Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[General Havoc]

Hydro gurgled like a mountain stream for a moment, as if considering what Gravitas had said. "Perhaps they are accustomed to such sights, yes," he said finally, after some thought, "but these flesh beasts are unquestionably still alive, are they not? Their bodies are of the appropriate temperature, and they are ambulatory and conscious."

Hydro hesitated another moment before slithering along after the meta-flesh-beasts. "I do not know what 'the damned' are however. Is it some form of physical disorder among flesh beasts?"

[LadyTevar]

Argent knew Hydro would ask that question as soon as Gravitas said it. "Ask Michael to explain about Heaven, Hell, and Damnation," she answered bitterly. "It's his religion, not mine."

[Bloody Good]

Watching the office drones cautiously, Hector answered. "Hell 101. People do bad things when they're alive. They die. They continue to exist in some state and have to endure eternal misery and mind-shattering torments. I've never had an office job, but according to Dilbert, cube farms qualify as mind shattering torment when endured over a long period of time."

He peered at one of the cube workers who was staring at an outdated computer monitor, the harsh glow of which was probably making the pudgy man's retinas sizzle. "Excuse me, how do I get to the 'Down' elevator? We're gonna be late for our appointment."

[B4UTRUST]

The man that Hector speaking to ignored him for the moment, concentrating on the spreadsheet displayed before him. His fingers flew across the keyboard, manipulating the data. His eyes darted across the screen, frantic, afraid. Then all of a sudden the power flickered across the level, every computer shut down then restarted as the power returned to normal.

Angry cries mixed with despair as the cuberats lost their work. The horrible humor of hell was displayed once more in a psuedo-motivational poster, large and prominent on the wall that seemed to be a bit more real, a bit more bright and tangible then the others around it. In bold letters captioning the picture of an archaic computer system that dated somewhere around the early 1980's were the words: Jesus saved, and you should have too!

The man looked up, the expression on his face a bitter mix of anger, resentment and woe.
"Every time, every time. I almost finish it, I keep saving but my save files are corrupted..."

The man sighed. It was a sigh of exasperation and woe.
"You all really should be wearing ties if you're seeing the boys downstairs, as it were... Elevator is down that way. Go straight past the next three cubicle groups, hang a left and go straight for two more, then a right and straight on past the offices. If you see the vending machine that only dispenses Fanta then you've gone too far."

[SirNitram]

"And this is why I went into demigodhood and not a professional career with my degree." Gravitas shook his head as the power flux hit again. Ah, Hell. He started to walk, even as his suit grew a tie into place.

[LadyTevar]

For a moment, Argent was speechless, staring out of her shadow in shock and surprise. Then the silver eyes narrowed at the monk as Gravitas started leading the way down the three cubical groups to the first left.

"I don't know what annoys me more ... that you spoke to one of them after I said we shouldn't, or that it actually got us the information," she muttered. "But Fanta soda? Yes, this is definitely hell." Still, she almost felt sorry for the cube-dwellers. Never able to save their work, never getting it done before the power outage... poor bastards. "Wonder what they all did to wind up here...."

[Marcao]

Upon their arrival to the new level he prepared himself for what else this place would throw at them. He had to admit that he was rather puzzled by what he saw. He blinked, his head turning from side to side as he sought to fully understand what he was seeing. It could not be this simple could it? His eyes flickered towards Argent settling on her for a few precious seconds before he forced himself to look elsewhere for the time being.

"This is not exactly what I envisioned." He muttered softly. A moment later, as if answering his words the power flickered through the floor and the angry cries began to manifest. He almost winced. His head turned and he focused on the exchange between Gravitas and Argent. Did they really want to know any specifics about this place? His eyes left his teammates and gave their surroundings another look over. It was starting to creep him out. So many people, all so focused on completing a job that could not be finished. It reminded him of the story of that Greek and the boulder he had to push.

No, he had no desire to stay down here any longer than he had to. He realized that he had started to drift away from the others and began to make his way back towards the core of the group. The temptation to stay close to Argent being one that he did not manage to resist this time.

"Lets get to that elevator. I don't want to be here any longer than I must." He said softly, his eyes flickering from Argent to Gravitas and back.

[LadyTevar]

"Lets get to that elevator. I don't want to be here any longer than I must." Tachyon said softly, his eyes flickering from Argent to Gravitas and back.

Argent had to agree, slipping out of the shadows to take Tachy's arm, needing the mutual comfort and support as much as he did. "We turn right at the next corner, and once we're past the offices, we get out of here," and hope the next level isn't worse she added silently to herself.

If she could have, Argent would have reached out to Blackheart as well, but it was getting harder to tell which emotions were his and which were the Demonheart's. It was just barely better than the aura of the base, but still far from comforting.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart walked ahead, keeping his eyes open for any signs of ambush.

[General Havoc]

Hydro looked confused. Not literally of course, for he didn't look like much of anything save what he was, but his bubbling noises took on a distinctly atonal form as he considered what was being said.

"An odd concept," said Hydro after a while. "'Bad things' are subjective among flesh beasts as I understand it. What guidelines determines whether or not the dead fleshbeasts would be tormented in such ways?"

He continued to slither alongside the other Flesh Beasts, parting occasionally like the Red Sea to allow a passing office worker to move through him without getting wet. It was only polite.

"Please, which organization of flesh beasts administers this 'Hell'? Is 'Hell' an economic organization, or a tribal one? Are meta-flesh-beasts commonly involved with this 'Hell'?"

Hydro sounded as though his next question was to be regarding Hell's board of directors.

[SirNitram]

"Hydro... It's long, complicated, and religious." Gravitas stated simply. "We'll discuss it after we survive this."

[B4UTRUST]

The intrepid group passed through the cubicle farms unmolested and unambushed. Nothing apparently was laying in wait for them here. Though the ever rolling cameras might be adding to the paranoia that seemed to be permeating Mirage Team.

[LadyTevar]

Argent eyed the cameras, and frowned. "I almost want to tear them down," she muttered, even more uneasy by how easy it was getting to the elevator. The door even opened with a soft, almost pleasant chime.

She looked over at Blackheart. "Same MO, or do we actually want to leave this elevator in one piece?"

[Cynical Cat]

"We'll stick the bad guys with the repair bill," said Blackheart.

[LadyTevar]

"As you wish...," Argent answered, shadow tendrils once again going to work tearing up the floor of the elevator to allow the party access down.

[B4UTRUST]

Kyosuke stood at the gates to the demon city. This would be the difficult part of his current journey. He doublechecked the straps on his sode. They were tight, as he knew they would be. They would hold. The black and white laquored wood of his armor was polished to a sheen. The armor was ancient, archiac by today's standards. It was approaching somewhere close to 450 years old. He felt the familar sensation, the familar fear that he felt every time he came to this place. It took him back to his younger days.

Wreathed in the golden rays of the rising sun, he stood motionless, one hand at his side, the other resting on the hilt of his katana. He was dressed in his suit of armor. His unblinking eyes were visible above the carved mask that covered the lower half of his face.

Four armed and ready men surrounded him, two holding swords and two wielding spears. They were clad in various pieces of mismatched armor, with plain helmets and iron breastplates. Each of the quartet was completely focused on Kyosuke.

A few steps away, the observers doing their best to be absolutely still, not wanting to disturb the scene that was ready to burst into furious motion at any second. One of the observers looked sidelong at the other, a whisper leaking out of the corner of his mouth. "Would you care to predict what is about to happen?"

The other stared at the five poised men, sensing their ki rolling off in waves, battling across the field in a kind of psychic duel, each one waiting for their opponent's concentration to flag for even an instant - for that would be the time to strike.
"I predict that the next several moments will not go to according to the four men's wishes."

The first nodded. "They have already lost-"

As the words left his lips, the five men exploded into furious action. The pair in front of Kyosuke attacked as one, the spear-wielder thrusting his weapon at Kyosuke's head while the swordsman raised his blade and lunged, ready to cleave Kyosuke from shoulder two waist. The two men in the rear were also on the move, charging Kyosuke's unprotected back.

Kyosuke stepped forward to meet the charge of his enemy, ducking underneath the spear's point while executing a flawless iaijutsu draw and slicing across the swordsman's abdomen. Before the man fell to the ground, Kyosuke whirled in a half-turn and brought his blade around in a deadly arc, opening the spearman's side even while he tried to bring the butt of his weapon up in defense. The spear fell harmlessly aside as the second enemy went down, his chest slashed open.

Kyosuke completed his turn to face the remaining two men as they closed. The swordsman came in first, with the spearman following. Kyosuke continued his circular attack, bringing the sword up in a diagonal slice across the man's chest as his opponent tried to swing his weapon down at the same time. The samurai struck first, and the warrior fell, the third victim of the sword strike.

The final soldier charged with his spear, but Kyosuke, his katana still raised, used the blade to parry the point and shove it to one side. As the spearman ran past, Kyosuke grabbed the wooden shaft with his free hand and jerked the fighter even farther forward. The man staggered, trying to keep his balance as Kyosuke executed another half-turn and slashed him across the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"-they just had not realized it yet," the first finished.

The fight had taken only a few seconds. Kyosuke sheathed his katana in one fluid motion as the four men rose, all bowing to each other. Kyosuke untied his mempo and helmet and removed both, revealing the unlined face of a young man barely out of his teens under black hair shaved at the sides and back and bound in a topknot. Tucking the helm under his arm, he strode towards the small group that had been watching and bowed to each of them in turn. As he came up, he rocked back on his heels, his right hand never straying far from the hilt of his sword. Despite the casualness of the group, his eyes flicked from each of them, his body tense, as if expecting another attack at any moment.
"Your skill is impressive indeed, Kyosuke-san. Your task is certainly in the hands of a capable warrior."

Kyosuke snapped out of the memory, securing his mempo and helmet. His hand came to rest on the hilt of his one of his swords. He took the first step into the city, his path set before him. There was a demon he needed to see, and elixers to prepare. He would have welcomed the help of Kubira and the others, but they couldn't help him here. He had to rely on his own strength, his own power. The way it had always been intended.

[General Havoc]

Hydro bubbled on in his own thoughts as the flesh-beasts began to rip up the floor of the levitating machine that served as transport within this place. It was fortunate that he had found these flesh-beasts, or so he thought. Not only had they liberated him (if unintentionally) from captivity, but they had such fascinating insights into the otherwise indecipherable surroundings. He would never have guessed, for example, that this entire circumstance was a judgment construct with moral overtones. To him it appeared to be standard behavior of many flesh beasts, performing the process they called "work", a catchall phrase denoting tasks which they felt they needed to complete but did not wish to, for reciprocal gain, to avoid discomfort, or for other reasons more nebulous. Already he was rapidly re-evaluating several of his theories about Flesh-Beast behavior and dynamics. This little sojourn could turn out for the best indeed! After all, what was a little bit of boiling compared with this much new data, and this many people to exhaust with questions?

"Allow me," he bubbled contentedly as Argent tore up the elevator's floor. Without hesitation, Hydro collapsed into an ankle-deep puddle on the floor and flowed down the hole to see what would be found beneath it.

[Bloody Good]

Hector resisted the urge to say 'flush' as Hydro poured himself through the hole. He settled for a different bit of humor. "So should we be wondering who the 'boys downstairs' are and whether they will in fact be angry that we aren't wearing ties?" That pleasant smile was still affixed firmly on his countenance, and if it was an act, he should be on Broadway.

He looked at the more serious people in the motley group. "Okay, okay. I'll stop. But if we get sent home because we don't meet the dress code, I will be saying 'I told you so' as often as possible."

[LadyTevar]

Empathy, as a whole, allowed one to read another person's emotions, either mental or physical. Sometimes, it's not necessary.

"No, Legacies, you can't kill him for the bad jokes," Argent said, sending the monk a dark glance.

[Marcao]

He had reached the edge of the Elevator and settled on watching Argent as she methodically utilized her gift to rip a hole in the bottom of the elevator. He could have done the task, perhaps even more efficiently than she but there was something quite fascinating about watching her shadow tendrils work. The way that she could manipulate shadows and harden them, shape them as she saw fit.

His attention slid towards their latest guest a moment before it collapsed into itself and flowed down the waiting shaft below. "Ugh." He muttered to himself, that was a visual that he was not likely to forget anytime soon. The exchange between the monk and Argent was noted, a small smile appearing on his lips at her reaction to it.

"I will be right back." He stepped into the elevator slipping between Argent and the Monk before he glanced down the whole that Argent had crafted. He could only see so far, but it would be enough. His eyes focused on a particular spot beneath the elevator and he took himself there. Upon his re-arrival on that particularly spot he felt gravity begin to exert its hold on him. He fought against it, his body slowing and eventually coming to a hover a mere six inches beneath his original position.

He looked downwards once more, his entire body seeming to be projecting a dull green light. He began to drift downward until he finally reached the next junction in their trip. His eyes sought out Hydro as he considered his next action. In the end he settled on the direct approach.

"hmm, lets see." His left hand moved, his index finger brushing against the doors that barred their passage before he focused and began to cut a hole in the door before him with a precision that a cutting torch would envy.

[B4UTRUST]

The floor that Elias and Hydro found was remarkably different then the floors above. The corporate nightmare above was stark, clean and humane. This... this was something else.

There was no prefab offices or cubicle farms filled with cubicle rats madly typing in vain at impossible tasks. There were no anal inventive asshole supervisors or tiny office gods, deified by their own self-importance. No clever or cute motivational and demotivational posters and slogans adorned the walls.

Instead the floor was smooth, cold stone. The walls were rough hewn from the rock of the mountain itself. The hallway was ambiently lit, with no discernable source. There were no visibile lights or bulbs, no recessed florescents or even torches on the wall. The light seemed to be emanating from the floor, ceiling and walls equally.

Ruining the perfect plane of floor were sigils, symbols and writing carved into it. The writing appeared to be from over a dozen languages ranging from latin on back to ones so old that only a handful of people in the world knew there even was a language, much less how to speak it. The symbols and sigils gave off bad vibes that hurt the head when stared at, twisting and skewing in the eye of the mind.

Doorways carved from the stone were sealed with heavy metal doors, carefully labeled with the number four and a letter, starting with A. Below the neat labels were more of the strange sigils, these and burned with dried blood and ash.

The hallway was silent, no gentle rustle of circulating air, no sounds of electronics or electrical wiring or hum of florescent. It was almost like a tomb.

[LadyTevar]

Argent slipped down the elevator shaft to take a look, but was unable to enter the hallway in shadowform. "And I thought the ones before were nasty..." she muttered before returning to the top of the shaft.

There she ferried Blackheart and Gravitas down to take a look so they could see for themselves what the problem was, and make a decision before she brought the rest of the team down.

[General Havoc]

"Fascinating..."

This place was wholly unlike the previous level, a place of hewn stone and strange symbols on the ground that seemed to flicker when gazed at. He noticed that the Flesh Beasts seemed to be rather agitated upon viewing this scene. He could not determine why. The place looked reasonably serene to him.

"Do you... recognize this place?" he asked Argent and the others. "Is this another part of this... punishment theology you spoke of?"

[SirNitram]

"Ah... Binding sigils." Gravitas stated when he followed the rest down. "Or at least I think binding. I can attempt to translate if we have time." The gravitational manipulation was gone.. The intellect.. Not so much. "I think some is Latin.. I think I spy some Sumerian there.."

[General Havoc]

"Binding sigils," repeated Hydro. "Fascinating. Do they have any specific purpose?"