Description: Deep inside a Shadaloo torture cell in one of Japan's mountain ranges, Alice has been captive for days. Malnourished and abused, can she remain sane when Vega himself comes in to explore her dark little soul? The demon inside is powerful, indeed, but just outside, the girl's savior is on his way, pissed off and heedless of his own safety to save his psychotic charge. Guest appearance by Dr. Senoh...OR IS IT.
Japan can be an amazingly large place from time to time, especially if all you're trying to do is hide one individual that you've captured. Which is why a cave set into the side of one of the many mountains that dot Japan's interior serves as home to a very small but specialized facility in the service of Shadaloo. Walk deep enough into the cave that you are out of eyeshot of the entrance and one would find a large metallic door with a alphanumeric keypad to the right hand side, beyond this security measure is a small set of brightly lit hallways, a few offices, two or three rooms to sleep in, a small kitchen, a medical/research bay, and a number of cells in the very back. The air throughout is cleaned, scrubbed, and slightly tinged with an antiseptic smell. Otherwise it is comfortably pleasant temprature wise and very clean.
The cells, unlike one might think, are actually in very good condition and just as clean as the rest of the facility, perhaps even more so as the antiseptic smell is even stronger inside them. It's in one of these cells that a purple haired girl is trussed up, her arms locked into the walls of the small cell, the rest of her body fastened securely to a metal rod coming down in the middle of the room. She appears to be injured but her only life threatening wounds have been taken care of the rest have been left to bleed and heal on their own, though a few fresher injuries and bruises see to have been added in.
It had left her and she was still in her cell while the guard lady was gone, she felt like she'd been smacked a few times more and her dull throbbing injuries felt particularly uncomfortable again from the new abuse her body had suffered. Alice's mind clears slightly from the fog of having been put into the back of her own mind and she hangs there limply, "What did I do.....to deserve this?" She speaks quietly to herself as a small bit of blood filled spit slides out of the corner of her mouth and down to the floor, the young girl is done crying and being confused she's just depressed now as she realizes the situation she is in now.
"What, indeed."
Vega's voice is heard clearly despite the fact that she's alone in the room. It simply lacks the reverberation that comes from being present; such is the flaw (or perhaps benefit) of speaking directly into the girl's mind. A few seconds later, a click is heard, and then the sound of heavy metal sliding. Alice's cell door is pulled open wide, revealing the very man that put her in this predicament...and a few besides. Behind Vega are a small handful of men--scientists, it seems, given their odd attire that resembles lab coats, but they're short and well-hemmed, buttoned up the front. The only exception is a singular man, older than the others with sharper features and eyes that are thin and frightening with the sheer intensity that they appear to see through people. As the Shadaloo Lord steps into the cell, the others follow. A gurney has been prepared, its cold steel bare save for a number of leather straps; their purpose should be immediately obvious.
"Let's have a talk, now." He steps close, bringing a hand up to the girl's forehead. So large is it, and so slight is she, that he very nearly covers her crown with the breadth of his palm. His touch is merely weighty--though the girl herself may fall sway to the feeling of dread that often comes with simply being in the man's presence, he makes no effort to force her to reply...yet.
Alice looks up as the voice rings in her head and for a moment and she thinks it's the thing inside her the normal Voice that torments her and she shakes her head, "Noooo...leave me alone....you've not helped." Her voice weak and tired more than anything else at the moment then as the cell door opens she realizes this is not the case as her eyes go wide with fear!
Once Vega makes his appearance Alice shivers uncontrollably in her bonds, she looks from the Lord of Shadaloo to the scientists and her eyes well up slightly with tears that she's actually too afraid to shed, "Are you le-letting me go?" She swallows as she asks Vega himself this question despite her terror there is a hint of hope in her words.
"Please...I...I just want to go, let me go." She asks Vega again her tone betraying the level of terror she's feeling as he touches her, the Voice is quiet at the moment as though it were curled up patiently inside her head waiting to see what the Psycho Master was going to do to its toy, "I...I promise I'll never bother you. I'll be a good girl, really...I will." She pleads the only thing she can think of that might be why Vega captured her in the first place.
As Alice pleads, she can feel the grip upon her head tightening. It's not long until it's uncomfortable...and further beyond into painful. But then, such labels are for normal girls, aren't they? The poor thing has already been kept shackled and starving, after all. Ideally, her physically senses have begun to atrophy. ...At least, that is the plan.
"I am not talking to /you/." Vega speaks quickly and harshly, a chastizing tone. He pushes down on the girl's head and his hand then slips off, turning back toward the men he'd entered with. "Bring her to the chamber, and do something about that damned prattling of hers." He waits but a moment for a sign of understanding, one that comes in the form of a stereo of "Yes, Lord Vega"s from the lesser-ranked scientists. Senoh himself had already crept right up to Alice, his sketchy face pressed up close to inspect temples, joints, whatever may be important for the coming trial. As the crimson-adorned man steps out of the room with the echoing sounds of heels tapping against the floor, the two assistants work on unfastening Alice, one limb at a time, to transfer her to the gurney. So long as she behaves, it will actually be a pleasant journey! Though the surface is hard, it will be the first chance that she's had to lie down in days. The ceiling overhead is boring and uneventful, save for the artificial lights that come and go and come again. The thing that jars such comfort would be the sudden smack of the gurney against the 'chamber' doors: two great metal things that open inward, revealing the stuff of children's nightmares: forceps, clamps, wires and needles abound, all set upon the emotionless cold of clinical steel. Vega is already in this room, fastening some sort of metal bracer to his wrist, having removed the usual stretch of steel that he usually wears. What on earth could he be doing...?
Alice whimpers slightly as Vega's grip on her head begins to reach the pain threshold of her body, her beaten form though is in more pain due to its injuries so thankfully the pain from the rest of her body cancels out the majority from the tight grip on her head. Then her head is forced down and she's chastised for speaking, "....I...." Then the sullen girl hangs her head quietly something terrible was about to happen to her, she knew this now and the only way she had to deal with that was locking her mind down as much as she possibly could.
The Voice is unusually quiet as though defying Vega's desire to speak with it, Alice's eyes give a frightened look at Senoh as she gets a bit too up close and personal with his creepiness she actually struggles as long as he is close to her but if he backs off she settles down and doesn't even struggle. As long as it's the assistants touching her Alice just allows herself to be dragged the only resistance is her lack of walking and making them carry her.
As she's pulled into the new room on the gurney her eyes widen slightly but she finally closes her eyes to stop any sort of crying or acknowledgement of fear she might give these people, she was terrified but there was nothing she could do but accept this, though she tries one last tactic, "It's not going to talk to you....it rather have me suffer than let you have your way with it, so...p-please don't do this?" She says dully figuring she won't be listened to at all on this matter.
Click, click.
The band that's snapped around Vega's wrist is littered with wires, some feeding into metal caps that sit upon his fingertips, others twined in a long and thick bundle that droops low to the ground and back up to meet some...well, it's difficult to tell what it is, exactly. A device, surely; cylindrical in shape. From it can be heard the dull hum of life, mechanisms churning and circuitry crackling with life.
"Shut her up."
No sooner is the command given than one man pulls from a drawer a thick length of twisted rubber, knotted time and again about the center. He presses the largest knot into the girl's mouth, sure to get it behind her teeth while he buckles the ends back behind her head. With that in place, there's no way to bite her tongue, and indeed, the rubber is a constant source of vile taste, as though the environment wasn't bad enough. With that done, all manner of sensors are coated in a sticky, translucent goop and stuck to Alice's extremities, chest, neck, and especially her head. There's left enough room for a headband of sorts, another rubber binding that bears a thick metal plate on its interior. On the back of that are a great many wires as well, and everything leads into that one machine. It's as though he cares for her well-being or something, with so many sensors to monitor her!
"She's ready, Lord Vega." With the poor girl strapped down and covered in just.../things/, what is there for her to do but stare up at the ceiling? There's another noise, the now-familiar sound of sliding metal as a massive bar is pulled across the doors leading into the room. Following that, the hip-height machine's soothing noises ramp up in volume as Senoh urges it to life. The old man is hunched over a keyboard, studiously watching a monitor as the girl's vitals start to flow across in jumping numbers and jerky lines.
As the order to shut her up is given Alice lets out a deep held breath, she felt stupid for holding out hope that this monster would care enough to not attempt whatever he was going to do to her. Fear coursed through her as her body had begun to sweat, the fight or flight response strong, but she doesn't do either as she's not strong enough to fight her way out and there is no where to run to at the moment since she's bound to the cold metal table now.
The thick rubber forced into her mouth causes her to gag slightly and the inclination is to bite down hard on it, her teeth trying to cut through the solid rubbery mass. She tries to shake the probes and leads they are covering her with off as they place them but this is more a delaying tactic than an attempt to fight back, she has no hope at the moment.
As the scientest says she's ready she gives one last flail to possibly knock something off before settling down again, the Voice was still being quiet though there was a crawling sensation in the back of her mind it was loathsome and more vile than the taste of the disgusting piece of rubber in her mouth, though there was just the hint of a feeling of amusement in it at her plight. She looks around the room pleadingly as if to say won't someone...anyone do something to stop this from happening?
Vega, he can feel it, you know. The fear. The anguish. The dread. It all permeates the air, a scent to him as sweet as honey. Indeed, he draws in a deep breath, his pale eyes closing as he revels in the girl's plight. It's the first time that he'd been seen with a smile in days, one of those wide-spread things that make normal lookers utterly sick to their stomachs. He is clearly enjoying this.
"Physical signs are below nominal...psychic waves...repressed." Reports like this will be a constant thing from this point on, but it's more for the assistants than anything else. Senoh remains fixed on his screen while the two lesser man make sure that every sensor is properly in place even after the girl attempts to shake them off...but they don't stay too close once Vega's wire-adorned hand comes creeping in.
Again, his palm fills her vision. The Lord's fingers are spread out, and the wires crackle with visible arcs of violet light. It's a color that soon encases his hand in a very generic summoning of Psycho Power. An immediate chill comes to Alice's skin, wherever those sensors are applied, especially beneath the plate upon her head. "Now where are you hiding?" he asks rhetorically, and the cold sensation clarifies. It's not chilling her...it's sucking, but not as a vaccuum would. It feels like a sort of intravenous drip, tugging at the power buried with Alice's psyche. Needless to say, to have one's mentality forcibly drawn from them is many, many times more excruciating than mere physical wounds, akin to being bled from every pore in one's body at once!
The mind is a wonderful place, so many thoughts, levels, and ephemeral worlds that exist and are destroyed in the time it takes to blink one's eyes. If one is familiar with this truth then there are nearly infinite places to hide should someone desire to do so...or leave nasty nasty surprises for those that dig too deeply where they are not wanted....
Meanwhile on the outside, Alice screams loudly into the piece of rubber that also serves as a gag, her body arching upward as the pain forces her to move whether she wants to or not the body's instinct to try to get away from the pain overriding any knowledge that escape was impossible. Thus Alice is shaking her bonds like mad as the pain rips through her and she thrashes this way and that letting out pained gruts with each motion. Tears streaming from her eyes due to the pain, the girl's mind trying to shut out the pain and terror as much as it can. She shivers terrifically as the cold sensation passes through her body as he dives into her mind.
Meanwhile inside the girl's mind, Vega might find the very first of her mental defenses enhanced by her other self's passing, suddenly he might see himself dressed in Alice's clothes bound to the table while it is Alice dressed in Vega's clothes tormenting him with Psycho Power...but unlike the master of Psycho Energy her only goal is to rip his mind to shreds laughing gleefully as the projection of Vega screams like a little girl in terrific amounts of pain. Then the image is gone with a hint of hate and glee wrapped together as if to say keep digging and it shall get worse.
The very fact that Alice doesn't outright pass out from the first couple of seconds is amazing in and of itself. Senoh has rarely looked happier with the data streaming across, a great wealth of information on the nature and depth of the girl's power. The assistants themselves are just amazed! How could such a tiny thing bring /these/ kinds of results? Are the sensors malfunctioning? Is there some sort of crosstalk between Vega's power and hers? It just shouldn't be right!
In the depths of Alice's psyche, the reversal of roles even comes as a surprise to the mighty Vega himself! He had expected to be the one doing the torturing, the tainting, the laughing. How is he the one suffering? This agony, it's too much for most men. Rather than suffer through it, a mind would blank itself completely.
This...is humiliating.
In the Real World, his look of surprise is evident. His eyes are wide, his mouth agape. However, Vega is no mere man. He is not burdened by the weaknesses of mortals. His entire existence is anger and rage and torment, everything bundled into a massive glut of malovelence.
His body, again, smiles.
The damnable 'thing' protecting itself against the intruder should enjoy the show while it can. While 'Vega' is curled up and blubbering, the environment simply...disappears. The only light to be seen is that about Alice and Vega himself, and sound travels as though through syrup, echoing and stretched. The Shadaloo Dictator-in-a-dress grows still and cracks form upon his skin and clothes, finally parting like an egg shell. From its dark depths, the man, in his proper attire, coated in a writhing layer of violet rage, crawls out. With each second, he grows ever larger, far beyond his normal size. Inches give way to feet, and from feet, yards. His eyes are aglow with purple sparks and flickering, short-lived wisps of flame. "You DARE to make light of ME, thing?"
The man's physical body has by now followed suit, his power bleeding from him to the point that the girl and her table both are consumed in his spreading aura of mixed violet and pitch, the wires jerking about as they strain to contain the energies supplied by the mental tug of war.
Alice flails with increasing strength, something seems to be giving her ridiculous amounts of strength, the restraints begin to actually strain trying to hold her down as purplish psycho energy starts to surround her in places errupting from her skin tearing and grasping at anything close to the girl as she suffers from the assault on her mind and the effect that is having on her body...little what at first appear to be glowing purple spiders crawl across Alice's body here and there though upon closer inspection the spiders are in fact tiny severed clawed hands waiting for someone to touch the girl.
Echoing throughout Alice's mind comes booming insane laughter it seems the trick it had played on the master of Psycho Energy was more than enough to please Alice's other self. The image of Vega actually suffering the same fate he bestowed on another seemingly also causing Alice to smile as in the real world a pleased and gentle smile spreads across her lips, normally she'd be horrified but this monster deserves it more so than anyone she's ever met...even more than her other self!
Pain for just a moment forgotten, Alice lets out a mometary sigh of relief as her body sags back to the table and to the real world it seems as though she actually relaxes in spite of the fact that Vega is digging into her mind still even at this moment.
The other inside Alice is not weak by any means, it is a thing fueled by the raw essence of despair and terror, two things that Vega has in his attempt to break her caused Alice to feel a great deal of giving it pools of psychic power to pull from and enhance its own abilities...and it dares many things, Though Vega can hear Alice scream across her mindscape from the image he projects into her mind, as the next mental defense springs upon Vega...
"You make light of yourself, my dear one." The Voice rings out at Vega as his shadow begins to move behind him, light errupting from its core, slowly it reshapes itself from a perfectly black replica of Vega into a smaller sleeker feminine form that vaguely resembles Rose, "You can't hide your fears from me~! Not here in my own mind..hahahahah!!!!" As the shadow slowly become realer and realer while the Lord of Shadaloo fades becoming more and more like a shadow for the Rose doppleganger.
Alice's mouth suddenly twists into a sadistic grin as she just looks at the two assistants as if by her eyes falling upon them she could swallow their souls down into unimaginable terror and pain. The psycho energy around her own body trying to the shape of grasping arms to claw at her bonds while the pain causes her to thrash again and again.
Undoubtedly, the two psychic giants are just short of coming to blows in their own way. Vega is the very essenge of rage and greed, and what good does smashing negativity against negativity do? Both sides simply feed off of the other, growing more and more powerful and malicious, each trying to outdo the other...
And just as that image of Rose starts to coalesce, the plug is pulled. Vega disappears from "Alice's" view completely in her mind's eye, and vice versa! The bridge connecting the two powers is severed so suddenly that the shift back to the material realm is jarring. Even the Shadaloo leader is given pause, his eyes open wide. A scant few seconds later and they narrow, his mouth pulled into the most awful frown. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" He shoves on Alice's gurney, sending the thing rolling and slamming into a wall, which in turn causes all of those wires to snap or their sensors to pull free. He'll have nothing in the way of him and the one that cut him off.
"Lord /Vega/, you were about to--gghk!"
In a second, Vega has grasped the good doctor Senoh by the throat, lifting him overhead. One of the assistants attempts to pull on his employer's arm and to talk reason to him, but his only reward is a backhanded blow that sends him flying across the room. The man is pissed on levels rarely seen by anyone, and his temper has never been shorter. "SPEAK!"
"L-Lord Vega, the device...!" Senoh has to struggle to speak, legs flailing and he points past the crimson dictator. When he turns, he can see that the device meant to draw and contain a portion of Alice's soul is not only smoking, but still suffers arcs of Psycho Power across its coils as the near-overload cools down. Looking between it and the girl, Vega eventually sets the lead scientist down, seething with harsh breaths through wet, clenched teeth. "If I may," Senoh adds, risking further wrath...but he's been with the organization for years. He helped build it! Very few men would be able to do what he can, and nowhere else would he be allowed the freedom to experiment as he does. "I propose an alternative--a stopgap, just for the moment!"
That was two hours ago.
Now in the present, Senoh and his assistants are putting the finishing touches on Alice. Vega had gone off to vent his rage on something else, leaving the cave guarded only by a smattering of armed troops. The girl herself had been turned over and bolted down as best as they possibly could; hardly a square foot of her body isn't covered in leather or rubber bonds. The purpose for this is, in a word, incredible. In that short amount of time, the lead scientist had fashioned a sort of miniaturized version of the draining device--its core, if you will. While without Vega's knowledge of Psycho Power and how the soul powers it, it can't do much beyond analyzing her energies, to try and relay information about the nature of her power--of the demon that even kept the Master at bay. With the pen-sized implant buried in her body, the slim hole is seared shut.
At the same time, the guards outside seem to have trouble of their own...
The other part of Alice that people called the Demon, It, the Voice, and all the other labels they desire had gone completely psychotically joyful as the battle with Vega was reaching its height pitting itself against the Master of Shadaloo, it merely enjoyed the challenge of facing off against another powerful manipulator of psycho energy this would be a truly epic confrontation of wills...
Then suddenly the connection is broken Alice is freed from the presence of Vega's crushing power digging through her mind, while the other part of her that feasted on fear roared in hatred, madness, and victory as it was given unexpected reprieve from fighting while being cheated of its fight with Vega.....then suddenly the laughter in Alice's head rings out long and clear, and for the poor girl it sounds as though she herself is laughing like that, that it is her own girlish voice sounding like madness incarnate.
"Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!" Alice's eyes snap open as a trace of rapidly fading psycho energy rips the rubber strap from her mouth, so distrubed by that nightmarish sound in her head that she barely even notices as the gurney slides across the room into a wall from the force of Vega's anger. She breaths intensly deep breaths trying to calm herself to get some sort of control again so that she feels right and sane...not the world of living terror she felt she existed in now. She wants people...she doesn't care if they are strangers or not, she just wants the comfort of losing herself in a crowd or the comforting hand of Father Elias on her shoulder, to know she's really human and not something wearing the form of a human.
Alice's eyes lock onto Vega as he strangles Senoh and for a half second souless clear eyes watch in utter contentment at the scene before the girl is back to herself and she screams out, "No!!! Don't kill him!!!" It seems as though even though the scientist scared her a great deal she couldn't allow him to die without protest. Then Vega lets him go and she falls back against her gurney and closes her eyes for the moment the ordeal was over...thus she passed slowly passed from the realm of consciousness as Senoh begins discussing the alternative.
As her mind wakes to the situation she finds herself in, Alice struggles slightly in panic due to not remembering at first how she got bound in such a way then as the reality of the situation dawns on her she coughs suddenly, "Water..." Her horse voice sounding hollow in the room. She's quiet for a long moment hoping some fluid is brought to her but as the seconds tick on she relaxes into her restraints.
"I...I don't blame you..." Her voice sounding very small and weak, "You don't have any choice but to do what he says do you?" Not sure if the scientists are listening or not she continues, "...no matter what happens to me, I forgive you and don't blame you." Alice smiles softly if nothing else maybe she can offer them some solace should they need it before she's driven so mad there's nothing left of her to even really think, "I don't even blame him...." Her voice very tiny at this point indicating she doesn't even hold Vega responsible for what's happening to her.
It was a good hour before Elias had managed to regain conciousness after the battle at the homeless shelter. It was a beating like no other that he had taken. In all of those years the priest had never encountered something of that magnitude. Even more problematic is the fact that Alice was not there when he rejoined the concious world. Those who were still around and not scared shitless managed to tell him that the monster that appeared had taken Alice. Elias left very quickly after being told such a thing.
The doctor that comes in daily to check up on people was put in charge and told to tell people that Elias himself was off on personal business. Even a letter was sent to Ash and the rest of the team explaining Elias would be busy and contained an apology for him being absent for the fight taking place in France. There were much MUCH more important things to take care of. Alice was in trouble and the priest would not allow himself to rest until he found her. In this case it also helped that he had contact from his time in prison. He did not like the idea of using more shadey tactics to get a task done, but this was a special case.
It paid off too since it seems that one of his contacts was right about the location of Alice and where she is being held. It wasn't even too far away like Elias had worried. They were even still in Japan. Those poor guards aren't even going to realize what hit them in all honesty. They thought they had a good spot picked out. That is not the case as footsteps are soon heard and the priest calmly walks forward with that stone faced expression. "I hope you have prayed to be forgiven for your sins today." he tells them as he unclasps his hands from behind his back and the men nearby are in for a treat. The priest extends an arm outward as a flame gathers and he then rears back and then punches forward, the firey blast turning into a ring of fire that seeks to engulf the men before him.
COMBATSYS: Elias has started a fight here.
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Elias 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Laboratory Guards has joined the fight here.
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Elias 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0Laboratory Guards
COMBATSYS: Elias successfully hits Laboratory Guards with Holy Flare.
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Elias 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0Laboratory Guards
It's a nice, easy job, isn't it? Out in one of the possibly hundreds of deep mountain ranges in Japan, tucked in an obscure cavern of mostly natural make...who would ever come near? Were Vega himself not in the building, the few men standing outside of the heavy steel wall set just inside the cave's mouth would be playing cards, leaning on their weapons, or doing whatever it is that bored men do. But for now, they have to play it safe. Deep insite, their Lord is personally tending to Alice's torture, and from what they've seen him do to men normally, none of them want to be present for that...nor be the cause of interrupting it.
The two man that Elias comes up to give the priest this /strange/ look. "Ey, you lost, Padre?" "Go on, get out of here, we don't want none'a what yer sellin'!" Gun muzzles are gestured with, making motions that he ought to just haul ass.
Instead, they get a huge ring of fire that leaves them little more but charred, blackened smears on the metal wall! For the moment, there's nothing stopping the man's progress, but then the wall actually opens! Parted and jagged-toothed in the middle, it slides to each side, showing the way in...but it's not all that welcoming. The first thing seen through the short gap is the round shape of a launched grenade, quickly followed by a hail of bulletfire, rockets, more grenades, and even slim metal javelins from a launcher on the ceiling! They're certainly not holding back at all, are they?
COMBATSYS: Elias dodges Laboratory Guards' Shock and Awe EX.
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Elias 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0Laboratory Guards
Many would question the sanity of Elias right now if they knew he was going at this alone. That is exactly why he didn't ask anyone to come with him. There are just some things people don't need to know and even if someone like Amy has proven to be trustworthy he still couldn't bring himself to talk to her about it. He is sure she will have plenty of questions once he returns, though. Hopefully she hasn't reacted in a way that brought the attention of others and is trying to get a group to search for the priest. She at least doesn't seem that way.
Even so that isn't a thing he can worry about at the moment. Right now he must press onwards and continue towards his objective. He doesn't even know that further down Vega himself is there working on Alice along with his most trusted scientist. The men that tried to stop him are only given a small prayer in passing as Elias continues forward. He also seems to have to rely on keeping up a quick pace while moving since it seems many armed men are still awaiting inside.
He manages to avoid everything on his way towards that opening. One might wonder if he is the one possessed right now. Despite that same, emotionless look on his face the man is moving like a runaway train as he goes for the opening while swinging a mighty fist forward to hit whatever is in his way.
COMBATSYS: Elias successfully hits Laboratory Guards with Strong Punch.
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Elias 0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1Laboratory Guards
That is just...impossible. The sole intruder is just, what--is he tilting his head to give berth to javelins? Is he just barely stepping aside from the path of bullets and rockets?! It's horrifying, to say that least...but not because Elias is so formidable. No, it's because even if they die, Vega will find some way to wrench them back and feed them their due punishment! The priest's swing is fueled with such awful anger that it knocks the man it connects with out cold in an instant...as well as the two men man HE collides with, pinned between him and the steel door that they whole pile slams and then slumps against. The sound of gunfire ceases momentarily as the soliders just LOOK at one another.
Back in the depths of the laboratory, however, Vega has left. Having not used the door, none of the men can know how relatively safe the they are. Senoh is busy tinkering, putting the finishing touches on Alice. However, the alarms have sounded! There's a flurry of activity behind the second bulkhead as fortifications and evacuations are made. Scientists are scurrying for secure underground passages, leaving Senoh alone to tinker with the peculiar girl...
"Low!" One of the men before Elias had apparently regained his senses. A cacophony of loading automatic weaponry follows, and then the remaining squad members all fire low toward the priest's legs, hoping to slow him down if nothing else.
COMBATSYS: Elias endures Laboratory Guards' Suppressive Fire.
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Elias 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1Laboratory Guards
The priest's anger seems to be at an all time high and while the guards themselves might not be at fault for Alice being kidnapped they are certainly in the way and working for the man that did take the girl away from him. That is exactly why he is seeming to show no remorse for what he is doing. Later he will have to atone for the sins he is committing now, but he must continue with the task at hand and the men nearby are just unfortunant saps that will hopefully just end up knocked out like the three on the ground and not like the two charred bodies out front.
With such limited space there is no way Elias can manage to avoid the gunfire this time. This is also a case of not caring about what happens because he never even offers to surrender and in fact the legs pants he wears are getting shredded by bullets as he continues moving onwards. He feels the pain of being shot in both legs, but the adrenaline seems to be kicking in at an all time high. The priest instead keeps swinging at any man he can get near. His fists packing powerful punches as even a few blows that he delivers flash with energy to deliver extra punishment to those who cannot get out of the way.
COMBATSYS: Elias successfully hits Laboratory Guards with Sinful.
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Elias 0/-------/--=====|=======\=======\1Laboratory Guards
In this case, 'those that can't get out of the way' seems to be everyone but one man. Bodies fly further, smashing into damned near everything, knocking down turrets, just...the man's rage knows no bounds! Weapons clatter on the metal floor, all but that single, solitary man. He looks upon Elias with no small amount of fear, and with a brief look between the man and his own weapon, he throws down the latter! "Fine! You want to get through here? Let's do this!"
The guard's empty hand balls into a fist and swings back, smashing through a thing glass plate. The pressure is enough to set off the panel beneath, which immediately glows red with the accompaniment of a solitary, droning horn. The bulkhead behind Elias slams shut, trapping him in with the one man. And yet, he does not appear afraid. He stands upright and at attention, eyes forward. Panels in the ceiling and walls open up, revealing a number of small barrels that immediately begin filling the room with gunfire. More grandes pump out of larger chutes, saturating the entire, tiny room in a sweltering deluge of heat and lead and phosphorous. Though the last living holdout may go down under the assault, it's with the knowledge that he, if nothing else, has stopped the priest from disrupting Lord Vega!
...Hasn't he?
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At this point, the minion couldn't attack itself and its attack on Elias bugged when it unjoined. ELIAS IS MAN ENOUGH TO HAVE SURVIVED.
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IDays of searching and worry does translate into alot of penty up rage it would seem. To finally be so close he can't hold back and the priest is just giving it all at this point. What else can he do? He is far outnumbered and the only things on his side are God and his fists at the moment. Good thing the latter is alot of help in this case. Bodies are knocked away and been are battered, but they are lucky at least not tobe dead. Of course that might change given how the events unfold.
"Let me through and go find a normal life to live." He tells the man only to get a red light and an alarm in response. Of course the worst part of that response is the gunfire and such that fills the room and leaves Elias to slog through it all once again His vestments are torn to pieces and by the time the smoke starts to clear the priest is pretty much topless at this point and bleeding from several grazes across the skin. Somehow he managed to avoid being directly hit through all that mess and he just keeps that gaze fixated on the single man left. "I propose you listen to my advice."
Past the second bulkhead, there is nothing to stop Elias, for the most part. The cell doors are open, their occupants having been hauled into the back and through the emergency egress passages. There's a gurney here, a bit of broken chain there, a slip of dropped paper there. It looks like people had managed to escape just in time! The large doors at the very end of the hallway are no match for such a powerful man either...and when the priest smashes past them, he'll finally find the girl he's looking for!
Except...she's not entirely safe. Unconscious and strapped up on a table, it's been tipped up so that the girl is held in an upright position. Next to her, a mean-looking, positively ancient scientist is standing next to her, a surgical blade pressed up against her throat. The bit of blood running down her skin shows how real the threat is...and he dares to treat the child as a hostage! Truly, this organization is beyond forgiveness.
"Leave! Leave, or I'll bleed her out in front of you. Unlike yourself, we can still make use of a corpse!"
COMBATSYS: Dr. Senoh has joined the fight here.
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Elias 0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0 Dr. Senoh
At least it seems that Vega is working in favor to the invader as well. Elias may have been defeated by the twisted overlord, but there is a sharp contrast in fighting thse men. It is a good thing no one seems to have realized they should train these men for situations like this. Then again would said men ever pay attention to a class talking about fighting enraged priests. The world may never know.
Elias continues onwards and soon he seems to have reached his goal. He is battered and there isn't much left in the way of clothing other than his tattered pants. Even his shoes seemed to have been lost in his fighting through the small base in order to get to where Alice is. He finally sees her, but the sight is not a pleasing one given the old doctor that is threatening to kill her.
"Maybe so, but if you hurt her I will make sure there isn't a corpse of you left for them to work with." He has come too far to let someone like this threaten him. If Vega wanted Alice so badly he also doubts they would truely kill her. Then again Vega is a twisted man so there is no telling how serious Senoh truely is. Of course he might not get much time to retort and act because Elias is quick to thrust a fist into the air in an uppercut motion. Below Senoh there is a gathering of flames that shoot upwards and seek to engulf him.
COMBATSYS: Elias successfully hits Dr. Senoh with Magnus.
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Elias 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Dr. Senoh
It's an impressive punch! It's a powerful punch. Any normal old man would be sent up through the ceiling, where they can't harass poor, beleaguered little demon girls. But Senoh, he is different. He's been with Shadaloo for a long, long time. He is brittle! His head pulls clean off, awash with sparks as the nogging bounces off the wall and ceiling, rolling onto the floor below. Also missing is most of his chest, what with the huge chasm having been punched right through it. Wires and bits of metal are mangled and showing everywhere, sparking and zapping one another.
Senoh is apparently made of metal.
The decoy's arm falls, but its legs are locked upright, making the thing tip over slightly. Meanwhile, on the floor, a hideous old cackle comes blaring out of the still-moving head. "Aaah, how touching! Go on, take her! We've got what we needed. Besides, that twisted little thing will be the end of you one day, I promise you that! She's a sick and horrible little demon!" Ah, and it keeps laughing! One thing is now certain, however: there's nothing left keeping Elias from his malignant little girl.
It isn't exactly what Elias expected, but at the same time he is thankful that it seems that he has run out of people standing in his way to finally setting Alice free. He stalks forward and pauses when he hears that laugh. He gives a scan of the area, but sees it is only coming from loudspeakers at the moment. His brow furrows and he listens. He is a bit bothered by what he hears. At least about the part where they have gotten what they needed. The fact that the creature that haunts the poor girl's soul might kill him is something he has pondered many a times. It may one day do just that, but he also has a good chance to get rid of it.
He steps over and remains alert in case there are any surprise attacks or traps laid out. He gently works at getting Alice free before picking her up in his arms. Now he can only hope there is no real resistance on his way out. He has expended alot of energy to get this far and now with Alice in his arms it will make it rather hard to fight. "I am sorry." He tells Alice despite the fact she seems more than out of it as he starts to stalk out of what is left of the base and begin his trek back towards the shelter in Sunshine City.
COMBATSYS: Elias has ended the fight here.
Warmth, a caring embrace, Alice's mind slowly to the surface as instinct takes over initially and she clings tightly to the warm body carrying her so gently. As she awakens a bit more she at first starts to thrash for her freedom before she realizes her limbs are free! Once that dawns on her the child opens her eyes and looks up, "Father..." This is about the happiest the Priest has ever seen the girl as tears gently stream from her eyes and one of her very rare but completely heartfelt smiles spreads across her face, "You came for me." She clings to him tightly, "...thank you." She keeps repeating that into his chest as she's carried.
Then she wiggles slightly in his grasp, "I...I am fine to walk Father, please?" She swings her legs slightly to emphasize her point. She's deeply thankful and doesn't want to cause Father Elias any additional strain as he looks rather roughed up by his ordeal of saving her!! The girl was unsure if there would ever be a way she could repay his kindness for coming and fighting for her...maybe someday she'll figure something out but for now the least she could do is haul her own weight for the injured priest.
It is wonders how Elias is managing not to smile himself at a point like this, but yet that stone faced expression remains. He does show reluctance at the request to walk on her own, but he stops walking and lets Alice touch the ground with both feet, though he remains ready to catch her if she starts to fall over. "I feared for the worst, but I was not going to allow myself to lose faith." Never again if he can help it. Too much was lost the first time and his path towards redemption was a long one. At his age he could not afford to wander off of that path again.
"I promised you less nightmares when we first met. It looks like I have lied since you will probably have more now after this ordeal." Just how long will it be before Vega may come back? Or when does one of his cronies come knocking on the shelter door? Of course the latter has already be en answered. It will be a short celebration since upon his return Elias will find a child lost his life while Elias was away. It has started to turn into a rather trying time given how peaceful things had been for many a year for him.
Alice wobbles for just a moment as her feet touch the ground but she winds up being able to support herself and then after a few moments standing up and walking around completely unaided the weakness more a result of lack of use and being suspended by her arms than any injury. "See Father, I can do it." Her mild tone defying the fact that she just came out of a horrifically traumatic experience. Then her half lidded violet eyes fall on Elias and she takes his hand, "...I never lost faith in you, they told me you were dead...I did not believe it." She squeezes his hand gently.
Shaking her head solemnly at Elias' guilt, "You came for me and rescued me...that's all that matters, I'm safe now." Her somber gentle voice that usually is so hard to make out is oddly strong today and much more easily heard. Alice feels safe and right again and soon she will be home and safer still. She's in a very good mood...which ends when she finds out about the child dying because Elias was away, causing her to be even more quiet and withdrawn as the guilt eats at her slightly the voice tormenting with the same line whenever she's alone, 'Death comes for people whose life you barely touch, monster~!'
Log created on 18:25:32 02/04/2011 by Vega, and last modified on 22:19:30 02/14/2011.