enough room for her to properly shred through the Heartless. The Chainsaw that Cleaves Heartless glances off of a Killer Taxi as it flies through the air, flashing its yellow eye-headbeams! God, even the Heartless taxis are loud and annoying!

Even with all of this, there are far more where they came from. Fang laughs as the Heartless take the assault and rally. "The others were weak. I'm not going to make the same mistakes as they did. You need power to run things. Power to defend yourselves and power to survive. That's all that matters!" He points a claw at the heroes, sending the Heartless charging forward. A rain of crocodile-water blasts continues to strike among the heroes, while a taxi hits the wall and roars about, attempting to smash through the heroic forces with brute force!

Kaydin has posed:
Without the heavy armor to weigh him down, Kaydin's speed is truely revealed. The knight was fast, fast enough to avoid the liquid and even leap over the taxi before moving for Fang, bringing his sword forward to try and stab at the creature multiple times, quick thrusts sent to try and knock him off balance. "You dont deserve no power if you truely believe that. Better to be put down like a beast then to have you gain even a shred of power." He says coldly.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
The Taxi that comes Skoll's way runs through some of his chains and smashes into his legs and chest and starts taking him for a ride. The werewolf digs his claws into its hood to keep from slipping below it and truly be run over. His legs and chest are certainly hurting. Slowly, the punk climbs onto the heartless, then shifts and turns about, ending up slightly on its right side and still hanging on for dear life....

And sticks his tongue out. Dogs love going fast! All that's missing is a window to roll down!

"Oh no you don't." Skoll then calls out, and throws a chain down beneath it and captures it on the opposite side, then gets up... winds it a few more times around its hood... and moments later, he's standing on top of the heartless car as if it were a horse! "Hooo-now! Hooo-oooh!" He tries to keep his balance, and then stamps on its roof to try and get it to drive over a series of heartless! More-so, he drives it past Avira and tries to reach a hand out to her. "Know how your people smash mailboxes?" He shouts, and then nudges his head at her blade... before sending the car off again - with or without Avira in tow.

Maira has posed:
You know, these guys have probably got this battle covered. Maira is just going to go ahead and try to help all these people get out of here. To that end, Maira employs her magic to shield fleeing people and lead them out of the sewers to, hopefully, safety.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will moves to keep away from the oncoming attacks... he ducks the water, before rolling to the side. Seconds later a Taxi rolls right by, almost like he is seeing the future...but we all know better than that, right? He continues to move, like a leaf in the wind, attacks rolling by him and he's simply not there or narrowly out of harm's way. Each time something is close, his hand moves, grabbing at strings and tearing them.

Then he finally leaps up, aiming to throw himself into the mass of the Heartless storm, his hand reaching out for those strings once more... before he brings both hands down aiming to try and hammer smash one of the Taxies into the other heartless, aiming to bowl for heartless. "Damn Heartless. You fool! Don't you get it?! The heartless don't care about you...you can control them NOW...but eventually you'll be too weak! Then you'll join them!" he shouts. "How many will you doom to your fate for your lust of power? Innocents?"

Avira has posed:
That advantage given by Will doesn't last Avira very long. As she is soaked once again by the dark water summoned by the Heartless, she quickly realizes that unless they clear out more of these faster, she's going to get overwhelmed very quickly.

In the back of her awareness, she hears the telltale sign of a horn and just barely manages to roll out of the way as one of those taxi heartless speed by. The wolf scrambles after that particular heartless, snarling and snapping. For a few seconds, she's struck with how absurd this looks.

Just as absurd: Skoll riding one of the cars on top of it. As he speeds by, Avira grabs his hand and allows herself to be pulled along, keeping her grip with one hand while she retains the spine with the other. Magic channels through her weapon, enhancing each strike as she nails Heartless in the head as they drive by.

"You should ask you buddy what happens when you lose control of the Heartless!" Avira calls out to Fang.

Brooklyn has posed:
Somehow despite still being up in the air, Brooklyn manages to get clipped by a taxi. Grunting after it slams into him, he recovers and keeps his position in the air, flapping his wings a couple of times to stay up, "Fang, you need to stop this!" He yells out to the crazy Mutate.

Brooklyn has had enough of Fang's taunting, and he unleashes his full fury upon the Heartless around him. He folds his wings in and dives down into a group of Heartless, striking at them with claws and elbow strikes, his foot talons coming into play, as he tries to carve his way through to Fang, even if that means flipping a Heartless taxi over like it was a table.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina frowns lightly as Kaydin and Fang speak of power. Her own battle isn't going well. She's blinded temporarily by headbeams and it pushes her back. If only there weren't all these walls here, this positioning is truly distressing. And all this talk of power, it makes her really want to cut loose, to show it unrestrained--

--but she lived with the dangers of that ever since she was a child. Instead she takes in a deep breath and steadies her mind. It didn't work last time, but perhaps--

She swins the chainsaw once more, sending a watery spray shimmering around her.

"You shoot electricity out of your hands and yet desire power." how like a /mage/ she thinks, before correcting herself mentally that she really shouldn't be thinking such way about those Mysidians right now.

You'd think she'd learn her lesson. Instead she revs the chainsaw up, the blades spinning rapidly as she tries--well it's practically the same thing as last time, actually.

She dives in, spinning once more. This is a poor area for it, but if she pulls it off...

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is able to sap the heartless for the moment even fo her own harm. She's caughy bty them as they attack her. The bests just keep coming thats untill Fang starts ranting and she yells abck at him. "Power that consumes you is not worth it! THey eat entire worlds the will eat you in the end. Then agian you don't care about that. I won't let the last of this world and everyone on it be consumed because of your short sightednes.s I learned through painful experiance there are powers one should not TAP!"

She unlausehs mroe magic really trying to sap the attackers now as hard as she can. Even with her mounting injuries.

LEXUS has posed:
"There isn't anyone innocent. Everyone just hurts each other if they can get a leg up! If you're weak, you get used and bullied. I'm tired of that life. I've been given power, and I'm going to /use/ it." Fang retorts. Kaydin cleaves into the Heartless, smashing into the Killer Taxis and even lunging for Fang, but with a quick motion Fang causes a Taxi to take the hit for him with a manipulation of the device on his arm. "Not so fast, hot shot. It's people like you that are the reason why people like me exist." He hisses at Kaydin.

Deidra continues to fling magic at the Heartless, her magics finding little purchase on them at the moment. Maybe the moon is out of phase or something. Skoll reverses the trend by using his chains to 'tame' a wild taxi, turnig it into a demolition derby of his own, sending Heartless flying everywhere as he rolls through them! Meanwhile, Maira helps protect the fleeing homeless, while Will finds that the Fate of Heartless is not so easy to destroy. He barely manages to grasp a few faint strings before they pull away, the Goons apparently able to tell that this is a weakness that Will is exploiting. Avira riddles the Heartless with blasts of ice magic, shearing through them with her enchanted Spine. Several explode into dissipating icy shards of night and leave nice chunks of Munny behind. Grab it before Will does! Brooklynsmashes into the Heartless, but more just seem to show up as fast as Brooklyn shakes them off. He does, however, smash a Killer Taxi, sending it flying through the air to crash in front of Fang in an intimidating display of sparks and burning fuselage. Fang's eyes narrow as he stares over the undercarriage. "Make me, Gargoyle."

This is about when Sarafina unleashes the fury of the Western Wind, this time correcting her course to account for the tight space. There is a howl as she shears through a dozen Heartless, crashing down on a Taxi and blasting it in half with her ship-killing weapon in a single blow! "Gggh..." Fang says, apparently looking a little intimidated at the power of the assembled forces. "KILL THEM!" He demands of the Heartless. "FIRE EVERYTHING!"

As if on command, the Goons turn, unleashing a massive fusillade of gunfire from the tommyguns, while the crocodiles move in to crush and devour with their powerful jaws. The Killer Taxis thrash, attempting to throw off their doglike oppressors and run FREE! FREE TO COMMIT VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER AT WILL! YES!

Will Sherman has posed:
Then suddenly there were three taxi's around him.

"Crap." all three smash down on will at once because we had to FIGHT IN THE AIR! The sin of vehilcular manslaughter is a weighty one, as Will falls out of the three cars before bouncing off the ground. Groaning, he looks up and see's the gloating mutate...and those words.

They reminded of something...something said to him once. 'I need the power to save my friends...I'll do anything for them.' However, the power of the heart of this man only lead to more darkness...and this guy wasn't even close to being as pure.

Slowly, Will stands up, and his eyes glow for a moment. Strings everywhere become visible, he's not even holding back as his hand comes up. It glows a faint hue of red. Then he moves, jumping right back up into the air right for the first heartless. The punch aims to hit...aiming to litterally tear it's strings out in one massive punch, before he jumps to another...and another. The little Hobo was on a rampage. Aiming each heartless towards the laughing mutate.

Before Will lands right infront of him. The hand still glowing. "Power? What do you know of power? Power should not be used for selfish ends like you use it. It should be used to help people, it should be used to protect the ones you love. You only love yourself. You know nothing of what true power is..."

"THE POWER OF THE HEART." PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
After much bucking and trashing, Skoll is thrown off of the heartless Taxi, and lands uncomfortably onto the ground. He rolls a few times, twisting one arm and then finally comes to a halt. For a moment, there's this annoying whine in his ears. "Someone got the licenceplate of that cab?" He mutters to himself more than anything, and slowly begins to get up. It takes some stumbling, one hand moving to support his twisted, arm, before he looks forwards and is saluted by the goons... aiming their guns at him.

"Where's Avira?" Is what he whispers, just before multiple shots start flying. He's standing right aside and in front of Avira... so the girl gets to see while she is under attack something... potentially gruelling. One of the shots goes /right/ through him! It goes in one side, and then creates a nice hole out the back end and shatters a rock against the wall. Skoll's eyes seem to entirely go dull for a moment... yet he remains standing for a little longer. Gasping for air...

His hand goes to his chest, looking down at the hole that is there, and then looks forwards again at the mob. Then, he looks behind him, and whispers; "Are... you okay?" No regard for his own safety, he tries to figure out if the girl he so foolishly took onto that Taxi is still okay. Seeing her wounded however...

His eyes go red for a moment. Then white of anger, as he visibly and audibly snarls.

He takes a step forwards towards the heartless. Another, and another, and then he goes into a run. From his sleeves, the man with a hole in his chest lets chains roll down - sharp ended. Sparks of purple violently lash out from their housings, spiralling along one-another. And with a loud /roar/, the Werewolf attacks!

With one hand, he throws a chain literally into the ground, splintering it... and seconds later he throws the other forwards into the ceiling... and then, not seconds later...

Gigantic SPEARS of black chain carve their way from the ground and ceiling, trying to /spike/ not just the heartless, but Fang as well if he dared being anywhere near them! These things... they reek of darkness! Even carrying demonic eyes upon their sharp sword-like blades along each link!

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
SARAFINA IS HIT BY A CRAZY TAXI!

She bounces across the ground. Bullets slam into her armor, ripping several tiny holes into it. She doesn't get up immediately either, concussed--or worse.

Of course,the wolf of war is even worse off it seems.

Sarafina pulls herself up to her hands nad knees and punches the ground in frustration, once, before sheanages to steady herself to her feet.

This is one scary 300 year old hobo.

Fairly spent at that, Sarafina stumbles in again, lashing out with her weapon--but she's rapidly running out of steam. That last combo really did a number on her. "Will." She says.

"...That device." She says.

Avira has posed:
Oddly enough, this crazy idea of Skoll's seems to be working. Avira happily smashes the heads of Heartless on the way, devistating them with her ice magic. It works well until Fang orders all the Heartless to promptly lose it.

Her hand slips out of Skoll's. With no anchor, the Taxi Heartless hurls her off of its back, sending her flying. Like a tiny meteor, she hits a wild crocodile, though winds up thoroughly getting hurt more than hurting the heartless itself.

"Ugh...I'm.." she starts to say to Skoll. Avira's head swims with pain and she hears a whimper as she picks herself up. That wolf of hers is also standing over her, bleeding from bullet wounds, but still protecting her. Her heart aches at this sight and she pushes herself to stand, in spite of the pain, and turns towards Fang.

Then the others converge upon him. Yeah, they've got this handled. Her hand reaches out to the wolf and she taps it to get its attention before the pair race off into the remaining Heartless numbers to clean up. A faint silvery sheen briefly surrounds Avira as she does her work, but it seems gone all too quickly.

Brooklyn has posed:
Taxis. Taxis EVERYWHERE. Brooklyn gets slammed into by not one, but two of them, from either side, in a head on collision that leaves the gargoyle pinned below them. But when all hope seems lost, suddenly there comes a roar, a warcry, if you will, as he pushes the two cars off of himself, and then pushes off through the air.

Eyes glowing white, he sails through the smoke and smog filled grounds, right towards where Fang has taken shelter behind that taxi. The Mutate wants him to MAKE him stop? Then Brooklyn will be more than happy to oblige. He rips through a group of heartless, and uses them to propel himself forward, rolling over in midair and trying to tackle Fang with those big talons of his, and pin him to the ground with all the weight that Brooklyn can muster.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra has managed to avoid the worst of the carnage when she gets a chance to. Sje sees everyone si giving it everything they have. She's got some power left there's a spell she seldom uses and she's got no choice. First she brings the power of ice and wind agains the heartless unleashing several casts of the various spells. She keeps chanting in Latin and somethings building. Anyone who can sense magic would feel power building as she unleshes pure arcane energy on the heartless about her.

"I will not let you creatures claim anymore!"

She changes again witha follow uup burst of arcane energy.

"If you think like that we all end up reduced to mindless animals. Then you will be their dinner in the end!"

LEXUS has posed:
Will unleashes a fragment of his power. Heartless detonate as a terrible, unnatural force crushes them, throwing their battered forms into a pile around the burning taxi near Fang. He scowls at the situation. Meanwhile, Sarafina uses her chainsaw to continued good effect, cleaving and striking those around her. A goon squeals as it is launched away from a powerful strike from her gauntlet. Avira and her loyal friend-packmate charge into the remaining Heartless, launching them as they rampage, bowling them into the air. Deidra manages to grasp her own power as she unleashes a devastating blast of arcane energy...

But Skoll then strikes. Chains rip through the area, seething runnels and cascades of dark, shredding chain ripping between ceiling and floor. The burning eyes stare as they shred the Heartless between them, devastating the few remaining.

Brooklyn takes the oppotunity of an opening to smash right into Fang, knocking the Mutate into the ground. "You bastard!" Fang hisses. "You think I'm going to go down that easily?" As Brooklyn brings up his talons to take Fang out, and Fang crackles with a deadly electrical charge...

Kaydin strikes, a blast of shadow striking past and slamming into the wall. A hissing noise is heard, and Fang slowly looks to the side.

A natural gas main was sheared open, hissing merrily as the scent of rotten eggs wafts into the air.

Right next to the burning wreckage of the Killer Taxi Heartless. "NO! YOU IDIOTS!" Fang yells...

KA-BOOOOOOOOM

There is a huge explosion, and Fang is blasted free of Brooklyn, the former being launched down the hall from his position while Brooklyn gets the dubious honor of being left flat on the ground. As Fang groans, there is a terrible sound. One looks up, seeing the Subway tunnel's ceiling cracking, spiderwebbing towards Fang.

"Damn it... It's not... supposed to happen like this..." He hisses... And then there is a massive crash, the ceiling splitting and dropping tons of rock into the tunnel. A shadow can be seen rushing away on the opposite side, around the edges of the cave-in through the dust.

But now the Heartless are gone. The people are safe.

A coughing noise comes from the side, as Talon finally stirs and groans. "Damn... That was rough..." He looks around the area, and at the heroes. "Okay, fine... You guys win." He says, staggering to his feet. "I know where he's going. It's where the Heartless were going too..."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
After that massive attack, Skoll falls to his knees - and the chains droop back into his sleeves. The massive chains disappearing into the ceiling and ground as if they'd never been there. The werewolf then puts a hand to the gaping hole in his chest, and looks towards the other heroes here - and then hears the sound of Talon behind him. "I'm going to just lay down for a while." Skoll then whispers to nobody in particular and kind of fall flat forwards... with his eyes still slightly open.

The wolf, after having finished the little cleanup operation with Avira, makes its way towards Skoll and starts licking him in the face, resulting in the werewolf finally properly closing his eyes.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks towards the fallen mutate and moves to help him up.

"Are you alright?" he asks...trying to be calm...but his hand...it still burns. It shakes, drawling upon that power...however it only takes a few minutes for him to properly stop shaking. "Hold on, we'll get a doctor or something okay? I think someone knows healing magic." Will looks more concerned about the guy's well being than the information...

"If you're better, then we'll hear you, but I wana make sure you're fine first." It might also be guilt...he's been away too long lately...and something...something has happened here that was terrible.

Brooklyn has posed:
Stupid explosions. Good thing Gargoyles are built of tougher stuff. The blast seperates Brooklyn from Fang before the red gargoyle can get his claws back on the mutate, the tunnel collapses. Brooklyn roars in a mix of frustration and pain, "THAT'S RIGHT! RUN YOU TRAITOR!" He cries out to the fleeing Fang, before turning around and slumping against the cave in, wings drooping. He's tired from the fight and it shows.

He looks out of the tunnel to the main area of the Labrynth where everyone else is, and picks himself up, heading towards Talon as he brings one hand up to his left ear fin, to respond to the message he recieved.

Avira has posed:
Oh no, that /smell/. Avira knows that smell. Somehow.

Instinctively, she hits the ground, one hand over her head to protect herself, seconds before the explosion rocks the underground. She's fortunate to come out of that mostly unscathed, with only a blackening of her skin to show for it. Especially since the tunnels around her start to crack and even collapse in some places. Such as on top of Fang?! It was hard to say, once the rocks came down she lost track of the mutate.

Slowly, she picks herself up and looks around, making sure everyone-Maria especially-is okay. She sees Skoll on the ground and her wolf next to him. As she makes her way over, Talon speaks.

Avira pauses for a second, looking at Talon with big, brown puppydog eyes, "Then you'll show us, right? Please? Those Heartless have been taking people."

She stops by the dropped Skoll and reaches a hand out to rest against his hair. She doesn't try to get him up, but she does spread some healing magic to her friend.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra took a lot of her power to unleash that spell of she's panting hard and she looks about Talon for a moment "Tell me about it, that was more vicous than they normally are. I'm afraid my powers do not lend themselves to healing." She frowns a little bit looking in the direction Fang went. She also gives Avira a bit of a grin. "Hey..."

Will Sherman has posed:
Oh god Avira is doing the puppy gaze. The puppy gaaaaaaaze! Will can't resist the puppy gaaaaaze! Because he loves puppe-wait what?

LEXUS has posed:
Talon... Actually accepts the hand up from the much shorter Hobo King. "I'll be fine." Yeah, right. He looks over at Brooklyn as he returns. "You guys helped a lot. If it wasn't for you... I'd probably be dead right now and Fang would be running things down here with his goons. These people need help and protection, but not like that." He nods to Avira. "Yeah, I'll help. I know these tunnels, and there's only one place he can be going."

He pauses, and says, almost spitting. "Cyberbiotics." He doesn't seem to care too much about puppygaze. He's helping anyway!

Will Sherman has posed:
"Alright...lets go." Will says, with a smile. Good, he's okay...he can get the story later, but right now they have to stop this guy. These people need to be protected, like Talon says. "Alright. Don't push yourself, alright?" Will turns and looks at the other guys, "Well, looks like it's going to be a long night. Hope you're all ready?"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll groans just a little under the touch of Avira's healing magic - and opens his eyes a little, noting how she's touching his hair. "You okay?" He asks her weakly, again caring more about her wellbeing than his own. He then tries to roll himself over backwards and looks at his chest - where the wound has started closing up already. Of course, not like this is very visible underneath the raincoat. The wolf that is there then starts trying to lick at his hand, and then goes for Avira's face. She's giving the puppy-gaze after all!

Brooklyn has posed:
"Cyberbiotics? Blast.." Brooklyn rubs his beak with one of his hands, "Where else would he go but an abandoned super lab in the subway tunnels." He moves towards the rest of the group and dusts some of the flakes of collapsed tunnel off of himself, brushing it out of his hair, "We'd best get a move on, then. Don't want this to take all night or you guys will wind up short handed."

Avira has posed:
Whew, so he will help. A great relief, really! Sighing, that look of hers fades and she looks up from the crumpled Skoll. "Actually, give me a moment to make sure he's okay." she jerks a thumb over her shoulder at the werewolf.

Something else strikes her as odd though, "...Cyberbiotics? Down here...?" she murmurs.

Her thoughts are interrupted as Skoll starts to get back up. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine, just hit my head a few times." A serious understatement, but she doesn't want anyone here to worry...she wants to appear tough! Tough and durable and augh the wolf is licking her face this doesn't look tough at all.

After a moment of flailing, she manages to stand. "Let's keep moving, then."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
"I brought a tent." Sarafina says inexplicably.

She gives Talon a blank stare for a while before looking towards Will. "Where is Cyberbiotics? I have not heard of that street."

LEXUS has posed:
"You don't go down that way here." Talon says. "People disappear over there, No one heads that way anymore, even the crazy ones." He moves forward with a slight stagger. "Okay... Let's get moving. We don't have much time to waste."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will frowns a little.

"It's a abandoned facility...or so I thought. I think an accident happened there once, and nobody goes there because there are stories about people disappearing near there."

"I've been over there once, but I couldn't find anything and nothing came and attacked me...and my eyes didn't reveal anything. So...maybe I got luc-" he pauses... "Damnit."

Deidra has posed:
Deidra pauses for a moment "I heard the company name before but not much more." She admits. She's looking a bit hard up. "Right." She nods as she pulls herself togehte and keeps her book in hand however. It's very likely they may need it again. "Lead the way Talon and oh I'm Deidra."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll nods at Avira. "You go on ahead. I'm going to head out of here through... a different method." He makes sure to keep his voice down - knowing very well how much people frown upon the use of Corridors of Darkness after all. "I'll be fine." He then adds, and slowly moves to sit. "You take the wolf with you. Maybe take him back home."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will turns towards Skoll. "Thanks!" he says, and gives him a thumbs up, "Sorry we didn't get much time to chat...but well, a King is always busy." Then Zoom! "Avira! How did you do the face? Tellllll meeee?"

Brooklyn has posed:
"Everybody take whatever time you need to recoup...But we'll need to get moving soon enough, or else Fang will put into place whatever he has planned." The gargoyle shakes his head and sighs, "I don't think he's smart enough to be behind this. He's a lackey at best...There's something else going on and I can't quite put my finger on it."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina Carenze ahhs, "I understand." She says. Well mostly understands. "t will work out. He has little else to run. And then we can find out how HE was able to get ahold of these devices." He didn't sound like a man of science.

Avira has posed:
"You sure?" Avira seems slightly sad that Skoll won't be coming along. Idilly, she reaches down to give the wolf a few more pets before going. Yeah, she knows of his second mode of transport and doesn't say anything about it. As for Will.

"Uhhhh, I'll show you later."