Atlas City

Shinigami and Koschei were dragging the unknown woman along, getting back to where they had landed earlier. Sasha was insisting they go up to wait for the others but Shinigami shook her head. The ghosts were riled up inside of her since they grabbed the woman. Combined with the increasing feeling of exhaustion, Akiko needed a small break and the two of them needed to know who the strange woman was. Shinigami let go momentarily and Sasha did as well of the woman who looked up and down at the of them.

Looking at her, Akiko noticed how... lethal she looked. It nearly bordered on edgy if she was honest. The woman had tanned skin with black eyes and red dots for pupils. There were streaks of red in her short, jet black hair and markings in dark blue ink upon her face. One line on her chin and dots of increasing size along her cheeks to her ears. Her armor consisted of a deep blue and red as well but it looked like a knight's armor... If a knight's arms was sharpened in every possible spot that wouldn't immediately cause lethal harm to the wearer. There was no sword or shield but she did seem to carry something nestled in the crook of her right arm. It looked like an obsidian block with gold markings but it seemed to almost pulse on the edges that touched her arm.

The woman noticed Shinigami's helmet pointing towards her as well as Sasha's own stare. She turned her body to try to shield the block from view and said, "Thanks but I don't appreciate the staring as compensation for saving me. Mind telling me your names?"

"Mind telling us what's that in your arm?" Shinigami countered, grabbing hold of Sasha's arm again, both of them becoming somewhat transparent.

The woman raised an eyebrow, "Now, that's a neat trick. Really saved us back there. You know what, how about I let you know I'm referred to as Polarity? For saving me back there. Nasty things, roaches are."

"They are. Devilman. Boo Woman," Shinigami said as she pointed at Sasha and then herself. Polarity looked incredulous at Shinigami's fake name but didn't question it. "So if you won't tell us what that is, mind telling us why you're here?"

"Ooh, yikes, that's classified info, kiddos," Polarity responded. "You see, I-"

"SHE -KLIK- HAS THE ARTIFACT OF -KLIK- THE DARK-EVER PRESENT MASTERS!" a roach screeched, Shinigami looking up to see a small army of roaches head towards them. As soon as Polarity saw them, she quickly shuffled over to the other side of Shinigami, grabbing a firm hold on her arm. Akiko could clearly see the cube of obsidian in her other arm but the markings were unrecognizable to her.

"Mind doing that little disappearing trick of yours again, Boo? Thanks!" Polarity said and Shinigami simply rolled her eyes before turning them invisible and intangible again. She flew them up as more angry screeches, hisses, and clicks ensued in rage over their escaped prey.

"This time, we don't let go until the others arrive," Shinigami said as they flew back up to cliff.

Alex stumbled when J-3 flopped onto their side but was quick to catch himself from falling. He let out a sigh of relief in a shaky breath. as terrifying as it could have been with Jemma's tendency to be overly hostile and violent When Alex was in danger, the fact that she hadn't tried to eat or rip apart Silver Fang out of blind instinct was comforting. Her self restraint was getting better. Carefully, He positioned himself to be in front of Jemma's head and rested his forehead against her inhuman skull and simply waited. "We're okay." the words came out just above a whisper. Even if she hadn't heard what he said, he knew that the gentle form of contact always seemed to help calm the shapeshifter.

He was just getting back onto his feet along with Jemma when Sairyn got his attention. The tinker needed him to carry Silver Fang to his lab. His brow furrowed for just a moment. A quick glance toward the armored hero told him everything he needed to know. Alex's face went pale. Knowing full well that Jemma was not above using poisons and toxins

"Oh . . . Shit." While normally now was the perfect time for him to start panicking, Instinct overrode Alex's brain before he could get too lost in his worry.

With little effort, Alex had scooped Silver Fang into his arms bridal style and followed after Sai with Jemma staying close to Alex's side. Had to hurry, couldn't take the chance that it wouldn't be fatal.

"Hmmm. Lost Gods be what they sounds like. Mighty beings once roamed the Earth, same as you do. 'Cept they was a great deal mightier...perhaps," Ratgarok answered after a moment of contemplation. "Then one day they up 'n' vanish. Ain't dead but gone."

"Do you know why?" Henry interjected.

Ratgarok shrugged. "Can't say for sure. Alls I know is they leave their mark on the world, should ye know where to look. Damn buggers fear 'em too! That's why I ask fer their favor. Done me well so far! Now then..." Ratgarok waddled over to one of the ship's cannons. "We're gonna let these cannon's do the talkin' and blow these cages keepin' people penned off their hinges!"

"That won't hurt them at all?" Henry asked, looking over the boat's boat's starboard hull.

"Not at all," Chimalma spoke up for the first time. "The canons are like the rest of the ship. Powered by pure thought. It's lethality is only as strong as we think it is."

"Thought-tech, huh?" Henry laughed a bit. "Well, I figured we'd get there eventually." Before he could speak any further, a blast from the canon shot forth, at one of the cages, melting the rusty metal bars.

"Lower the ladders!" Ratgarok called out, helpfully pointing to their location on the deck. "Make sure each and every last one of em get aboard too! We ain't leavin' a damn one behind this time! And shoot any buggers that dare look at ye funny! All it takes is ta stand near a canon and think bothin' but a thought!" The rat captain then swiveled around, lifting up his eyepatch to get a clearly look at a swarm of roaches approaching...something invisible. "Rest of yer friends are over there. Might wanna focus some fire over that way, buggers are working themselves into a frenzy!"

"Akiko, Sasha!" Henry called out as he lowered one of the ladders, shouting over in the direction Ratgarok indicated. "Might wanna head on over this way!" he continued, glancing over to one of the cannons and concentrating in the direction of the Roach swarm. A volley of rapid-fire gatling blasts shot forth from the canon, pelting the roach swarm with pure mental force.

Klaus listened as Cannonade and Richard talked. He wasn't up to date on all the hero terms or the many regulations surrounding the use of their powers. He was aware of them, sure, but as someone who could, or well used to be able, to go. Wherever and whenever he wanted, he never paid much attention to regulations.

Eventually, Klus was alone. He looked at his phone and shook his head. He'd had a headache all morning and couldn't pinpoint why. With a sigh, he made his way back to his room. He should attend the memorial, but part of him was still wrapping his head around everything, and he was sure if he should be near the area with the Chrono Dialer still out of wack.




***


"Ratgarok, where are you?" The Cobalt Clock called, scanning the area for roaches. The Ratkin had taken off without a word. Klaus was under the impression they would save the human prisoners together, but it seems the guy had his own plans. "Ugh, I can't stand this place." he shook his wrist. The Chrono Dialer's haptic feedback was going into overdrive as he slipped between years with every step. "Why does a place like this exist anyway? Dr. Asmer would flip to learn about time burrowing roaches...though; maybe I'll refrain from letting him know about them..."

While the answer Devon got from Ratgarok was a lot less than what he'd hoped for, at the very least it was simple concise and didn't involve foreign metaphysical knowledge... Or he was slowly adapting to the absolute insanity around him. He even understood a bit of what the woman said when Ratgarok added his explanation about the cannons. "Get near a cannon and think of the destruction you want to see, that I can do." He said as he walked towards one of the cannons.

Manifesting the conceptualized carnage, that just sounded like the ideal testing ground to figure out new kinds of munition. Devon raised his rifle and used the sights to aim at his target, a somewhat calmer roach near the swarm Henry seemed to be pelting. Concentrating his thought on the projectile a single blast howled from the cannon a prelude of what was to come. The projectile exploded right in front of the roach, engulfing it in a directed pressure wave and nearly instantly liquefying the flesh hidden within that armor of chitin.

After taking note of the gross and rather morbid result of liquid flesh seeping out from the gaps in the chitin he aimed his sights on another couple roaches trying to conceptualize new, fascinating and deadly ordnance for later use in his own weapons.

"So... Artifact of the ever present dark masters huh?" Shinigami asked 'Polarity' as the three of them waited for the others. The strange cube had been in Akiko's line of sight and the other woman seemed very reluctant to even take a finger off of it.

'Polarity' shot her a glare and held it closer to her body, "And now exclusive property of Libertalia. Corporate property mind you so do-"

Her words were cut short as the three of them saw tiny pebbles on the ground begin to shake. A few of the roaches had been climbing the cliff's walls to see if the heroes had escaped up there. Now, with the torrent of firepower being sprung upon the roach's territory, more had come. As well as their rescue.

Shinigami looked up as Henry yelled out to them, riding on top of a giant ship with what looked like.. a rat? Akiko didn't have time to process it however as a ladder was dropped down to them. 'Polarity' hesitated however. Her arms were still around the cube and she seemed extremely reluctant to let go.

"Is it really this important!?" Shinigami yelled, a little under pressure with all the roaches and bullets around.

"It's the key to finding god," the woman simply responded in a gentle tone, clutching it tighter to her chest. "The roaches do not praise it properly."

Roaches still approached and with an answer as vague as that, Shinigami had no patience. With her body reaching exhaustion quickly, they had to go. She grabbed the woman's shoulder and Sasha, the three becoming somewhat visible as she flew them up. Once their feet touched the deck, the ghost hero released them and fell onto one knee.

"Cobalt? Where'd ye run off too?" The rat captain wondered aloud, wandering off to the side of the ship, drawing out a small communicator. "Either way, I saw a prime opportunity ta free the prisoners! Turns out it was with the help of some of yer pals!"

Henry walked over to Akiko, Sasha, and their other new apparent ally. "Looks like we've got 'em on the run! ...And if we don't now, I think Freischütz will make we do in a few moments," he laughed. "But hey, whatever y'all did, you got 'em pissed!" Henry glanced over to the woman, presumably the one that had been initiated whatever had the roaches riled up in the first place. Henry figured it had to be another super "Whether you knew we were here or not, thanks for the assist. You already meet Captain..." Henry trailed off, staring at the object in the mysterious woman's hands.

"Wait...what is this?" he asked, after a moment, his expression turning serious. "This is what they were after, isn't it? ...There's something inscribed on it, but I can't make it out. ...But, I know I've seen something like it before."

The roaches numbers were starting to dwindle and more and more prisoners began to back their way aboard the ship, somehow able to fit into the thought-vessel's lower hull without fear of overcrowding the ship.

"Won't be long now, captain!" Chimalma responded, firing thought canons spewing acidic salvos down on the roaches. "The wounded and the weak are being helped aboard. We'll have them all!"

"Good ta hear! Listen, Cobalt! Meet us at The Precipice! We're gonna send all these folks back from whence they came and whatnot!" Ratgarok shut off his communicator and turned to the others to see fi they were ready to get a move on.

***

"Mother please -KLIK-...be calm! We have this under control..." a gaggle of fearful roaches bowed subserviently before a grimy golden room with walls covered in sticky green liquids and wriggling tan pods. In the center of it all lay a massive figure staring back at her prodigies with unblinking merciless eyes as dark as night. At first she stood still and then she began to shake, sounds of PZZZRK and ZZZIIIK snapping off the green tendrils ripping from her abdomen and thorax ax she freed herself form her self-made throne.

"Queen-Mother! Wise mother, PLEASE! We need you to stay here and watch over our breth-"

The only verbal response was quaking roar that shook the room, knocking the eighty or so roaches approaching her back, sending them flying across the room. Wind began to pick up in the room as wings that had not seen much use in a very long time began to take flight and speed off in a violent rage...

"She'll be fine," Sairyn re-iterated as he led them back to the lab area. "The toxin levels aren't lethal, she was just grazed. We do need to get her on a respirator though," he said, with a note of urgency.

Sairyn pushed a large cadaver carrier with a frosted glass cover out of their way to make space for Alex to deposit Yue onto a medical bed. He flipped through the "med-tech" section of his grimiore casually, scrolling through a list of machines with his finger and dragging an item off the page. With a casual flick, an arc of white light leapt from his fingertip and he snapped the book closed authoritatively as a portable respirator materialized with a dull thud of displaced air.

A rapid staccato of displaced air rattled off in the lab as items rapidly moved about. An armor mannequin jumped out of the corner in a flash of yellow, landing on the other side of the medical bed. Yue's suit was systematically stripped, replaced with fully covering casual clothes, and dressed on the mannequin with rapid flashes almost faster than than the human eye could register. He was careful not to reveal her face, and left her with a mask covering her upper face so that he could affix the respiration mask on her, and a hood concealed her hair.

The machine thrummed to life and Yue seemed to calm down after a minute or two. Sairyn let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding almost inaudibly, and took a few steps to examine the suit. He was about to step past Jemma when he paused, noticing her expression.

"Aw. Honey," he said, with uncharacteristic softness. "You're not in trouble.
Nobody's mad," he explained, kneeling down to be at eye level with her. "You know, I was saving it for later but," he paused, looking out into the lobby over her shoulder carefully and pushing the lab doors shut with a bit of telekinesis. "What if I gave you something nice to eat? Would that make you feel better?" He asked, with a small smile spreading across his face.

Yue raised an eyebrow at him from behind her mask.

Devon turned towards Henry at his comment. "What, this is practically the ideal prototyping grounds for me. I can think up something and test it out immediately, not to mention teaching them to fear the gods again is needed for certain." He said with a jovial tone before turning his attention back to bug extermination.

After a few more roaches got a personal experience in atomization, acid and leaching baths Devon looked over to Chimalma. "I don't suppose you guys have a spare one of these or perhaps some blueprints laying around, right?... You know, as a souvenir? Good god with a couple of weeks I could make those babies sing like the apocalypse."

With the number of roaches dwindling and practically exhausting the number of ways he could think of that could destroy those roaches without setting the entire cavern alight Devon turned his attention to the newest face in the group, though mostly to the strange object she was carrying. His mind drifting a bit as he gazed upon the object, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something that it reminded him of... "It's almost like a pulsing heart." He said thinking out loud as it finally clicked.

"...or a shiny piece of stone with the light bouncing off of it, Mister Freischütz? Was it?" 'Polarity' responded as she looked both him and Henry up and down. Her tone seemed to soften towards them, both Koschei and Shinigami noting the difference. Shinigami didn't interrupt however, wanting to see where this led.

'Polarity' held the cube up, removing her other hand from it. They could see the cube still pulsing but only where her fingers touched it.

"As you can see the 'beating' part is only due to my powers trying to work on it," 'Polarity' explained, touching it with her other hand. Where her fingertips touched more pulsing seemed to appear. The gold markings were more visible but whatever it was written in seemed to be in a language none of them could comprehend. It didn't help that her fingers covered part of the markings.

She turned to Henry, "You've seen something like this before though? May I ask your name? And how you might know this?"

Looking around, 'Polarity' leaned in and in a quiet voice added, "I'm trying to prevent another tragedy like the beach from happening again."

"Uh..." Henry began at Polarity's sudden asking of his name. "I-I'm an archaeologist," he shrugged.

"Blueprints..." Chimalma put a hand to her chin. "Not as you know them. Take this..." she held out a floating sphere in her hands towards Devon. "It took an eon's worth of thought-welding to build this vessel. But we do not have the resources you do. Perhaps it will not take you as long to discover it's secrets." she stated with a slight smile before glancing over towards the device Polarity was holding onto.

"All right, all aboard!" Ratgarok bellowed, the Quetzalcoatl's Fang beginning to take off towards one of the tunnels that led out of the wide room. "Next stop is The Precipice! A yawning chronochasm of time, it be. Everybody's got a mark on 'em once they get 'ere. A kind of chronological signature. Ye leave through there, ye'll be back from whence ya came from!"

"Captain..." Chimalma pointed out, aiming a finger at the artifact Polarity was holding, the thought cannons she was wielding raining one last round of acidic fire down upon the Roaches' sensroy warships. "That's something of the roaches. An artifact of theirs..." she snarled, the way she uttered that last word indicating that it was not the roaches she was referring to.

"Aye, I see it...." Ratgarok scratched his scraggly beard. "I personally don't want nothin to do with it. But I pray more for ye five than us, if'n it's them yer goin' after. There's nothin' fer those beasties here. The buggers worship the damn things."

"And by things, you mean the Beast of Decay and others like it?" Henry asked, furrowing his brow.

"Aye, I do," "Ratgarok nodded. "Any point in a timeline them creatures pass through, temporeality loosens up a bit like moist soil. That's how the damn buggers pick their tunnel routes. They find areas visited by those things, mark 'em as 'doomed timelines' and take their pick of the litter in terms of food and slaves all ta build their wretched Empire at the end 'o time."

"For what purpose?" Henry inquired.

"They believe they have claim to these 'doomed' timelines. They hope to conquer these temporal realms ot cull them for the creatures and gain their favor. A foolish notion, if I ever saw one."

"Let it be said that their brains didn't quite evolve with the rest of 'em," Ratgarok added. "That said, I've got a bad feelin'. The bulk of the hoard may be getting marchin' orders soon. 'Tis easy to kill 'em by the handful, but when the whole of their army's on yer tail..." he sighed as they delved once more into the darkness of the tunnels, leaving the relatively well lit area behind. "They're stupid and their angry, but aside form their 'dark gods' they don't fear no one. Well...maybe there is one."

***

"-KLIK- He's here! The Cobalt Clock!!" A roach scout spat out, crouching on it's knees and vomiting up green bile.

"Fool! You know better -KLIK- than to speak in dodgerblue!" the Roach spoke, also falling to it's knees, despite it's prior reprimanding of it's kin. "The Queen mother stirs, Cobalt! Not even you will -KLIK- survive her!! Today, your infection will be -KLIK- purged!" it called out in a mad fervor.

Devon took the floating sphere Chimalma, taking a moment to observe it closer. It was a rather strange thing indeed perhaps even more mysterious than the obsidian cube, and the fact that it had taken them eons to work it all out didn't exactly bode too well for him. But on the off chance that his powers and the allies around him would help crack the sphere's secrets it would be too beneficial to not give it a go. "Thank you, hopefully I'll be able to figure it out in a more reasonable amount of time... We don't quite have the luxury of time on our side as I'd assume has been the case over here."

"Well whatever it is it's more than just a shiny stone, it's something those roaches will lay down their lives for. That's enough for me to know it needs to be kept away from them." Devon replied to 'polarity' as she tried to cover up the true nature of the item in question.

As he remained on the lookout for any roaches within sight Devon listened to the conversation between Henry, Chimalma and Ratgarok. He wasn't quite surprised when he heard that this episode of madness was something that tied back to the beast of decay they had fought. The mention of an army potentially being in pursuit of them gave him some mixed feelings, while he thought that as long as they'd at least stick to the narrow tunnels the limited approach options could give them the edge in a defensive battle, especially with the cannons on their side, but prolonged combat would be mentally taxing and that doesn't work well with a weapon that relies of mental power to be effective. "I get what you're saying, while we have this ship and the terrain is to our advantage there is a chance that they might just overrun us with their sheer numbers. Even if their fighting is incredibly uncoordinated, we don't exactly have that big of a fighting force either and we have a literal boatload of civilians to protect."

Fingers twitched. What was once cold and still jerked, once, twice. Bones were stretched to their limits and crunched. Muscles rippled beneath the skin. Veins bulged as they were flooded with sickly glowing green fluids. Light glinted upon dead eyes, and the flesh of brows and cheeks distended as the monster's growl crescendoed into a blood-curdling roar.

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Steel bent like butter against quintals worth of muscles. Shackles and chains snapped, and broken wires spat out sparks. The monster reached for the skies, his silhouette cast against the dark grey walls.

---

The metallic thud of the door seemed twice as loud inside Pyromancer's mind. It took him a second to process what had happened. Golden rings came alight in his eyes, and he glared straight at the closest intercom.

He reached for the lapels of his suit and tossed them aside. Embers came unfurled around his body, flying, swaying around him like a horde of furious fireflies. Before Kiran could continue on his overlong speech, Pyromancer pulled his arm far back, summoned a fireball in his hand, and pitched it, far, fast, and high.

"Lab Rat, you Son of a BITCH!"

Ka-BOOM!

The speaker shattered. The Lab Rat was silenced. Black and grey detritus rained from above. Pyromancer blinked, and silently hoped that the Shape would not take this out of his paycheck.

Silence ensued. Pyromancer bent his knees into a guarded stance and kept himself close to Vortex. His eyes darted left and right.

The floor erupted. A green arm burst through layers of concrete; resembling a man's, yet far too big and too long to be one. Dust and debris scattered towards them. A shard of rubble grazed Vicki Vortex's cheek at high speed. Pyromancer stumbled, and just barely secured his footing.

The rest of the creature emerged from beneath, like a zombie crawling out of its grave. He leered at them, with his pallid yellow eyes. He was a man, but not human. Not anymore. His veins shimmered in tune with his false heart. He took a step forward. A single footfall shook the earth beneath their feet.

"Well, well, WELL!" The monster remarked, with a voice that was boisterous yet mundane compared to his form.
"My creator has blessed me with such taut, succulent FLESH"

Pyromancer stepped back, and fires came alight within his palm.

The creature's mask obscured much of his face below the eyes, but Vic could sense his smirk. He looked straight at her. Hungry, eager, and undressing her through his leering eyes.

"I! Am! SCOURGE! Butcher, executioner, and DELIVERER of her will-"

A gout of flame struck Scourge in the face. Pyromancer held both of his hands forward, and maintained the stream. On, and on, and on, and on.

Scourge chuckled.

Then approached.

He lumbered with every step. A slow, yet steady advance.

"GYAHAHAHA! OHHH, HOW IT BURNS!"

Pyromancer widened his eyes. He halted his flames and hopped back. "Move!" He whispered Vic's way.

"Give me MORE!"

The monster swung, and a tentacle shot out from his forearm. The throbbing shaft shot out, gaining twelve feet of length in two seconds, and struck at both Pyromancer and Vic, hard.

"Hakh!" Pyromancer gasped out. His body was flung across the arena, then crashed onto the seats with a bone-shattering thud.

Scourge's brows knit together with a lascivious smirk."Yessssss…". His tentacle retreated into his arm. White fluid dribbled from the tip before it disappeared, sizzling as it stuck to the floor.

Pyromancer clutched the armrest of a seat with one hand, and his ribs with the other. He winced, and sputtered, and looked around for Vicki Vortex.

The ground quaked with Scourge's steps, like the slow and menacing beat of a war drum. His skin rippled and shifted. "Hiding WON'T save you! I'm not satisfied YET."

His eyes narrowed. "Not until I have YOU. Spent! Broken! On your knees, BEGGING, for release…"

Scourge's whip didn't throw Vic back with Pyromancer. It cut her in two.

At least it looked that way. Her halves disintegrated away into nothing as the whip swept through her. Then she was everywhere. And she would have been satisfied staying like this, if it weren't for everything about the enemy in front of her. His taunts had a flavour to them that had made her stomach knot.

Vic flew up as far as she could before she reappeared, her left hand still out of order. She raised her right, pointed at the back of the Scourge's head and blasted off her air cannon, furiously intent on sending him back to the Clive Barker novel he belonged to.

'Polarity' tilted her head as she listened to the information the others had, particularly the giant rat. She smiled at the mention of the beast of decay and shrugged when Devon mentioned the stone was important regardless.

"Well, well, seems like you do know quite a bit, don't ya Shipratster. Then again you seem experienced in traveling these tunnels as well. You on the other hand...." 'Polarity' turned to Henry, coming closer to take a good look at his face. "You look entirely human. Not that I have anything against ratkind, I'm fond of the snake kind myself, but what is an archeologist doing with supers, hmm? Particularly one who's seen a little gem like this before? A gem that hasn't appeared in our timeline.."

"Seems like a very boor question to ask since he did say he saw something similar," Shinigami said as she approached, noting her suit seemed more difficult to move in. 'Polarity' glanced to her and Akiko felt the stiffness of her suit increase for a second before she nearly fell, the suit suddenly light again. Shinigami looked up at her, glaring at her from under the mask. She restrained from giving her the ol' one, boo, punch though.

"Ah whoops, can't control these pesky power sometimes," 'Polarity' explained with a fake smile. "Let me clarify. Our timeline and our world."

"Something to eat...? Do you need to watch my, ah, processes again? I thought you had said you had enough relevant data...?" Questioned the shapeshifter, her eyes narrowing somewhat at The Scientist.

Jemma had worked with Sairyn over the past three days, what with 'The Scientist' asking her to 'help him clean up the lab.'
She had tried throughout that time to associate the man with... Less negative 'emotions'... As she understood them to be.
Emotions were still a very weird thing for her to understand, much less trying to comprehend the association between them and another being. Sairyn had been nothing but kind to her thus far, being so much so that she would sometimes go so far as to call it 'overly kind.'

Fear, was one emotion that she had no trouble understanding. As was 'anger', though that was more because territorial 'anger' was easily understood by any base being. Or so Jemma thought. Thoughts were weird too, and so was the musings on sapience and sentience. The scientists back 'home' decreed that she had no true 'sapience', that she only mimicked human behaviors around her to survive. Which may have been true at one point but at the least, it wasn't anymore. Or at least, she thought so.

"I uh... Did I give off the impression of... Uh... That emotion? Er... The emotion of feeling, oh!" She cut herself off abruptly, making a bright warble-hiss as she beamed at Alex before continuing, "I feel guilty! That is what this feeling is! Sorry! I just- The feeling of being sick to the stomach and needing to chew my intestines with razor teeth!" Jemma chirped.
Her smile was a thing of beauty depending how one might look at it. Her teeth were jagged, mismatched, razor sharp fangs. The tongue, when she opened her mouth to speak again, was deeply forked and lined with what seemed like short spines.

"I would LOVE something to eat, yes. Please."
Her voice changed as she spoke, becoming something deeper and more guttural than what Sairyn had heard thus far, perhaps even Alex.

An invisible bullet struck Scourge's head, with the sound and fury of a thundercrack. The monster's head jerked forcefully forward. His skull rang, his eyes were filled with static. But his body stood tall and still.

Vicki Vortex couldn't see it, but the creases around his eyes deepened into deep and furious cracks. "Gyahaha! You wicked SOW!"

Scourge spun, and sent forth his tentacle. "GET OVER HERE!" The flesh-coloured rod propelled through the air, higher and higher - but not high enough. It turned turgid and motionless two meters from her body, and gave her more than enough time to evade.

The monster slammed his rod down with a furious grunt. A row full of seats were bisected in its wake. He bent down, braced his heels, and swung from the full force of his hips.

"GYAAAAH!"

In an instant, three rows of seats flew high into the air, spun and launched towards Vic. The bolts that secured them to the floor seemed like paper against the monster's strength.

"Show me a good time!" He roared, then violently wrenched his tentacle back inside his arm.

Boom

An explosion erupted over the monster's back. He did not budge.

Boom! BOOM!

Scourge turned his head to see. Pyromancer lobbed fireballs his way, from one hand, then the other, and again, and again. All of them exploded across Scourge's shoulder, and chest, and abdomen, and the monster didn't even blink.

"WEAKLING!"

The monster shot forth his tentacle. Pyromancer hopped to the side. The tentacle shot past him… then curved, under his arm, over his chest, and around and around, until he was completely wrapped within his mercy.

Pyromancer widened his eyes. He squirmed. The monster drew his tentacle back - and the captive super with it. The latter met his eyes with a steely glare. Embers gathered into his clenched fists. Brighter and brighter as he was pulled close, until…

BOOM!

Pyromancer's fist met his face. The embers that had gathered erupted into a bright, searing explosion. The monster's head recoiled from impact. His tentacles loosened, and Pyromancer landed on his knee, foot, and fist. He looked up, and met Vicki Vortex's eyes.

His head.

Pyromancer's eyes narrowed in realisation. It was the closest thing to a weak point for this creature.

"Good… GOOD!" The monster roared, undeterred even as its green flesh turned black and crumpled. A giant green haymaker launched forth. Pyromancer rolled away. Another followed. Too slow. The supervillain weaved, then countered, with a flaming fist to the monster's gut.

A loud thump. Embers scattered. The monster didn't even flinch. He leered at Pyromancer, his cheeks bunched with a hint of amusement. The Pyromancer followed it up with an uppercut, which the monster caught and stopped dead mid-way.

"Is this all you've GOT?!"

Crunch!

Pyromancer gasped. His knees buckled. Every nerve screamed, every bone in his hand crumbled within Scourge's fingers. The monster tightened his grip.

"Yessss… OH YES! ON YOUR KNEES!"

Pyromancer sank lower and lower, under Scourge's shadow. Embers danced around Scourge's grip, to no avail. The monster raised his other arm high, and drew it back for a finishing blow.

Vic reappeared at Scourge's side, swinging out a leg that never hit his head. Instead a wave of air pressure slammed against his face like a wall, sending him staggering at least a few steps.

"Fuck off, you big green rapist," she said, floating back to the ground beside Pyromancer nursing his broken hand. Despite her casualness, torrents of sweat were rolling down her back. A heavy force of air contested the abomination's strength to give her some time to calm her frenzied heart. Vic had no plans, nor means to gracefully execute one. "Do you want to die as BGC jerk off material?" She asked Pyromancer, extending her stump his way. "Get off your fucking knees. I probably need you."

"Well, why wouldn't an archeologist be hanging out with a buncha supers. Especially these days..." Henry pointed out to Polarity. "Uh, remind me though...just why are YOU here again?"

As they spoke The Quetzalcoatl's Fang traveled swiftly through the ebon tunnels at the End of Time. Navigating via mental roadmaps formed from the Cerebral-Compassed housed in the center of the thought-ship, their destination was in their sights. Before long the vessel burst through the darkness, entering a long tunnel bathed in a sea of blue light. Images flashed before them along the blue tunnels, most lasting far too briefly to fully comprehend, displaying images lost to time. Moments past, moments future, and moments never meant to be. They all happened somewhere, somewhen, and perhaps occasionally never at all.

More importantly was the bright, spiraling light at the end of the tunnel. It was far away now, but something was familair about it to whoever looked at it. As if it were a piece of them that were missing and drawing them near. All aboard knew that was their destination. "That there at the end of the Wall 'O Time...is the Precipice. Go through there and you'll be back exactly from whence ye came, exactly how ye got there. 'Course that don't account for souvenirs,"[/colors] the giant rat, chuckled, elbowing Devon and his thought-sphere. [color=darkgray]"All prisoners wounded by the accursed roaches'll find themselves healed, good as new. Here's hopin' they forget the hell they had ta go through," he added, taking a quick swig of a wineskin on his belt.

And then abruptly....the waves of blue began to tear and crack. Ratgarok looked back to Devon somberly. "Seems like that scenario ye mentioned be comin' ta pass..."


"DEATH -KLIK- TO YOU ALL!" a violent screech echoed throughout the chamber reverbing across the Wall of Time. Far behind them, tunneling into the blue light was what appeared to be a wave of shadow, though of course n reality it was more of the massive insects that had declared themselves the de facto master of this temporal domain. The Roaches. And this time they numbered in the thousands.

Many crawled along the blue walls, covering it in what looked like a moving chitinous mass and behind them was the most horrid of them all. Around double the size of the Quetzalcoatl's Fang was the Roach Queen. Gnarled, spiked antennae formed her crown and her eyes were as dark as night. Her maw opened and they could see a dark crackling void lying therein as if all that entered would cease to be, a true End of Time. "WE WILL FEAST -KLIK- UPON LOST GOD FLESH!" she cackled, bile spewing from her mouth onto her own subordinates which seemed to be marching with reckless abandon towards their prey. The roaches while rapidly approaching were still very far....until those aboard the ship began to hear the familiar engine-like thrumming from within the giant arthropod's bodies, indicating they were beginning to activate their temporal abilities.

WHIRR

A wave of roaches was suddenly jolted ahead in time by a few seconds which was all they needed to near the vessel.

WHIRR

Followed by the next.

WHIRR

And then a third.


"Methinks..." Ratgarok looked towards the others assembled before him. "We're gonna need yer help one last time..."

Devon listened on as the others conversed more about the gem, Polarity even in her apparent insistence to be polarizing did allow a few tidbits of knowledge slip nothing of importance... He assumed. He was honestly more concerned with how smooth everything had been after their jailbreak he wasn't expecting to find more roaches around every corner, but it was slightly disconcerting to find nothing. The fact that the ship seemed to turn down branches of the tunnel network without any discernible logic didn't help either.

Eventually they reached what the ratkin announced was their end destination, some spiral light at the end of a tunnel bathed in blue light that flashed strange scenes in front of their eyes. Devon thought he could see a couple he recognized from somewhere, but they were gone too soon for him to take in what he saw. The spiral at the end though, he didn't recognize but he could feel a certain contentment and perhaps even a strange attraction when looking upon it. He wasn't quite sure, but between his gut feeling and the words of the ratkin he just knew home was on the other side.

However such good things can never last as the world behind them cracked like it had back when their first encounter attacked them. Devon let out a sigh at the captains words and reacted with an affirmative nod as his words dispelled any wishful thinking.

There was no such thing as going home without a final fight, and looking over the army and the massive entity clad in chitin at the back it appeared to Devon like they were going all out. The beast roared a taunt in their direction, claiming they were going to eat them. The queen had barely finished her sentence when the first shots started raining in from the rear of the ship. Devon hadn't wasted any time running to the rear and launched his attack roaring in defiance. "The only feast to be had here is one of lead, fire and brimstone!" He screamed as explosive shots landed among the rank and file of the roaches. Roach blood and viscera was thrown every which way from the detonation sites carried along by the blast waves and followed close behind by almost lethargic looking (by comparison) fireballs.

Once again they used their time manipulating devices to take back initiative the first waves closed in on the ship seemingly by jumping forward in time, or was that just plain teleportation now? Whatever way you'd classify that trickery it didn't change the fact that he had only made a dent in the numbers on those first waves before they reached the ship, not enough by far.

"Does this ship have a shield or something? With these cannons I might be able to do something, but I won't be able to control who and what gets destroyed. It might be time to fight them with fire." He asked as visions of the many fire scenes passed in front of his eyes. If there was anything he could truly understand the raw destructive potential of then it was fire.

"It doesn't have a shield, but I can make it hard to hit!" Shinigami said as she kneeled down to touch the deck of the ship. 'Polarity' raised an eyebrow and watched as the ship started to become intangible. She could almost see through the ship and everything in it before the gunmetal gray lantern popped out of Akiko's belt. The ghost girl was thrown back as though shoved by the force of the ejecting lantern, sparks from her suit as though it had been overloaded with power. She landed with a small thud and didn't move before a red lantern came out and placed itself in her belt.

"SHINIGAMI WITCH FIRE, WITCH FIRE, W-WITCH FIRE. OOH AH AH"

Rising up, Shinigami had her fists engulfed in flames. Her red suit shone and 'Polarity' looked her up and down, just a tiiiiny bit impressed.

"Fire, you say?" she called out, her voice sounding a little off. "Let me help with that."

Shinigami took off with a fiery trail, barrelling through the groups of roaches that had reached the ship. They screeched as she burned them, not only with her fiery fists but with the sheer heat coming out of her suit. Like Devon however, she was also having trouble not damaging the ship. 'Polarity' noticed and she also saw the roaches that were coming straight for her, sending the power of the cube nestled in the crook of her right arm. With her left hand, she pulled some small metallic balls out of a compartment in her armor. 'Polarity' rose a few inches from the deck of the ship, the small metallic balls floating down and adhering themselves to the soles of her boots. A few others spun around her like moons circling a planet.

"As much as it pains me to make this a collaborative effort, I dare say even I won't be making it home if no one's left alive to pilot this ship," she said as she held the cube high enough for the roaches to see. "But I do need all of your attention as this might get a bit risky but necessary to avoid damaging the ship. Freischütz do be a dear and kill as many as possible? Archeologist and Devilman... don't die? I guess? Fire girl! Follow me!"

'Polarity' rose and zoomed out above the ship and back towards the roach queen and her subordinates. Her right hand still held on tightly to the cube and it pulsed with her power, the Libertarian having no intention of letting the precious stone go. However, her efforts to lead the roaches to a central point seemed to be working as the roaches began to leave the ship. Straight towards her.

A burst of fire shot out and the swarm of roaches dispersed, Shinigami clearing a path on through.

"What do you think, Freischütz!?" she called out back towards the ship, dodging a roach that had tried a sneak attack from behind. "Think you can turn the heat up now?!"

Once Silver fang had been set down and was being tended to, Alex stuck close to Jemma seeming a bit lost. He put his hands in his pockets and took in Sairyn's temporary lab. He assumed it had to be given that most words about tinkers tending to have some form of permanent workspace or even several that would on average look like a workshop ripped out of a science fiction novel. Some of the equipment looked recognizable at a glance, though it was safe to assume nothing present was going to be a one to one analogue to mundane tools.

Alex's attention was drawn back towards Jemma making happy noises and proclaiming that she had felt guilt. He couldn't really help but smile and give her a thumbs up. She really was "growing" since he had first found them. The fact that they seemed to be developing more complex feelings and emotions was a great sign.

His arm dropped back to his side, maybe her becoming more independent wasn't that much of a pipe dream after all. He stopped himself on that thought. Baby steps Alex, Jemma isn't going to develop as her own person that fast. He shook his head and decided to step away from Jemma and let her get her "meal" from Sai. He still wondered just how fucked up it was that he had come to terms with the idea of being friends with an entity that ate people . . . . and entire cars sometimes. Been down this road of thinking before man, try not dwelling on it again.

Not too sure what to do with himself, Alex opted to move over to Silver Fang. It was weird seeing her out of all of her costume besides having her face covered. It had a sort of "looking behind the curtain" feeling, seeing a hero almost entirely out of costume. Suddenly this powerful pillar of good and justice seemed a lot more . . . . human.

Granted Silver Fang had a whole lot of controversy going on if you kept up with the media but that didn't seem to stop her from being what she was, a career hero that took her job seriously. Alex could respect that despite his own vigilantism. He looked down at her and mulled over his words. "You know, I was surprised I even hit you during all that back there. I mean sure, Shaker powers could have leveled the playing field but I still had this bit in the back of my mind that just kept telling me there was no way I was gonna be able to get a solid hit on Silver Fang of all people. Boasting aside on my part, really thought you were just going to knock me out any second there." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at the ceiling. It felt really weird talking to a hero so casually. . . . geez what even is my life anymore?

"THATS ENOUGH." The voice of Kiran Commanded from speakers all around the arena that couldn't be seen. The sound of clicking heels heralded the appearance of a tall and lithe figure appearing at the uppermost seats of the coliseums stands. Glowing red eyes similar in appearance to the pyromancers glared down at the central arena. They eyes seem to travel over to Scourge first. " Did I say you could damage them my child?" Their head cocked to the side. " And I clearly didn't say that you could rip your way through the levels now did I? J̢u͞s͘t̨ a͏ ̷n҉ewb̛oŗn and̛ yo͡u tes͘t ̧m͟y p̡at͢i̷e͏n̴c͡e͘ ̛s̶o̸ s̀ǫon͢~" Their voice came out as a cold distorted growl that came off rather inhuman. The undead brute seemed to flinch back as if physically struck by Kiran's words. Good, just born but he does know his place.

They regarded the two "guests" within their domain. " Pyro, you really should know better then to try and come in here unannounced, especially with unexpected company~" Kiran was all too well aware that out of the two of the villains present, Kiran was the indispensable one in the eyes of the Shape. And they were all too happy to remind the injured pyrokinetic of that fact. Their usual playful tone returned as two beasts lumbered out of the shadows to flank their master. The monstrosities looked like a skinned bear and gorilla fused together then covered in bone plates and growths. the idea that either could have been human before was hard to believe unless one had been forced to walk through the nest of horrors.

" Vicki Vortex . . . . color me surprised that you decided to come back and seek me out." The beasts both growled and snapped their maws but remained still. " I should warn you, harming a tinker in their lair is a death wish. Even for someone that can become gas." A cackle echoed throughout the empty hall of blood sport. " Though to be fair . . . . even if you were to kill me you really should know that death is an inconvenience for someone like me and nothing more . . . . . . so by all means, do try something if you want. but you wont be getting whatever it is you came for if you do Little Rockstar."

Scourge didn't even hear Vic.

Until it was too late.

The wind that struck was a force of nature. And while he was not human, he was still just one man. One man who was swept off his feet, and launched far, far away, into the wall at the edge of the arena.

The resulting crash rumbled through the entire level. The wall caved in against Scourge's monstrous weight, and shattered concrete trickled upside his head.

The monster laid there, partially embedded into the wall. He choked and wheezed, the impact tilting his head too far from his neck. His eyes were wide, yellow, and staring off into the distance.

Pyromancer looked up with a gasp. He stared at Vicki Vortex, and for a moment, the pain in his hand felt so insignificant. Her words were vulgar, and devoid of compassion, and yet…

"You… need me?"

Those simple words gave such feelings to his chest. The ‘probably’ went in one ear and out the other. He looked at her stump. Then glanced at his own broken hand, now a shapeless, bloodied lump. And back to her eyes. He inhaled. His brows knitted into a determined glare, he took her stump with his good hand, and returned to his feet.

"HOW- uerfkh... TOUCHING!"

While their eyes were off him, Scourge had erected himself out of the hole. He stood tall, reached for the top of his head, and-

Crunch.

The monster winced. His broken neck straightened instantly.

Pyromancer drew a long sigh, bent his knees, and drew his arm back. He stared down Scourge. Tongues of flames erupted from his hand, which extended and coiled into a flaming whip. The Pyromancer cracked said whip, and a trail of fire danced from where it struck the ground.

“Hooooo…,” Scourge remarked, a hint of amusement in his eyes. The monster raised his arms high. His bloated muscles flexed naturally, the veins across his bicep threatening to burst through his skin. The slids for his tentacles parted with a wet sound. White liquid seeped from the tip of the purple rods as they emerged. He met Pyromancer’s unblinking gaze.

“Mine’s bigger.”

”THAT’S ENOUGH.”
A voice came in legion. The colour drained from Scourge’s face. Pyromancer’s gaze darted left and right.

Scourge turned cold and stiff at Kiran’s words, his gaze straight-on, his arms by his side. Vic and Pyromancer were too far to see it, but his hands were trembling. The doctor’s distorted voice sapped the warmth from his body, and the beat of his heart slowed to a crawl. It stirred something primal, something instinctive within him. This voice… was his God. They were here, and watching, disapproving. With a whim, the doctor could take back the un-life they had given.

Pyromancer’s glare burned with seething contempt. His good hand clenched into a fist which snuffed out his flame, then moved behind his back. He struggled to keep his eyes off the two aberrations that accompanied Kiran. His brows wrinkled in disgust. An expected reaction, but it wasn’t towards the creatures. Not entirely. Such cruelty, inflicted upon the pitiable souls which these creatures used to be… the mere thought turned his stomach, and brought the heat to his head.

“Degenerate,” Pyromancer growled. Orange embers floated down and settled upon Kiran’s shoulder. A tiny flame came to life behind Pyromancer’s back.

“You have no authority over me!”

Pyromancer launched his burning orb far, high, and fast, straight towards Kiran. The heat from the orb primed the embers on the Lab Rat’s shoulders, and-

KA-BOOM!

Yeah, the 'probably' went over Pyromancer's head. So did the expression of apprehension as she stared back down at him and it dawned on her that she'd triggered something icky and emotional and likely related to ones mother relationship with their mother. As Pyromancer reached out for her stump in an agonizingly slow fashion, an unconsensual Put Your Head On My Shoulder started to echo in the empty mall of her mind. The second he was up she jerked her stump right out of that moment.

She was prepared to send another unimaginative gust Scourge's way when Kiran showed theirself, wearing skin as pale and sterile as hospital walls or a freshly dry cleaned strait jacket. It was stretched tight over a Victoria's Secret mannequin - no matter how beautiful Lab Rat could make theirself, Vic couldn't see more than plastic. That creepy childhood doll you played with to appease or else it come at you in the night with a potato peeler. It was those glassy, rattling eyes. And did they ever rattle on. She tried to remind herself why she was there, that it was worth throwing away the free bone they'd given her their last encounter, but she couldn't feel it in her hand.

This was a womb. Kiran Kingsley reigned over birth and rebirth, and this depraved womb hosted all of its darkest aspects. She'd waded through creatures born from the sticky afterbirth left in the wake of Kiran's thirst for greater creation. Her feet had sunk into soft, spongy flesh and oozing toxins from its pancreas. She was fighting slimy, quivering protrusions that dribbled out stinking fluid whenever their master smelled blood. When Vic made the descent, her misery had accepted that death was worth such a risk. But she hadn't accounted for what really stung her nerves around Lab Rat. That if she were to die at their hand...

She wouldn't.

The disgusting feeling weighing down her stomach lifted the instant Pyromancer launched his attack. She shouted in alarm and launched herself at him. Her hand clamped around his wrist and thin arm struggled to stop his from shooting off another orb. Embers bit at her flesh and her skin flared up with little burns. Her other hand materialized, the chip in her palm, to help her wrestle Pyromancer's arm. That's when a fleshy whip struck her in the back and sent them both across the coliseum.

She was flung off the pyromaniac and tumbled across the ground with the grace of a barrel thrown down a really big fucking hill. She raised her fuzzy head, and before she could notice her wounds, the mind-numbing, heart-sinking realization struck her. She'd let go of the chip. Her hands frisked her immediate area for it. Nothing. Her head whipped up to the menacing form of Scourge hulking towards her. Vic saw red and scrambled into a sprint towards him. She went out of sight for only a second before she threw herself at him. The extensive list of deadly power applications at her fingertips went right out the window as her reedy legs wrapped over the freak's shoulders and her thumbs stabbed into his eyesockets.

"What's the matter?" She shouted over his guttural roar of pain, "Sounds like you've never been SKULLFUCKED before!" Her thumbs jabbed in deeper, the jelly oozing down his cheeks. "Yeah. I do innuendos too, motherfucker." She muttered, then pulled a hand back and started repeatedly punching him in the face, completely obliterating her hand in the process.

Vic and Zeke were very angry.