Heroes: The Road of Good Intentions

[Hotfoot]

It didn't take Hotfoot long to find the elevator, at least by the standards of the rest of the group. He snapped off his shield on his return and reported, "Another shaft down, it's pretty far ahead, but it's there."

[Cynical Cat]

"Nice work," said Blackheart. It was nice having a speedster doing the scouting instead of cutting your team up with blades. He began walking. "Let's go folks."

[LadyTevar]

Argent again slipped into her shadowdragon form, once again slipping slightly past Blackheart as she skated along the bare shadows along the walls. "Are we tearing the bottom out of it again, Blackheart, or using it like normal people this time," she quipped.

[Cynical Cat]

"Do we look like normal people?" Blackheart asked.

[SirNitram]

"I wasn't normal when I was human." Gravitas quipped simply. "But I should advise when we hit resistance, it'll be heavy. We've not been very subtle."

[Cynical Cat]

"Doesn't matter," said Blackheart. "They knew we were here from the moment we arrived. That's why we haven't bothered with subtle."

[LadyTevar]

"Somehow I knew that was going to be the answer," Argent answered with a faint chuckle. She was still worried about how strong the DemonHeart was getting, but if David wanted to pretend he was fine, she'd let him. "Legacies? Let's go rip open an elevator."

She surged ahead, skating and leaping down the hallway towards the elevator, wanting to get it open and get the team down as soon as she could.

[Marcao]

He watched as Argent surged ahead and made her down the hallway and towards the elevator. He glanced at Legacies for a moment before he smiled briefly and followed after Argent. He arrived shortly after she did, ripping and tearing at the floor worked but he thought he had a better way.

"You take that side and I will take this side" He said, his left hand pointing at the two sides of the elevator's floor. "The first person at the middle wins." He added teasingly as he moved to his side. His right arm moved, his power flooding him as the green energy elongated along his fingers. Within a heart beat a one a half meter long "blade" of neon green energy was formed and he happily slammed it down into the floor. The metal screamed and hissed on contact with no visible resistance.

[LadyTevar]

"You are a man full of surprises, Tachy..." Argent said, watching as he effortlessly sliced into the floor. "but... first person to the middle, you say?" He should have realized by the tone of her voice she was going to be tricksy. "As you wish..."

Spikes of shadows shot upwards, drawn from below the floor of the elevator, expertly marking out the square she'd been 'assigned'. The shadows rose up and met at the tips, merging into a solid sheet. With a grunt of effort, Argent pushed the shadows back down, yanking her section downward hard enough to make the elevator car rock.

It didn't quite break the floor, but that section was definitely weakened.

[Marcao]

"Thank you, I like to keep some in reserve though." He said, his eyes flickering in her direction even as he continued his work. "You haven't seen all my tricks." He teased, he was pretty confident that he was going to win this little challenge. There was something about her tone of voice however, that aroused a certain amount of suspicion. He had heard it before...

He was almost done, expertly cutting his assigned area in a manner that would let gravity alone pull the section away. The shadows shot upwards then, the sound of the impact dancing around the inside of the elevator like a dozen angry dogs. His eyes left his work and glanced towards Argent. "Argent..." He began but he quickly realized what she intended. He focused on his works, prepared to expand the energy field to the point where he would not need to manually drag it when he heard her grunt of effort. He managed to sigh before the the car rocked.

He lost his footing, yelped and cut the stream of energy he had been using to cut his section on the bottom of the elevator. In the end he ended up rolling near the entrance of the elevator and shook his head. "you so cheated!" He accused, although there was no anger in his tone. He stood up, dusted himself off and approached the section.

He whistled softly as he watched her handiwork. "The point of the exercise is to keep the elevator in one piece..." he teased, He made his way to her side, leaned over and brushed his lips against her cheeks. "I am amending my previous statement. The first one to meet in the middle without ripping the elevator to shreds wins" His head turned and he glanced towards his side, the neat lines of his cutting clearly evident. He had the advantage in terms of efficiency but her section looked like it was going to fall on its own volition.

Well, even if he lost he would enjoy trying to convince her otherwise...That was the thought in his mind as he made it back to his side, careful not to step on her section and continued the process.

[LadyTevar]

"Funny... I thought it point was to make a big hole," Argent teased back, blushing slightly at the kiss. "If I wanted to destroy the whole car, I'd just cut the cables and let gravity do the rest. Of course, you might not want to be inside...."

She let him get back to his section, and repeated her trick, the shadows surging up in different places, expanding the holes outlining her section and further weakening the floor there. "Watch your footing, Tachy," she warned with a wicked grin, as the shadows connected at the tips and smashed down. With a creaking groan the metal gave and fell, the clattering echoing horrifically up and down the shaft. "I win."

[B4UTRUST]

The doors on the elevator were not airtight. This was proven when after they cut the floor, the sounds of painful cries and screaming echoed upwards to their ears. It was loud and was definatly more then one or two people. Probably more then one or two dozen.

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

"The experiments must be ran. We've wasted far too much time waiting for you to deal with the intruders! Asmodai will have your heads and mine if this is delayed any further!"

"Very well, run your experiments if it will please your lord. The legions of Eligos shall meet this challenge."

The two 'men' parted, one turning to join his forces, the other disappearing through a door. The latter appeared again a moment later in what appeared to be a surgical room. Through the slanted observation windows above the entire process could, and was, being watched, monitored and recorded.

On the table before the demon was a young caucasian male, stripped naked and bound by leather and metal. He was fully concious, his eyes darting about frantically as he tried to figure out where he was and what was happening to him. His head and neck were similarly bound, preventing much movement.

Next to the table was a rolling tray covered in surgical equipment, along with several syringes filled with a dully glowing crimson liquid. The demon grabbed one of the syringes and with a casual movement stabbed the needle into the chest of the boy, piercing it through into the heart. He pressed down on the stopper, injecting the liquid.
"Test batch #0872A. Test subject caucasian male, late teens to early twenties. Subject is restrained and showing obvious signs of discomfort and fright. Subject is fully concious and has not been sedated or administered any form of anesthesia. Subject will remain in this state for the remainder of the prcedure."

The boy's body stiffened as every muscle seemingly contracted at once, arching his back, arms and legs against the restraints to the point of nearly undoing them it seemed. His mouth fell open as he let out a shriek of pain as he felt the injection burning through his veins, flowing through his body from his heart.
"Burns! GOD IT BURNS," the boy screamed, feeling his blood boil and his heart race faster, pushing the drug further and further into his system, filling it, coating it.

After a few minutes the screams died off and the body slumped to the table, motionless. A soft whimper fell from the boy's lips. The demon looked over at the vital monitors.
"BP 125 over 83, heart rate 137 and dropping respitory rate 42 and settling. Commencing with removal of left extremity."

The demon grabbed what looked to be a a surgical saw from the table and hefted it. He pressed the small button that sent power coursing through the wires and caused the blade to spin in a high pitched whine. He did this a few times for effect, causing the boy to start screaming again, begging for his life.

The demon stepped around to the left side of the boy and with one hand held it taunt as he placed the blade of the saw onto the exposed flesh. The button was pushed and the blade spun up to speed, biting into the tender skin. A spray of blood greeted the demon in the first second as the subject fought to be heard over the whine. The sounds coming from the subject's throat shouldn't have ever been made by a human and quite possibly did irreperable damage to the vocal cords.

The demon pressed down slightly with the saw, sending the blade deeper into the arm. More blood sprayed out in a fine mist, coating the surgical apron, gloves and mask it wore. The demon smiled slightly when he hit bone, feeling the slight resistance that lasted all of a brief second before succumbing. The bone cracked, splintered, broke and seperated as the blade passed all the way through, stopping when it hit the table beneath.

Blood flowed rapidly from the stump. The boy's eyes were nearly rolled back in his head and he struggled to get enough breath to continue screaming but he did. His face was red and he displayed signs of hyperventilating. The demon continued unfazed.
"Subject's vitals have spiked sharply. Heart rate spiking at almost 200, though falling. Respiration rate has risen to almost 120 and BP is now 160 over 100. Vitals are dropping and stableizing out."

The stump began to stop bleeding. Sticky blood clotted and began to harden into a shell over the wound before drying out and flaking off. Beneath the blood the stump was completely skinned over. It was like watching an accelerated time lapse video of a flower blooming. the stump began to lengthen and widen as more of the arm grew back. The bone began to grow with it, hardening and forming beneath the newly made flesh, ligament and muscle.

In a matter of minutes the arm was whole again. The vitals on the monitors had dropped to normal ranges and were steady. The boy continued to scream, nearing passing out.
"Subject has regrown the severed appendage in less then five minutes, restoring it to full use with original tone and pigmentation. Test batch #0872A has demonstrated the ability to induce forced regeneration of missing limbs in a remarkable speed. Further analysis of subject will be neccessary to confirm results and to view long term effe-"

The demon stopped speaking. His eyes were fixed on the arm that had begun to twitch uncontrollably. The skin began to split as wet pink muscle was exposed to the air, pulsing and growing beyond the confines of the flesh. Along with it were the veins and arteries that strove to reach the open air. In a matter of seconds the arm had doubled its length and circumfrence and continued to grow as cancerous tumors and growths appeared on it, exploding as they reached massive size. Within a minute the arm was on the floor beneath the table, trailing almost to one of the walls. It was huge and continued to grow uncontrollably as muscle and ligament were created. The demon watched impassively then moved his eyes to the body. He saw then where the extra mass and nutrients to make the process had come from.

The rest of the body was little more then a drained husk that looked like it had been sucked dry of every usable ounce. And still the arm continued to expand. A moment later, it stopped, now more then half a dozen times larger then the body it had orginated from. The arm was a stark contrast to the rest of the body. From where the stump had started on down was the monsterous growth of what had once been an arm. The rest of the body before that was little more then taunt leathery dead skin and the remnants of bone.
"Test batch 0872A is a failure. Test subject is dead. Result after successful regeneration was continued unimpeded generation of cellular structures. The regeneration used the rest of the body as fuel for the process, reducing it to a husk. Cellular growth is on an unprecedented scale, having grown far larger then the original body. Further analysis is needed. Next test will be test batch 0872B."

[Cynical Cat]

"Probably a trap," said Blackheart. He dropped down towards the noise. "Let the walking dead man spring it."

[Marcao]

He glanced at Argent for a moment as she spoke. "good point." He replied to her comment about not wanting to being inside during those circumstances. He continued his work, his section melting beneath his precise application of force.

"Don't worry Argent, I have everything under..." WHAM. The shadows connected once more and the elevator vibrated beneath the impact. He was prepared for it this time, but it still cost him a bit of time. Maybe he should have been hovering in the place. His right hand moved a bit more forcefully, the metal sizzling beneath his touch.

"And here we..." He looked towards her a beautiful smile on his lips, victory was at hand. At that exact moment the metal groaned and the section from which she had been tasked fell away.

"Well shit." He found himself saying, the beautiful smile changing to a wistful one. "hmm, very impressive Argent." He said softly. His right hand moved once more and the six and half inches which had remained in his own section were cut and his section fell away.

He stood up and walked to her side. "You will have to find a suitable prize as compensation." He said softly. "We can talk about that later." The screaming moments later was met with a frown and a sigh. "And this was going so well..." he muttered.

"I will be right back." With those words said he stepped into the hole and came to a stop. A millisecond later he began to drift downwards.

[SirNitram]

"Sounds to me like it's time to begin the indiscriminate violence that has so marked our careers as Ultima agents." Gravitas said absently, gripping the stolen weapon he had found. "Shall we?"

[frigidmagi]

Blast walked forward his shield still glowing.

[LadyTevar]

Argent would have been happy to join them, but she was having a slight problem: it wasn't just the screams of the tortured and dying hitting her. She barely heard Tachyon admitting defeat and making promises, as the emotions had hit her almost as soon as her section of floor had dropped.

After Blackheart and Tachyon dropped down, only then did she sink to the floor, shivering and shuddering. "...... I don't think I can do this.........."

[Agent Fisher]

Michael walked forward, squating down next to Argent. "You can, you are strong, little shadow." He said. "You have done much, and you still have much left to do. But you must keep walking the path."

[SirNitram]

"Draw on me if you need it. If ego is any sign of strength of will, my mind will overpower the many.." Gravitas grinned and lingered close for Argent, if she dared, to make the connection. Then, he strode out. His emotional state was the same calm pool it always was, vast in scope, yet in the centre, a blazing pillar of righteousness at this moment.

The demons or men doing demonic work would suffer.

[LadyTevar]

Michael walked forward, squating down next to Argent. "You can, you are strong, little shadow." He said. "You have done much, and you still have much left to do. But you must keep walking the path.

It was the first thing the Angel said that didn't make Argent want to hit him. Just hearing him speak gave her a touch of courage, from somewhere deep inside her, steadied her nerves and her shields.

"Draw on me if you need it. If ego is any sign of strength of will, my mind will overpower the many.." Gravitas grinned

Argent had to chuckle at that. Gravitas' ego was bigger than the mountain they were in. She tapped the link between them, allowing his calm confidence to whisper through her mind. Another link was drawn upon, to Legacies, who also had that calm confidence in his abilities.

She took a deep breath, and surprisingly allowed Michael to help her to her feet before speaking. "Then we let Blackheart and Tachyon open the door, and I'll take us down."

[Marcao]

"So, how do you want to handle this Blackheart?" He found himself asking. There were many ways to potentially breach their way into the next part of their path. The sounds which were welcoming them left little doubt of the intentions of those beyond.

[Cynical Cat]

"Kick ass and take names," said Blackheart as he approached the source of the sounds. "Whatever is torturing people like that has burned through any claim to mercy."

[Cynical Cat]

Doors were forced over by arms that could flip cars. Energy seethed in Blackheart's eye sockets as he forced his way through.

[Marcao]

"Understood." He replied calmly as Blackheart offered his thoughts on the matter. He agreed with his assessment, there was little need to hold back in this place. He watched dispassionately as Blackheart utilized his considerable strength to make the doors which had barred entry submit to his will. Where Blackheart led he followed, very much aware that the first few moments of any conflict where always crucial ones.

[B4UTRUST]

No sooner then the elevator doors were forced open then two large imposing figures clad in some strange form of armor appeared from either side of the opening. A huge gauntleted hand came in first, smashing into Blackheart's face. The owner of the hand followed the fist into the elevator accompanied by his partner. Both had to duck slightly to enter the door.

The first moved to take Blackheart, another fist striking his stomach. The second's gauntlets bore blades mounted above the hand. The second's rush brought it into contact with Tach, throwing the smaller meta back against the wall with the impact. The bladed gauntlet reared back and stabbed forward at Tach's chest.