Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Cynical Cat]

"Alright," Blackheart said and followed her around.

[LadyTevar]

Li Na lead him towards the front of the house, to where the patio ended at the door into the Utility room. "The kitchen's right on the other side of this wall," she said conversationally, dampening down all links to everyone else on the team for the moment. All the better to listen to just David.

She lead him around the corner to the door into the garage, where the tricked-out flame-coloured sportscar sat, waiting the next trip out. "Ember's ricer ... I never learned how to drive, so I guess it's going to have to be sold."

[Cynical Cat]

"I technically know how to drive," said Blackheart with a smile, "I'm just out of practice. Flying is a lot more practical in New York."

[LadyTevar]

Li Na chuckled. "Why do you think I teleport everywhere?" She lead the way over to the basement, and hesitated a moment, looking over at him. "If you really want to know, you can go first," she said, teasing to cover her own nerves.

[Cynical Cat]

"If it makes you uncomfortable, we can skip it," Blackheart replied.

[LadyTevar]

Li Na gave him a thankful smile. "Just imagine a bordello room, all in reds and oranges, with a double king-sized bed." She looked down the staircase and shook her head sadly. "One day I'll go down there and remove her stuff... but since you're being merciful, we'll finish up the first floor."

She turned to go back through the door they'd entered by, brushing skin as she passed him. She led him into the fancy dining room, and then onto the leather-set Living room, making small talk all the way as she tried to read his emotions...

... especially if he planned to follow up on that kiss.

[Cynical Cat]

"Those shadow tentacles are probably really useful for moving stuff out," said Blackheart as she glided past. The brushing of skin sent out an instant flare of lust.

[LadyTevar]

Well.. that answered that question... maybe she should hurry up the tour...

"I still have to be within a certain distance to use the shadows, or know the place very well," Li Na reminded him, pausing in the foyer in front of the staircase. "But there's just the two bedrooms upstairs, the blue one matching the gold one you took almost exactly. The green and white bedrooms," she motioned towards the doors that could be seen from where they stood. "are about the same but for color. The green has two beds, I think Blast and Hotfoot took that one. The white is the one the Greeks took, with the queensize."

She could be more subtle, and not talk about bedrooms. Really.
"So, do you want to go upstairs, or shall I show you the Master Suite before we rejoin the team?" Of course, they could take some time before rejoining them......

[Cynical Cat]

"We could stop dancing around," said Blackheart as he pulled her close their lips a few centimeters apart. "The question is do you want to dance or do you want to get down to business?"

[LadyTevar]

Surprise.. followed by a definate interest in pleasure, not business.

"Dance......." she whispered, closing the distance between their lips to initiate another kiss.

Shadows moved in the foyer, wrapping around the couple and hiding them from sight. A moment later, the foyer was empty ... the tour complete.

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke lead Saibot down the stairs and into what for all intents and purposes appeared to be a home of some sort. The place was lit from within by candles set about the rooms that seemed to never flicker or waiver. It was not large or elaborate, consisting primarily of only a small bedroom, an even smaller kitchen and a cramped but spacious in comparison living room. Kyosuke knealt on the floor of the living room, moving the only carpet in the place. Beneath it was the rectangular stone that was outlined in black and a heavy brass colored ring set into it. Kyosuke lifted the stone by the ring with little trouble, which made one wonder how much the stone actually weighed.

Beneath it was more stairs leading downward into a new darkness. As they descended, candles flared to life like those in the house above had done. The spiraling staircase lead them further downward level after level. Light would appear as they neared and vanish as they left, no wasted energy in this place.

Kyosuke paused their journey for a moment at a landing. The landing lead through a small passage onto a balcony of sorts. Railing carved from the same stone as everything else ringed the balcony at waist height. It was massive from the other side of the passage, far larger then what was needed for a single human, or even a dozen. In the middle of the balcony was another of those round engraved stones, set into the floor. Kyosuke crossed the distance to the edge of the railing and pointed outwards to where a column of light was visable rising up from the ground below.

The balcony overlooked a vast cave that seemed to have no end above or across. A gigantic hole in the center of the mountain. And in the center of it well below them lay a city with far stretching towers that wound and leaned at impossible angles. The city would easily be half of old New York just from what they could see. And there was no telling truely how far it stretched. And in the dead center of it the column of light rose, shining brightly to illuminate the cavern.
"This is the Demon City. The heritage of my order. The bindings and wardings here in this place are some of the strongest ever forged by my ancestors. The column of light is a nexus point of what the westerners refer to as the Ley Lines. It powers the spells of this place as well as the World Gate for this area.

"We will have to align the system and find the nearest gates to the desert you seek. This will not be easy. One small miscalculation could send us halfway across the world, or break the bindings of this place. Come, our time is limited..."

-----------

While Ghost was gone Prophet and the others spoke together, trying to puzzle out what it was that had the man so nervous. It was more then just the nearness to the deathplace of a friend. They were all experianced investigators and could read people just as well as they read evidence when they had to. He was hiding something. The fact that he wasn't sharing bothered them. When he returned they would speak to him.

When Ghost came back from his "bathroom break" Prophet drew him aside.
"Listen Ghost, I understand Frank was your friend, but you can't keep information from your teammates. We've got to have all the information to solve this thing. So lay it on me, what do you know."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost looked at Prophet. "I can solve it right now. Fuck, I have solved it. Kyosuke, that rat bastard killed him. He staked my friend to that building right there and burned a phrase into his chest. Call in the cavalry, Prophet, he won't go down easy. But we need to take him alive, I want to know why."

[Dark Silver]

He followed the Japanese monk down the stone stairs, through the candle illuminated darkness, until they reached the outlook, and he paused as he saw it.

The Demon City...such a odd name, Saibot wondered how correct it was. The shaft of light was dazzlingly beautiful, and frightful at the same time, and the architecture of the carved stone was amazing.

Saibot wasn't much of a fan of the esoteric, but this, this took his breath away...

"Amazing..." he said softly, as he followed after Kyosuke.

[B4UTRUST]

"Kyosuke? Are you sure it's him? I mean, what proof do you have? Not that I don't believe you, but if it is him we need something concrete to hit him with that will stick."
--------

Kyosuke's little tour of darkness ended as he pushed open another stone door. Inside the room was a series of nine stone columns arranged in a circle. On the outter side of each column was a rotateable disk that had a symbols engraved on it. The purpose of this place was quickly evident after seeing a large flat map of the world with hundreds of lines criss-crossing it at arcs. The ley lines. This place was a teleporter and the columns were part of some elaborate arcane coordinate system.

"Here's where this part of the journey ends, and the next begins. We'll have to find the exact coordinates for a point near where you want to go and find all the jump points in between if we can't get a straight shot. And as big as the area is we may have more then one point as an option. So where is it that you need to go exactly?"

Kyosuke selected a handful of rolled scrolls from a rack set in the wall. Setting them on the floor he unrolled them. They were full of japanese script and numbers, along with symbols that were of no discernable language at all.
"Has the name of the Gobi desert changed in the last two thousand or so years? It might be listed under a different name in here if it has..."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost nodded. "I sparred with him a few days ago. He used sand to create binding spells, he summoned three spirit animals that could shift to human form. A dog, a bull, and an ape. Also, he carries around a wooden sword. I know that sound's flimsy, but I'm telling you, it was him."

[B4UTRUST]

"I'd say it's a bit circumstantial as we have nothing to directly link him to the crimes, but it's more then we've got elsewhere right now. We'll bring him in and talk to him. Think he'll come peacefully?"

[Dark Silver]

"Not that I'm aware...as far as I know, it's always been the Gobi..."

Saibot walked to the scrolls, and began looking over the maps. He had no idea where they were, but considering the Gobi was the Mongolian/China desert, he was hoping they weren't far.

"It's been awhile since I've been there..We're looking for a location near the Qilian Mountains...approximatly 3 kilometers south of it..."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost shook his head. "I doubt it. If he gets wind that we want to bring him in, we won't catch him."

[B4UTRUST]

Prophet sighed.
"Alright, we'll try to handle him as best he can. See if you can get him on the horn and convince him to come back."

--------------

"Alright then."

Kyosuke's finger moved down the side of a scroll as he read through the list. He tapped one absently and then grabed one of the other scrolls, pulling it open and proceeding down its lists.
"Alright, I think I've found what we need."

He stood and walked over to the map on the wall and found their current position.
"Alright, we're here currently. We need to be over here," he said as he moved his finger to a position near where Saibot wanted. "We'll need at least three jumps. One from here west to western China. Another south to the Gobi region then a third to a more localized area of where you want. Now help me align the columns."

Kyosuke grabbed up one of the scrolls and showed Saibot the symbols needed.
"And make sure it's these symbols and only these symbols. The gods only know where we might end up if you align the wrong ones."

[Dark Silver]

"Indeed, would hate to screw up a good thing..."

Saibot studied the symbols pointed out to him, and commited them to memory.

With that, went to the columns, and began to carefully, put them in the correct alignment.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost turned on his comm and spoke into it. "Kyosuke, hey, we're at the crime scene and we need your help." He paused and waited. He looked at Prophet and shrugged. He quickly switched comms to Ultima HQ. "HQ, this is Ghost, I have a high priority tasker. We need containment units at the following location." Ghost gave them the address. "Suspect has not appeared yet, so have the units orbit around the site, and we'll give the signal to move in. Suspect is Agent Kyosuke. We need him contained but alive. Over."

[B4UTRUST]

Where Kyosuke was the comm unit had no chance in hell of reaching. It simply wasn't feasible to get a radio signal that far underground, especially with so much interference.

"Alright, Saibot, it looks good. With a little luck we should be there shortly."

Kyosuke doublechecked the symbols once more and stepped into the center of the columns. The sword came down again, striking the stone. Kyosuke and Saibot disappeared once more with the lights of the temple fading away.

A moment later they appeared on the flats of Gansu. The stone here was surrounded by knee-high grass obscuring it from view. Kyosuke stepped off the stone and knealt down beside it, searching around. He found the symbol dial and turned it to a new symbol. He got up and hit the stone again, disappearing once more.

When the duo reappeared again they were on a tall hill. The temperature was a bit chilly compared to some of the other places they had just been.
"So, Saibot, lead on."

----------

"Agent Ghost, we'll dispatch a containment unit to your location.It should be there shortly. Good luck."

[Dark Silver]

It took Saibot a few minutes to get his bearings, gaging where he was in relation to the sun, and looking for a particular landmark, one no one else would think to look for.

He spotted it on the far distance, a single hill on which sat a towering stone pillar.

"Unless you feel like flying, we got half a day's hike to the location" Saibot said, as he walked on, he was trying to save the little bit power left in the Ring.

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke stepped off the stone and simply nodded.
"It's a matter of whether or not time is of the essence. Will losing half a day cost us more then the expenditure of energy now? If not, then we walk."

[Dark Silver]

"It won't bother me, the sooner we get to the location, the sooner I can recharge. To be honest, I'd prefer to get the recharger, and save the energy to fly back here before it gets to late."