Participants:
| Scene Title | The Great Escape - Pt 1 |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Versak Dies! Maia's Soul Get Stolen! The World Almost Ends! |
While crazy things have been happening all over the world, the three demigods in Japan have been taking it easy. Today's one of those days where the sun is out, it'e beautiful and the beach nearby was calling their names. In some cases literally, especially for one attuned to the Kami, like Maia.
And so, she lays back in the sand on a towel, sunglasses over her features as she sighs softly at the crash of the waves. She's in a two piece bikini, pink and polka dotted to be exact, her duffel bag of mini relics ready for summoning things and a cooler full of food and cold beverages not too far away.
It's good to be a demigoddess..
Rupert, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be enjoying the beach quite as much. He's off to the side, snug in his black trenchcoat and sunglasses, standing in the shade, which seems to darken and bend towards him slightly as he rests out of the direct sunlight.
Haldor is similarly chased by shadows, but unlike Rupert he isn't necessarily embracing them. Rather, the Viking is thoroughly embracing the grip of normalcy and has been in and out of the surf all day long with Drake in tow. Every so often the pup scampers over toward Rupert and barkbarkyelpbarkyelpyelps at him, as if demanding the Scion of Kali join in the party games.
Alternately, Drake can be found pouncing upon Maia and play-growling at her. Haldor, while Maia is distracted with a faceful of shiba inu puppy, steals sandwiches and dog treats from the cooler nearby for his and Drake's enjoyment.
That is one yappy puppy. But at least he's a cute yappy puppy. There's the tug on her bikini bottom and Maia yelps as she raises her brows and slips off her sunglasses before picking up the puppy and nuzzles him close. "Haldor, you didnt teach him that, did you?" she asks curiously with raised brows.
A soft chuckle escapes her lips afterwards and she looks towards the emo Rupert. "Okay Rupee..it's a beautiful day..you're just standing there..isnt it hot? You're all..looking like a character from the World of Darkness. I think I made a character like that on a MUSH once.." OMG fourth walling!
Rupert looks over his sunglasses at Maia. "It's too bright," he says shortly. "I prefer the night." He manages to ignore the yapping, overexcited puppy with all the disdainful poise of an arrogant demigod.
"I'm hurt. Why in the world would I teach Drake something like that? Maybe he picked it up from television. I hear those Coppertone commercials are absolutely scandalous."
Haldor does his best to feign innocence. It's not very convincing, unlike Rupert's King of Darkness act. The Viking takes a giant bite of a sandwich, starting to meander away again as Maia's attention shifts away from him. Drake promptly starts bounding after his master, eager for more puppy treats.
"They were slightly pedophilic I think.." she snickers softly, wrinkling her nose as she yawns and stretches her arms into the air. "I got phone calls from Jolie and Scott. They both received their second visitations! Ya!" she chirps merrily.
Of course, the ramifications have yet to be felt here in Japan, but for now, she's just content for this little bit of normalcy that they're getting. She awwws as the puppy wriggles and squirms out of her grasp to run after Haldor. "And Rupee..I get that you're trying to act too cool for school, but the paparazzi or your fangirls arent around. Why not..read some manga or something. The new David/Rupert yaoi is pretty interesting.."
Haldor pauses, dropping some biscuits to Drake who is all too happy to munch both biscuits and sand alike. The pup makes a coughy-gaggy noise for a few moments before barking at Haldor who is doubled over in laughter at Maia's mention of David/Rupert yaoi.
Rupert frowns, then smirks wickedly. He stalks forward across the sand, passing without trace and leaving no footprints. "I think I'll make it a little more comfortable out here."
He sweeps his arms up in a dramatic gesture that seems to literally tear the light out of the air, leaving him and Maia in a perfect sphere of utter darkness.
"Bah…bastard. You're ruining my tan!" Maia cries out most definitely annoyed as she starts to ease on up out of the sphere of darkness until she heads towards Haldor, though this time..things are different. The entire beach is covered in darkness. Her eyes widen as she grumps and looks towards the rocker.
"What did you do?!?!?"
"… Yeah. That's not ominous."
Haldor sighs and turns around as the light fades into gradations of darkness. Drake bristles beside Haldor, growling and snarling as the pup looks back toward Rupert and Maia. The Viking promptly starts trying to find his way to his gear. Clearly he's going to need his toys.
Rupert looks flabbergasted and bemused. "Bu-, wha-, I didn't do it!" He exclaims, letting his trenchcoat flow out and transform into his shadow cloak, revealing the armor underneath. He quickly drops the effect he was sustaining, and reaches for his claws. "I get the feeling that we're about to have company."
Maia heads towards her blanket, wrinkling her nose a little as she stretches her arms into the air before picking up the growling and snarling puppy. "It's okay, Drake..shhhh.." she coos, trying to calm him down as she looks around once more. There's a soft hrmmm under under her breath as she listens for any clues or anything like that before following Haldor back to the duffel bag of weapons and other goodies.
"Ominous..now why would you three think of something like that. It's just dark.."
And that should be a familiar voice to the trio as it's Maia's own with a bit of cattyness to it. Amnis-cum-Maia is dressed in a black leather body suit as she stands next to another familiar figure, Badarus-cum-Haldor.
"They're scared of the dark, babe.."
And that's Badarus with a soft chuckle under his breath. He flexes his biceps just a bit, wearing black leather pants and not much more as he shows off his rippling muscles. Perhaps it's for Amnis or Maia who knows.
"Bah..I'm just going to stand here and look cool.."
And that would be Versak-cum-Rupert standing in well..the exact same clothing that Rupert classic is dressed up in, his arms crossed over his chest, taking another deep breath.
"… You three got Emo to give up the hookers, I see," flatly remarks Haldor.
He's half way through looting the duffel bag of his gear. For the moment he's got his drumsticks in one hand and his bracer on his other hand. And, of course, Haldor hasn't taken off that icy blue ring on his right middle finger. It glows faintly in the darkness, cool air radiating outward from the stone.
"See?" Rupert says to Haldor. "I told you that if you kept special ordering Three Stooges movies, they'd show up to thank you."
He pulls his tengu mask out of his cloak and dons it, now completely encased in his gear. He holds his claws up and grins.
Suddenly, he disappears into the shadow cloaking the beach, simply fading into the unnatural darkness and reappearing immediately behind his faux-double, bringing his claws up against the doppleganger's neck. "One move, and I'll slice you open, mate."
Maia blinks a little as she looks at the other two ready to fight. She chews on her bottom lip as she keeps the puppy close, not wanting to have him getcaughtnup in a possible demigod battle royale afterall. She eyes the three doppelgangers while taking a deep breath, remaining quiet for the entire time.
"Emo? Hardly.." replies Amnis-cum-Maia as she lets out a soft chuckle under her breath, grinning wryly towards the trio in return. Her brows raise as she looks back towards Classic Rupert threatening his double. "Ah, ah, ah…I wouldnt do that if I were you.." she quips, snickering the entire time. "He is you and you are him. I simply wanted to talk you know…nothing bad.."
Meanwhile, Badarus-cum-Haldor stands with a protective posture over his wife, eyeing his double (or is it the other way around).
Versak-cum-Rupert lets out a hearty laugh as he feels the claws up against his neck. "You realize.." and he starts to sink down into the darkness, reappearing several feet away. "I can do everything you can do, right?"
"We're listening and we're doing our very best not to judge you too harshly for the matching leather outfits," growls Haldor.
Johanssen grumbles for but a moment before shutting up as Haldor drags the shield free of the bag. One might wonder just how much storage there is in that damned bag, but we are talking about volume physics in a world populated with super-humans able to bend physics at a whim.
For instance, Haldor just stepped backwards into the darkness of his own shadow and winked out of existence. A moment later, he reappears, slowly levitating out of Badarus' shadow. The Viking sneers at his doppelganger's back before disappearing into the shadows again, only to emerge behind Maia like some sort of Frank Miller-esque guardian angel.
"Talk fast," Rupert says, smiling behind his tengu mask. He likewise winks out and reappears in the air over Haldor and Maia. "I'm an impatient and impetuous man, you know. Unstable. Might decide our lives are worth taking you lot out. After all, the wheel turns, and we'll come back rewarded. You? I doubt it."
"Your friends found out our secrets. Just wanted to let you know.." Amnis-cum-Maia says quite matter of factly as she stands in the middle of the Atlantean trio. "Oh, and if you think that hurting you would hurt us, you're sadly mistaken. I just wanted to stop you so you wouldnt get in the way.." she says, snickering a little as she lets out another hearty laugh while idly running her fingers through her hair before letting out a soft chuckle under her breath.
"Oh..and you two.." she says, looking towards classic Maia and Haldor, "Are looking for Sarukhito and Brynhildr, right? Yeah..about them..kinda trapped in an ungodly realm suffering pain and terror that they've never experienced before. Quite maddening..at least the experience in there was quite maddening for us.." she says with a predatory grin curling onto her lips. "Just wanted you three to know..we're back, thanks to you and your band's efforts. This is more of a thank you than anything else.."
And Classic Maia just stands there, her eyes widening as she takes in all the information and curses under her breath.
"Really? Well that changes everything, now doesn't it?"
Haldor washes out of existence, consumed by shadow. Ice cracks and snaps a split-second later, the Viking's hand reaching out of the shadows cast over Amnis' form by her adoring Badarus' looming. Haldor steps out, battle hunger in his eyes as frigid mist pours off of his hand.
"I really don't know what you three are up to. Frankly I don't give a damn, but the fact that you've replaced yourselves with Sarukhito and Brynhildr in whatever dark abyss to which you were fed aeons ago just proves we should be splitting your skulls."
A point that Haldor takes undeniable pleasure in proving as he attempts to palm Amnis' face with a freezing hand.
As soon as the big lug makes his move, Rupert likewise goes on the offense. He floats up into the air, drawing the shadows around him so that his cloak seems to billow endlessly throughout the unnatural night. Once again, he lets loose the full force of his divine presence, cutting an impossibly imposing and regal picture. Once again, the eyes of his enemies are draw inexoribly towards him, unable to look away from the impressive, cloaked spectre of night hovering in the air.
Immediately after capturing everyone's attention, he seems to fold intward into a ball of shadow that fades immediately in the surrounding shadows. He reappears directly behind his own double again, announcing his presence with a brief, brutal slash of his claws across the spine of his erzwhile double. "Snikt."
Things are happening way too fast. For all six demigods, it's utter and complete chaos. As Haldor makes his move, so does Badarus disappearing into shadow before wrapping his arms around classic Maia, clinching her tightly, his hand on her throat before she can even make a squeal.
"Let my wife go..or she dies.." Badarus says firmly and resolutely, looking towards Haldor with clear murderous intent.
Amnis' face starts to become frostbitten at the touch as she struggles, completely surprised by the attack. She really did just want to talk afterall, and in the end she's hit, but recovers slowly. There's her godly flesh on the sand of the beach before her face starts to reform slowly but surely. Her face, once quite beautiful is now..marred as the flesh underneath can be seen while she slowly regenerates her body.
And meanwhile, that's when Versak makeshis move as well, snickering softly under his breath as he reacts with the original, letting his own demigodly presence wash over the others. It seems they're at a draw..no one can really act, but at least they can talk…
Oh..and yes, Versak does get slashed, but he's frozen from Rupert's slashy goodness..
"You think you're faster than me, ma-"
Haldor's attention is wrenched away from Badarus, Maia, and Amnis. The Viking rips his hand away from Amnis' face as he turns to regard Versak. Clearly this is why one should not create duplicates of heroes with phenomenal semi-cosmic powers of charisma, appearance, and manipulation. For his part, Haldor and Drake both growl.
Rupert curses as he feels his concentration drawn inexorably towards his double even as he pulls the same trick. It doesn't last long, however, as his quick blow lays the villain flat and breaks the spell. "Dumbass," he mutters, spinning off into the darkness and reappearing behind Badarus.
Slash-Slash. Once across the back and another jab towards the big guy's side.
"An eye for an eye heroes. I just wanted to talk.." And that's Amnis seething as she waves her hand. Soon enough, she, the body of Versak, Badarus /and/ Maia disappears as the darkness disappears and the beach returns back to normal.
"… Oh balls," remarks Haldor as Maia winks out of existence with the Atlanteans. The Viking clutches his own face, frigid smoke billowing from the junction of skin. Grief, contemplation, or some other emotion is difficult to determine through all the freezing smoke billowing out from his face/hand.
"Pull it together," Rupert snaps, standing up and looking around alertly. "You're no good to her like that." Despite his callous words, the rock star seems a little off-put himself. He shrugs it off, however. "Here's the plan. We find them, we find her. I suggest starting with that island we went to last time. It's connected to the thing in Times Square, and they seem to have a strong link to those sites."
Haldor breaks his hand free of his face, lines of frostbite vanishing in fractions of a second as the Viking turns to regard Rupert. One red eyebrow arches, growing progressively less red as frost starts to form on the hairs of his brows.
"Yeah. That sounds like a plan," replies Haldor. He steps over to the duffle bag and pulls out a pair of aviator sunglasses. They look really out of place with his normal style, but he seems unusually eager to wear them just this moment, casting a glance toward Drake who is barking and pouncing at the frigid smoke swirling around his feet.
Rupert pulls a jeweled egg from inside his cloak and throws it into the air, where it shatters and releases a cloud of dark smoke that coalesces into a huge, two-headed bird. "I'm guessing you're going to want to go immediately, even though we should head back and let her tengu friend know what's going on. He may have something helpful to input. I figure that if they're going to hurt or kill her, they'll do that before we even get there."
"He's already supplied us with an awful lot of shit for this, Rip-Man."
Haldor promptly issues a sharp whistle, it's a perfect C-pitch in case you were wondering. Drake promptly starts growling and snarling as he grows ever larger, reaching adulthood and then continuing to expand. When Drake finally stops, it is as a Shiba Inu that is 8' tall at the shoulder.
"And yeah. That's pretty much what I was thinking, unless they're gonna try that black and white realm bullshit again. That seems to take a little while."
"I'm not talking about goodies, lunk. But he's an old wise guy, yeah? Might have some advice on how to go about this," Rupert says. "I don't know about you, but Maia's the brains of the operation and I'm not real comfortable stepping into those shoes." He blinks as the puppy grows. "Well, now, that's useful, innit?"
"Either way, we better get moving. No sense in disappointing them and showing up late." His bird circles around the beach for a minute before swooping down. Rupert leaps nimbly onto the back of the huge creature and stands easily as it gains altitude. "Fuck the limo, this is the life."
Haldor wraps an arm around Drake's neck, almost as if to give the War Canine a hug, and promptly swings himself nimbly up and around to sit upon Drake's back. The Viking clucks his tongue and pats Drake lightly on the shoulder before the Canine lunges forward and quickly gains both speed and altitude.
"He's an old martial arts master. Like crazy skilled. He doesn't seem to want to do much in the way of fighting though. Keeps dodging real hand-to-hand training with us, but keeps training with these mystery pupils from parts unknown."
"Sounds like every old guy in every kung fu flick ever," Rupert comments, spreading his arms and enjoying the feel of the sea breeze as his gandaberunda takes off over the water in the general direction of Hashima. "I don't know much about kung fu, but I was one of the best in the world with a blade even before I got called up to the big leagues. Childhood passion."
Sojobo is in lots of kung fu flicks! Under different names and aliases of course, but he is busy and would probably let them do it themselves. Or maybe he would've joined? Who knows at this point.
As the pair arrive in front of the dark spires in Hashima, they find..a rather gruesome site. With nails in her palms and feet, Maia was crucified upside down on the door, completely unconscious. Were they hoping for theyoung woman to be found? Whoknows? But Amnis surely isnt going to kill her mealticket to regaining power..that would be dumb..
"Johanssen. Go time."
As Drake descends from above to land before the Dark Spires of Hashima, Haldor is engulfed in the golden armor of Johanssen, the Baldur Shield. The Viking growls quietly as he leaps from Drake's back, armored boots *THUMP*ing solidly against the ground. Curiously, his aviator sunglasses make an excellent eye-covering with the faceplate on his armor.
In unison, Haldor and Drake advance upon Maia. The Canine sniffs at the air, hair bristling as his ears swivel to keep him apprised of the surroundings. Haldor produces his Chibi Drumsticks as he advances upon his crucified girlfriend.
Rupert leaps off of his unconvential mount and hovers in midair. "Marilyn, guard," he orders, sending the bird off to circle the area and keep watch. He flies over towards Maia. "Fuckin' hell. Got a hammer?"
"Lemme check."
Haldor crushes the Chibi copies. Dark smoke gushes from his hands, eventually reforming into a pair of drumsticks that slowly shift. Over the course of a few moments, as Haldor tries to exert his semi-divine will over their shape, the drumsticks take on the aspect of hammers. They may or may not be war hammers instead of a more useful hammer though.
"Ah-ah. No..don't remove her. We need her life force.." And there's Amnis on top of the spires looking down towards the pair once more. A soft chuckle escapes from her lips as she looks down towards the quartet. "And don't think of trying your trick once more..that was clever, but if we're to ressurect Versak..she needs to die.." Or she could give birth tohim again..but really, the earlier is more dramatic..
Maia is..unconscious. The hammers, even in war hammer form would be able to remove her though..
"Listen to me, bitch," Ripper says, turning to face Amnis. "I will kill her and drink her lifeforce myself if it prevents her from being used to bring one of you bastards back. And I don't give a rat's arse if your buddy makes it back or not. So, we're going to take our friend, and we're going to leave, and then we're going to come back in full force and lay FUCKING WASTE TO THIS PLACE!"
"… -" Haldor pauses, looks over his shoulder at Rupert, and then looks back at Amnis, "That's really fucking creepy, but more or less what he said."
The Viking promptly channels his frigid touch through the hammers as he swings them at the ties (railroad ties that is) that bind Maia to the cross. Haldor sneers under his golden helm, he can feel the terrible nature of Hashima nipping at the fringes of his consciousness, but all that matters to him right now is Maia's safety.
With the frozen nails shattering into lots of pieces, Maia falls towards the ground, still not responding to anything relaly.
Meanwhile, Amnis lets out a hearty laugh as she shrugs her shoulders and looks down towards the now quintet and smirks. "Or I can just give birth to Versak once more. Or she can.." she says rather cryptically. "It doesnt really matter of me. A god is a god is a god.."
<OOC> Maia pokes Rupert
Ripper frowns and whistles for his bird. "Let's go," he mutters to Haldor. "She needs rest and medical attention. We'll get these assholes later."
Helpfully Drake is there for Maia to fall upon. Haldor's gauntleted hands gently brace her against the Canine's back, rearranging her positioning to better rest her there. Slowly Haldor shifts his attention toward the taunting Amnis, eyes narrowing behind the dark visor of his sunglasses.
"Lady, get your skanky, rape-threatening ass the fuck back into your house before I come up there and rip your face off again. Don't think I won't either, because I will come the fuck up there, rip your face off, and ram it the fuck down your bitchy throat just for pissing me off."
Promptly, Haldor clucks his tongue and pats Drake on the shoulder to get him moving with Maia on his back.
Maia's a demigoddess. She should be healing after all that. But for some reason she isnt. Her body is still quite limp, her hands and feet still bleeding. It's almost as if she was just a shell and nothing more.
Meanwhile, Amnis lets out another soft chuckle under her breath once more. "Oh me..that's feisty. Have fun with your girlfriend's body..too bad we ripped out her soul.." she quips before she snaps her fingers and disappears once more. As she disappears, the doors towards the dark spires start to open. Ooooh, menacing.
"Bollocks," Ripper curses. "Bugger this for a rigged game." He turns to look at Haldor and Maia. "You know what this means, mate."
"We gotta go inside and face someone or something, probably in a retarded challenge, and wrench her soul back from their grasp and stuff it back in her body?"
Haldor's faceplate retreats, the Viking peering over the rim of his sunglasses at Ripper. It's a hopeful look. An unspoken 'Please tell me I said something smart' that just sort of hangs in the air between the rockstar and the drummer.
"Spot on," Ripper replies, before calling out something in Hindi to Marilyn, who promptly dissolves into smoke that coalesces into a jewelled egg, which Ripper pockets. He idly sharpens his claws on a whetstone, before smiling darkly.
"Now, let's go save your girlfriend."
Haldor nods to Ripper as he fixes his sunglasses and the faceplate re-emerges. The Viking gently leads Drake and Maia with him, leading the way into the breach. After all, for all Haldor knows, he's still the one most likely to survive any sudden death cannons or whatever else the Atlanteans have in there.
As they enter the castle, the same young boy that appears all the time looks towards themand hrmms for a few moments as he chews on his bottom lip. He looks badly bruised, beaten, and bleeding everywhere. He sighs a little as he looks towards the two rather apologetically.
"They broke out..I..I'm so sorry.." he whispers softly.
"If you cry," Ripper comments, "I will hit you. Now, since the other side is a bunch of cheating bastards, which I could have told you right off, by the way, how about you help us out and tell us where the bloody hell we gotta go and what we have to do to get Maia's soul back?"
"Hey. Kiddo. C'mon. You're just a kid. You're hurt. C'mere. Lemme see if I can't patch you up a little bit."
By this point, Haldor is pretty sure that the kid is not, in fact, working with the bad guys nor is he a bad guy in and of himself. The Viking crouches down, stopping Drake as he surveys the young-looking kid.
The young boy sniffles a little as he wrinkles his nose and is still bleeding just a bit. At least Haldor is there to help him get patched up. He chews on his bottom lip and nods.
"Mary..my sister..she's trying to release her. If the other gods are released, they'll release her soul.." he explains a little and swallows once more. "We can't let that happen…if all seven are revived.."
Ripper frowns and looks at Haldor. "Mate, I know how close you and Maia are, and I'm kind of fond of the bird myself, but if it comes down to her dying or them being freed to wreak havoc, there's only one decision." Is that actually a note of regret in his tone?
Haldor nods to Rupert, but doesn't speak. Instead the Viking sets to work tending the boy's wounds. Cold hands press against bruises, numbing the pain while he wipes away blood and applies pressure to cuts and similar wounds to staunch the bleeding. It takes Haldor a few minutes to really get finished, but it is… Decent work. For unskilled first-aid.
"We can't let them come back."
"There is another way."
The young boy looks relieved as he looks towards Haldor and smiles warmly, patting his shoulder gently. "The Atlantean underworld is connected to Antarctica. That's where she is. That's where Sarukhito and Brynhildr are as well.." he says matter of factly. "I'm bared from going there myself.."
Ripper eyes the kid. "Antarctica? You're kidding, right?" He sighs. "Well, taking the long way is right out, so that means a trip down to the Underworld. Exactly where I've been hoping not to bloody go." He shrugs and grins. "Oh, well. I wanted twelve platinum albums before I turned twenty and that didn't work."
"Can't say I'm thrilled about a trip to the Underworld, any Underworld, but we've got a whole lot riding on it."
Haldor frowns slightly behind his faceplate before it retracts. The Viking offers the kid a cheerful smile and ruffles his hair a little bit as he stands up again. Looking over his shoulder, Haldor arches an eyebrow slightly.
"I know how ridiculously hardcore Helheim is. We're gonna need help to go wandering around the Underworld, aren't we, Rip?"
"Yeah," Ripper answers absently, thinking, then adds more firmly. "We are. We'll need to call out the clan, because it's time to put the band back together for another show." He looks at the kid. "What kind of time limit are we looking at here?"
"There is something you should know about the history of Atlantis. It was broken into three pieces. There are three ways to get into the Atlantean underworld. Either go through the caverns of ice in Antarctica or suffer the pressures of the sunken continents of Zealandia in the Pacific or the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean." he says matter of factly, wrinkling his nose a little as he quirks a brow towards the two.
"Not long..Mary is compassion incarnate. She will release them in order to help your friend, even if you tell her no.." he explains.
"I take it the Antarctic caverns are either the least dangerous, difficult to access, or closest to Maia's soul?"
Haldor looks at the kid curiously, distracted from unspoken communication with Rupert. This is important information that needs to be gleaned.
Ripper frowns. "Either way is going to be incredibly dangerous. And bloody cold, too,"
"If your body can withstand the pressure of the deep, then Zealandia would be easiest, but that requires being able to breath underwater. But the Antarctic is the most accessible into the underworld..you pass through the volcano of Mount Erebus.." he says matter of factly as he nods once more.
Haldor frowns slightly at this revelation. Not quite the response he was expecting or hoping for, but it will have to do. The Viking nods solemnly at the revelation and flexes a gauntlet'd hand as he considers things.
"We'll need to roll fast and hope I can figure out some way of extending my powers to everyone else along the way," remarks Haldor.
"Yeah, because I can't breathe water or survive depths, and I definitely can't bloody survive in a frozen wasteland," Ripper agrees. Then he shrugs, and his shadow cloak takes the form of a heavy black parka, complete with face covering. "Well, maybe."
"Time is wasting. You can go now if you like..I will teleport you two if I have to.." the young boy coughs once more as he wrinkles his nose once more..
"I can't bre- … You can teleport us?"
Haldor can focus, honest, but this is a fuckton of a lot of information to digest all at once. The Viking blinks a few times and clears his mind. Important things first.
"Can you teleport us to our friends? And then all of us to where we need to be?"
"That'd be best, mate," Ripper adds to the boy. "We're going to need backup on this, and Maia needs our full effort."
"Yes, I can teleport you.." he beams brightly. The young boy is a master psychopomp it seems as he lets out an impish giggle. "While they've weakened me, they can't take away what I'm the best at.." he chirps merrily.
"Then, kiddo, let's rock and roll."
Haldor smiles as his faceplate re-emerges, concealing his face once more. Only by the slimmest of margins does Haldor manage to avoid throwing a cheesey thumbs up in addition to the eager smile.
Ruper smirks, and nods. "We few, we happy few. We band of buggered."
"If you think you can do it, I will take you.." and with the snap of the young boy's fingers, the two disappear and reappear in the wastelands of Antarctica.
More than seven million cubic miles of ice forms the Antarctic ice sheet, which cover more than 95 percent of Antarctica and contains 90 percent of the World’s ice and almost 70 percent of the World’s fresh water (fact of the day!). The blistering winds are..definitely frigid going down to a cool -25F. Fortunately, Haldor's immune to the cold, but things might get difficult for Rupert. They land on a icy slick sheet overlooking a massive cavern into the maw Mount Erebus itself.
Mount Erebus rises more than 15,000 feet out of the Ross Sea and is one of the few volcanoes on Earth with an active lava lake and volcanic steam caves. It's an unusual juxtaposition trapped between the frigid -25F temperatures and the scalding 100> temperatures in the lava lake…
Haldor blinks several times as he finds himself in Antarctica. This is not what he asked for. Snow immediately builds up on his sunglasses, blinding the Viking for the moment as he just stands there. For the moment, he's not sure if Drake and Maia's body are both here as well, exposed to the unforgiving elements. This is probably for the best.
Ripper shivers, snuggling inside his heavy fur suit. He looks out through his ever-present sunglasses at the frozen vista. "B-bloody h-he-hellll." Rupert stutters out. His outfit reforms slightly to provide heavy wool gloves, which had been previously overlooked by the rock star. "C-c-cold, innit?"
"Cold enough to snap off that bitch's tit," replies Haldor. The Viking wipes the snow from his sunglasses as he starts marching into the cavern. Haldor is not a happy camper for obvious reasons, but at least Maia and Drake are safe from this horrible situation…
Well. Maia's soulless body is safe from this horrible situation. It'd be pretty bad if going to save her soul involved killing her body.
While the exterior of the volcano is interesting, with more than two vertical miles of ice slopes and 400 square miles of snowpack, what lies below the surface makes Mount Erebus truly unique. The icy blanket covering the mountain is riddled with steam tubes, formed by the volcano’s venting of hot air up through the glacial coating. These tunnels range from a few inches in diameter to 10 feet across, but all stretch inward to the heart of the mountain. The interior of these tubes is very smooth, having been formed by the heat of the steam escaping through the ice. Each tunnel slopes down into the mountain, although, in some places, the slant is gradual, and in others, quite precipitous. The tunnel floors can be slick with still-liquid condensed steam running in rivulets over re-frozen water and can easily transform into dangerous slides if not traversed with great care….especially since it goes a long way down…
Despite his great discomfort, Rupert still manages to keep his trademark grace on his feet, easily traversing the difficult terrain. He saves his breath, though, since each inhalation is like a thousand shards of ice puncturing his lungs.
Haldor is as one with the ice, even though he possesses preternatural grace of his own. The Viking hardly needs it to simply glide along over the top of the ice, following Rupert easily as a sort of safety harness. Speed and command of the terrain are Haldor's means of securing Rupert's safety on the descent into the Underworld.
It is extremely easy to become lost within the twisting chambers. There is little to differentiate one tunnel from another, and they wind and crisscross as the steam eats away whatever path is easiest through the glacier. Fortunately for our heroes, they manage to find their way deeper and deeper into the various ice tunnels as the sunlight soon disappears. Fortunately, they can both see in the dark as they find themselves immersed in darkness.
As the tunnels wind deeper into the mountain, the air becomes gradually warmer, and the tunnels grow wider. In places, crossroads may grow into steam chambers of gigantic proportions. Some have developed indentations where the steam condensed into liquid water and the inner chamber has stayed warm enough to prevent it from immediately re-freezing. These glacial pools are more pond than lake and appear to be almost infinitely deep, although this is an optical illusion caused by the pure water lying over glacier, acting as a refracting lens.
Deeper still into the mountain, the air becomes blistering hot, and the glacier is replaced by dark prismatic stone. The tunnels become narrow again, and angular rather than rounded, as the route travels through steam vents rather than the ice tunnels melted from the glacier. The air temperatures rapidly rise to above 100 degree Fahrenheit, and while Haldor is used to the cold..he might not be so used to the heat..
"Gah," Ripper mutters, shifting his clothes to something a much cooler jeans and t-shirt ensemble. He coughs. "I just know I'm going to get pneumonia from this." However, he doesn't let the stifling heat slow him down any more than the biting cold, and continues with with stoic resolve. Well, okay, with bitching and grumbling, but he continues!
Haldor is not so used to the heat. As a result, his armor reverts to the Shield known as Johanssen, slung across his back. Fortunately, Haldor never really changed his clothes from what he was wearing at the beach. Therefore, there is a black bathing suit and black, strapped on sandals-clad Viking marching along in the steamy darkness with Rupert.
Apparently they have just fallen into Greek myth and legend.
The hotter it gets, the more the ice gives way until they reach an area of stone, further into Erebus. Passages widen and narrow throughout the way until they find themselves at a cavern, with the smell of sulfur in the air. The cavern’s steeple ceiling reaches at least 50 feet tall, disappearing into the darkness, and the chamber runs for more than 300 yards. Although the walls are only a double arm-span apart in some places, they stretch 40 feet wide or more in others. The temperature is oppressive, and the stone surfaces are painfully hot to the touch. The air is dank and heavy with sulfur. As the chamber runs deeper into the mountain, a crevice splits the floor where the fault shifted. The crack begins narrowly, but by the far end of the chamber, it spans 15 feet across. Steam rolls up from the bottom of the fault, and a dull glow can be seen far, far below.
The chamber ends in a stone archway that is inscribed with a non-repeating geometric pattern. The arch is easily two arm-spans wide and twice as tall. The archway, however, has been sealed by what was once obviously a solid stone surface. Although parts of the stone blockage are polished as smooth as glass, scrapes mar the surface in many places. The marks are all arranged in groupings of four or five, perhaps a half inch apart, as if fingernails or claws had scraped at the stone long and hard enough to etch their efforts into the stone.
Although it is solid stone and easily a foot thick, the seal across the archway has been broken by the fault, resulting in a large gap at the bottom that rises half the height of the arch. Where the steam from the fault meets the broken seal, it swirls thickly back into the room, pushed away from the archway. The air coming through the broken seal is cold and damp, standing in stark contrast to the sweltering climate in the rest of the room.
The archway once ushered the Atlantean dead to the Underworld, as those who are able to decipher the inscriptions upon it will be able to discern. Sealed by the slayers of the Atlantean people, only the earth itself was capable of breaking through the arch.
Haldor is not the Earth itself. In fact, he's pretty sure that he's not a direct relation to the Earth, save in the same way that anyone else is. Silly Earthmothers and their birthing everyone. Even so, Haldor fully intends to split the seal before him with his fists for one simple reason.
It is impeding his access to Maia.
Sweat streams over Haldor's half-naked body as he steps up to the edge of the crevasse and looks down. Any other day he might give it a second thought. Any other day, Haldor would probably have pulled out all the stops to go get the rest of the Band before storming the Underworld, Atlantean or not. Today is most decidedly not any other day.
Haldor hurls himself across the gap and lands on the otherside nimbly. The Viking thumps his fists against the seal barring his path and Rupert's, considering it carefully as he gets a lay of its strength. Rupert can easily see the sparks of static electricity crackling over Haldor's body as the Viking starts summoning up his inner strength.
Climate and rock be damned, Haldor has the love of his life and a dear friend to save. The static electricity continues to build, snapping and hissing in the dark as the small, ethereal flashes of light flicker and sizzle the steamy air around him. Both fists clench as they're raised into the air over Haldor's head and, with but a savage snarl, the Viking brings his fists down upon the stone seal.
Whether it breaks or he does, the sound of the impact is defeaning. Air currents are disrupted and steam billows wildly in every direction away from the point of impact between Haldor's fists and the seal. Roaring winds whip across the interior of the cavern, blowing nothing less than chaos in all directions.
You don't fuck with the VIKING FIST.
Ripper backs off quickly, not wanting to get caught in the awesome display that Haldor is putting on. "Note to self," he mutters, taking to the air to avoid the minor tremors caused by the viking's immense strength. "Don't piss him off."
Air displaces as Haldor moves his fist, the powerful punch breaking easily through the tons of rock sealing the way to the Atlantean underworld. The temperatures change once more, going from extreme heat to extreme cold. Much like Helheim is cold, so is the place that once housed all the Titans before they escaped.
Inside, the same dark inky blackness of the Dark Hour fills all of the underworld. Shades of various sorts scream and hiss as they have a new way out. The world of the living is accessible once more! It's only then that a rather large serpent seems to appear from nowhere, coalescing from a dark black goo. It hisses as it stands tall and gets the various shades wandering around to back away from the entrance.
It's at least one hundred feet long and twenty feet in girth. It hisses a little while staring at the two intruders, it's eyes turning into little slits while focusing on the two.
"Get out…you don't know what you've done!" the guardian hisses..
"I just blew apart something like 25 tons of solid rock with my bare fists," replies Haldor to the enormous serpent.
The Viking rolls his shoulders and his head on his neck, keeping the creature in the corner of his eyes at all times. Slowly he takes a ready stance as he leers back at it, barely restraining the urge to bare his teeth at the reptilian form before him.
"I also just opened a way into the Underworld where the love of my life's soul is being held captive as a sacrifice to bring the Atlantean demigod /HE/," Haldor jerks a finger at Rupert to illustrate the point, "Slew like four or five hours ago. Now I am going the fuck in there, getting her soul back, and then I am going to let her figure out how the fuck to seal this doorway up so there aren't any motherfucking cracks letting Old Gods or Scions back into the World to liquefy people or take vengeance on the Pantheons that sentenced them."
"Well said," Rupert adds, drifting through the air toward the serpent. "Now, I've got a proposition for you, mate. You're obviously the guard here. These gates always have a guard. Anyway, we're going in. That's a given. So why don't you step aside, let us pass, and then keep these crawlies from invading the World while we take care of business, eh?"
How Orphic! Eurydice would be jealous at the lengths Haldor is going, but then again, Orpheus composed a song to get her back. Haldor just did the opposite, destroying everything in his path to get Maia back.
It looks like the guardian of the gate is about to strike, when Rupert starts speaking. He hisses once more and squints towards the demigod before looking back towards the shades trying to escape, keeping them away from the open entrance.
"The one whom you ssssseek is in the Temple of Amnis and Badarus.." he says matter of factly while whipping his tail towards the ghosts warped by the Titanspawn to keep them from entering the world. With that said, the giant serpant points with his tail towards north..is there a north in an underworld? Who knows, but still, it's pointed north towards a large zigurrat perhaps a mile away.
If Haldor thought it would help, he would have played the most kick ass drum solo in the history of drum solos on the seal. Haldor is, however, fairly certain that a drum solo so metal that it would have met with approval from the lead of Dethklok would not have saved Maia.
Almost before the Serpent is finished speaking, thunder cracks to mark the passing of Haldor. The Viking blurs into motion as he sprints/slaloms toward the zigurrat. A zig-zagging trail of ice is left in his wake, melting quickly in spite of the frigid cold in the Underworld. Perhaps some of the cavern's heat is seeping in or perhaps Haldor's simply moving so fast his own air friction is melting the ice.
Whatever the case, Rupert is going to have to make tracks if he intends to keep Haldor from getting his ass kicked.
Rupert sighs as Haldor makes like Speedy Gonzales. "Forgive him, he's … stressed," Rupert says in aside to the serpent. "You have my gratitude, friend. It will be remembered."
That said, he takes to the air again and tries his best (likely failing) to keep up with Haldor the Quick. "Slow down, mate!" he calls down. "You don't just rush blindly into the bloody Underworld!" Rupert rolls his eyes.
The topography of the underworld is well…flat. It's very flat. However, there are a few familiar sights along the way. Various dark spires rise up from the ground though unlike the ones in the Dark Hour, these spires seem less jagged, more curved and smooth, and in some cases even beautiful. Various geometric patterns are formed from the different spires, a common motif in their architecture it seems.
Several shades try to grab towards the still living demigods for warmth, but alas Haldor is much too fast for them. As they reach out, he just continues to whiz on through the grounds of the underworld, most definitely a man with a purpose. As Rupert follows, the various shades grab onto him for he is not as fast, their touch cold..very cold, and soon more and more gather. Perhaps Rupert might get lost? Unless he has a way to fight them off, he just might…
"And you don't just lollygag along," replies Haldor as he creates a sharply banked U-turn ahead of him.
The Viking sweeps around in a smooth motion and starts sprinting into the air. Haldor draws those drumsticks born of his Chibi Drumsticks again. In a surge of change their shape shifts to that of twin swords held akimbo.
"Now can we stop screwing around with the dead people or are we going to have to stop and fight everything that's attracted to us down here?"
"Fine." Ripper's voice is slightly muffled from the shades piling on him. "Go, I'll keep up."
He lets his cloak flow out into its natural form, and he winks out of existence and pops back in outside the dead soul doggy-pile. He glances up to where Haldor is, and fades out, reappearing next to him. "Stop dawdling, Freddy."
Haldor backflips away from the shades in mid-air. The swords revert to drumstick form and are slipped into the Viking's bathing suit pockets. With that accomplished, Haldor completes the backflip and lands on a rapidly forming chute of ice, which he surfs back to ground level.
Cue dramatic/heroic chase sequence.
And once again our heroes are off, and with the teleporting and insane speeds of the Viking, it doesnt take long before they reach the temple itself.
The Temple of Badarus and Amnis is a massive ziggurat constructed of granite. It once towered hundreds of feet above the headwaters of the great capital canal, but now is somewhere lost, its reflection in the underworld only imitating half of it's glory. It consistsof a series of 12 giant “steps” that formed a massive tiered platform. A series of wide stone stairs are carved into one face, leading up to the 10th “step,” where a broad doorway formerly gave entrance to the shrine proper.
Once inside, our heroes see various statues of the Amnis and Badarus in their full Atlantean glory. Is it odd that they perhaps share a slight resemblance to Maia and Haldor now, or is it all a coincidence? The floor of the shrine itself is a beautiful marble mosaic. The decorative geometric patterns have been broken in places around the edges, but the central design remains surprisingly intact. White and green tiles have been laid down in an elaborate labyrinthine pattern more than 30 feet in diameter.
When the two eventually reach the center of the temple, there they find various crystalline coffins of emerald encasing various figures. There are four others here, but the three you two would recognize are that of the sleeping Maia, Sarukhito and Brynhildr, all naked in the coffins as if in some sort of stasis…
"Stop!" Rupert calls pre-emptively to Haldor. "Before you go smashing things, let's take a look and get ready in case that makes Bad Things happen, yeah?"
"Dunno 'bout you, but I've found that punching through glass usually sprays the other side with shards," remarks Haldor as he all but hovers in front of Maia's coffin. The Viking's hand doesn't touch the crystal nor does any other part of him. Even so, he stands as close as he dares, staring in with a mixture of curiosity and concern.
There's nothing that's obvious about the crystal. There are markings, ancient markings on the crystalline coffin, much like the ones that held the Atlanteans on Earth. As Haldor steps closer, there's a faint sound as one of the marks starts to glow..
"Bugger," Rupert says, still floating in the air with his cloak billowing out into the darkness like an endless wave. "Okay, do what you gotta do. See if it'll open, but I'm fairly certain there's gonna be a test."
Oh good. Mysterious, faint noises are always a good sign. No. Wait, that's not right.
Haldor frowns, studying the runes etched into the crystal coffin. Maybe, just maybe, that wasn't such a bad thing. Right? Right. Maybe.
Hope gives Haldor time to think.
As Haldor studies the various runes, each one corresponds to a different note in perfect pitch. There are seven runes, representing the various notes. Now to figure out what the correct sequence is..now that's a bit trickier..
Rupert watches Haldor from the air, listening and staying alert.
Haldor cants his head to one side, peering puzzledly at the arrangement of the runes. One eyebrow arches as he gestures toward the runes, mouthing notes as he goes.
"… Can it really be that simple?"
The Viking promptly starts hitting runes, eventually seeming to compose a rather pop-music symphony with them. All the while, Haldor seems to singing under his breath. Something about heroes coming along, having the strength to carry on, and knowing then that someone can survive. Very weird. Very cryptic.
"You're not honestly singing that song, are you?" Rupert asks. "Because the fairy godmother, you aren't." Shrek reference!
And how appropriate as well. The coffin starts toopen, letting out an airlock-ish sort of sound as Maia falls out into Haldor's arms. She wrinkles her nose, as she's made of spirit stuff and starts towake up before blinking blankly, looking rather confused as shepeers towards Haldor and Rupert.
"Huh? What song?" she asks curiously, before letting out a gasp as she spies Brynhildr and Sarukhito in coffins as well. "Holy crap where are we?!?" Yeah..she has no idea what happened..
"What song? Fairy godmother? The fuck are you talking about?"
Haldor seems very confused, catching Maia in his arms and peering up at Rupert in confusion. The Viking blinks a few times and looks at Maia. For a moment he starts to answer, but pauses, considering his words.
"It's complicated. You're kind of inside of a Dark Spire and in the Atlantean Underworld and in my arms all at the same time. Rupert and I are just in the Atlantean Underworld."
"And, uh, I guess technically we're inside of Antarctica too?"
Ripper snickers. "Smooth, Freddy. Real smooth." He shrugs and looks over at the other figures. "You know the tunes to open these up?"
It all slowly comes back to her as she wrinkles her nose and wrpas her arms Haldor for a long kiss of appreciation. After a minute or two, she breaks the kiss and sighs softly, smiling warmly towards him. "There's more of that later, but first…Brynhildr and Sarukhito.." Maia says softly as she wrinkles her nose as she stretches her arms into the air before studying the two coffins.
"And who are all these other people.." there are four other coffins afterall. "Should we let them go?"
"I could probably figure it out," remarks Haldor to Rupert. He pauses, glancing at the other four coffins speculatively, "Do we know how many gods and goddesses there are in the Atlantean pantheon? Or… Anything about them really?"
Haldor isn't entirely sure he's comfortable with being kissed by Maia's soul, but that's an internal debate best saved for when he's not likely to have to make a life or death decision about four people. Much less have to decipher musical data in order to figure out how to free an Amatsukami and a Valkyrie. Talk about game time.
Ripper shakes his head. "I don't know anything about them at all, other than the name Amnis that mum gave me. I think that's the one we met back at Hashima."
"Brynhildr is a valkyrie, right?" Maia says, wrinkling her nose a bit as she looks back towards Haldor. Sure she kissed him and she's made of spirit stuff, but is that really different from kissing him when she's fully human or demigoddess or..whatever they are now. She doesnt think about it and heads towards the valkyrie's runes and listens to the notes before putting in some Wagner..
Soon enough, that opens with an airlock-ish type sound, though unlike Maia, she doesnt fall out. She just disappears and there's a little yelp. "I…didnt mean to do that.."
"And Badarse and Ballsac," notes Haldor, "And Amnesia said you killed Ballsac. Considering that snake at the gate said this place was a temple to Badarse and Amnesia, I guess that just confirms that the copy me is Badarse. The copy you is Ballsac."
It's hard to tell if Haldor's getting the names wrong on purpose or by accident. Of course, does it really matter if he's trying to get the names wrong or is doing it by accident? And then Maia frees Brynhildr while Haldor is puzzling things over. Surely this cannot end horribly.
Rupert snickers audibly at Haldor's commentary, then sighs when Maia frees the trapped spirit. "Hope you know what you're doing, luv."
That was the most obvious there, and at the mention of a Ballsac, she just gigglesnorts and wrinkles her nose while looking towards Haldor once more. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and nods, "Yes, you are a Bad arse, Haldor..I think we all knew that already.."
And now there's Sarukhito..she doesnt look like she wants to risk what happened before and hrmms. "Should we leave them here for now and come back with the others? I got lucky…Ride of the Valkyries, Wagner..but Scott may be more use in freeing the others. Perhaps he can even identify the other four.."
"Well, uh. See that's the thing. I was kind of hoping you'd have an idea on how to seal this place off again. I, uh… I kind of breached the seal holding the spirits in and there's an over-worked, over-sized snake thing trying to hold back the hordes."
Haldor rubs the back of his head a bit, looking mildly sheepish. Johanssen no doubt chimes in with biting humor at Haldor's expense.
Rupert just shakes his head. "This isn't an easy bloody trek, Maia. It's not like nipping down to the corner store for a pack of fags."
"The seal..what made the seal?" she asks curiously, her brows raised as she hrmms for a few moments, trying to ponder things over.
"… Uh. Rock?" Haldor looks concerned that he's about to be asked to be more specific. The Viking casts an inquisitive look at Rupert, perhaps expecting the rockstar to, well, know about rock.
Ripper shrugs. "A big rock?"
And there's a facepalm. Yes, she knows she's smarter than the two before her, but does she really need to do everything? Or maybe she isnt doing everything, for she was the one who was rescued afterall. Maia wrinkles her nose and looks back towards the crystalline coffins and hrmms for a few moments.
"Haldor..can you pick up Sarukhito's coffin? And we can get out..I have no idea who those other four are..so I don't know if it's a good thing they're in there.."
"Well considering there were three openings in the coffins that they could stuff you, Sarukhito, and Brynhildr into and we only know about three Atlantean gods and/or goddesses running around? I think it's a good guess they're Atlanteans that haven't been awakened yet."
Haldor moves toward Sarukhito's coffin, spreading his legs a bit as he crouches down to wrap his arms around the crystal pod. Considering just how much rock he blew through to get in here, this coffin doesn't look like it should give the Viking too much trouble.
"Alright, are we leaving now?" Rupert asks from his vantage point where he's still keeping watch. "This place gives me the screaming mimis."
Haldor casually rips the coffin free of its moorings and slings it over his shoulder. For all the inconvenience it gives him, he may as well be carrying a baseball player's sack with a bat, a glove, a couple of baseballs, and a batting helmet.
"We only know of three, but there's more..there can't be a three god pantheon.." Maia says matter of factly as she looks around and chews on her bottom lip as she wrinkles her nose and hops up to kiss Haldor before starting to climb onto his back. He can run ridiculously fast afterall, and she doesnt have any teleporting powers like the others.
"So shall we then?" she asks curiously.
"Fine by me."
Ripper promptly disappears, fading back in from the shadows at the very limit of his vision in the direction of the exit.
Again with the soul-kisses. Haldor is fairly certain that souls are almost weightless, so in spite of the fact that Maia would ordinarily hold no power to slow him down, her current state literally imposes no difficulty upon him. Therefore: Haldor blurs into motion, ice skating across an ever growing line of ice on the ground.
Just wait until he gets to the stairs. We can be the Scion Bobsled Team.
At least they arent the Jamaican Bobsled Team. That would just be bad.
And the trio zips through the various sights, the various Dark Spires seeming to grow just a little. Or is that just an effect of how fast they're going. Who knows?
When they finally reach the gate, the serpent that was once guarding them seems..badly beaten. Bruised, and cut. He hisses once more and looks towards them. "They…you foolssssssss…. they got out.." who is he talking about?
Rupert appears in front of the serpent. "Who got out? What happened here?" He looks around, as if expecting an attack at any moment.
Haldor skids to a stop, spraying ice all over the place. The Viking peers at the snake, a mixture of confusion and concern spreading across his features. In the back of his head, Haldor tries to decide between 'Atlantean gods' and 'mutant Atlantean ghosts'.
What? It's a tough choice.
"Fooolssss…. they got out… your own selfishnessss… will be your undoing…" the serpent hisses once more. It's just a black inky darkness. There don't seem to be many souls around any more. Those nthat tried to get out were either destroyed or escaped. But who knows how many there were.
At this news, Maia becomes pale and chews on her bottom lip, not quite sure what to do. "I…I'm sorry…"
Ripper sighs. "Well, we broke it. We'll fix it." He turns and looks at Haldor and Maia. "Looks we got another thing for the to-do, list, mates. Track down the ghosts and put them back where they belong. Probably going to need Jolie for this."
"Just so long as we don't need an enchanted chest and an obnoxious adolescent Filipino con artist," mutters Haldor.
Maia chews on her bottom lip still before she looks towards the other, hopping off Haldor's back and looks towards the serpent. "We'll fix this.." and she starts to step out towards the gate, and when she steps out of the gate of the underworld, she fades. Perhaps she went back to her body..but that begs the question…how do they leave Antarctica?
"… So, uh. I guess you're gonna want a lift, huh, Rip?"
Haldor peers at where Maia faded out of existence. Quietly the Viking regards Rupert before turning to look at the Serpent again. Maybe the reptile has some suggestions on how to get out of Antarctica real fast.
Rupert shrugs and looks confused. "How are we getting back to Japan? That little teleporting kid isn't here, and that's a helluva long way to fly."
"I can run it. Probably a hell of a lot faster than you can fly, Rip."
Haldor shrugs a little bit, seemingly utterly casual about the weighty coffin he's got slung over his shoulder. The Viking watches Rupert quietly, his expression saying he's open to other suggestions if there are any.
Ripper sighs. "Might as well. This trip is a giant pain in the ass, you know." He glances suspiciously at Haldor. "Can you run all the way to Japan?"
"Dunno. I bet I can make it all the way to Australia, at the very least though."
Haldor grins brightly at Rupert, starting to walk into the cavern himself. The Viking casts a glance over his shoulder at the serpent and offers a cheesey smile and a thumbs up.
"We'll fix this. No worries."
The duo continues to make their way up the cavern from the intense heat of the inside of Mount Erebus to the intense cold of Antarctica proper. What they see when they arrive to the top is well….it's definitely something one doesnt see often.
It's an Aurora Borealis..or at least, it looks like it. Flashes of color swirl up above them when they finally reach the intense cold as they can hear the moans and groans of the dead whom escaped. While there are those who escaped, such as Maia and the ones the serpent was talking about, the elder spirits and spectres of the Atlantean deceased havent accumulated enough power yet to depart, and as they take in power…the Antarctic ice shelves start to melt..this can't be good….how are they going to be stopped?
"… Oh. Oh fuck. I did a /REAL/ bad thing, Ripman."
Haldor rubs the back of his head with his free hand, concern etched into his face. The Viking looks around and frowns. Sure, he can freeze stuff now… But this? This is probably out of his league.
"… think… Think real hard… Fuck…"
The spirits of the dead continue to swirl above them, still trying to gather more power. Hopefully Haldor still has Maia's gift of the chibi swords…they cut into spirit stuffs afterall..
Ripper blinks, and looks confused for a moment. "I have no clue, mate. Ghosts isn't my deal." However, he seems to have the same idea as Haldor, trading out his preferred claws for the ghost-slaying weapon that he got from Maia. "But this ought to help even the playing field."
Haldor has had his Chibi Drumsticks with him for most of this scene. The Viking draws them again, casting his sunglass-covered gaze up at the ghosts as he sets the coffin down. Quietly he regards them as he channels his own power into the sunglasses.
"Man. Come on. Give me a hand here…" mutters Haldor under his breath.
As he puts on the sunglasses, he'd notice an area of pure entropy, chaos in the center. It's what keeping everything together..oddly enough. The spirits of the dead continue to scream and swirl all over, trying to consume one another. As each spectre consumes another ghost, it gets bigger..and bigger..
That probably isnt a good sign.
Ripper immediately goes on the offensive, attempting to rip, claw, and tear the renegade shades into submission. Hell, half of his acrobatics are just trying to keep himself warm, but he puts on a decent show. Whether that actually helps or not …
Haldor frowns slightly at what he sees. The Viking's pretty sure he can't do jackshit about pure energy… Or pure entropy for that matter. As a result, this leaves him with only the one recourse.
With a war cry, Haldor launches into the air. Chibi drumsticks turn to Viking long swords as Haldor darts and flips through the air. Like Rupert, Haldor is an acrobatic, blurry-edged maestro of Permanent Death.
The spirits and shades pose no real obstruction to Ripper's frenzied whirlwhind of destruction. Slash, tear, rip! The claws rip unforgivingly through spirit stuff, leave gaping wounds in the shades and small bits of spirit-stuff floating through the air.
Both the ability to 'fly' and the ability to kill things almost every other second is a truly ridiculous gift. It is, however, Haldor's gift and one that he employs with wild abandon. The Viking sprints and springs through the air, merrily cleaving great swaths of destruction through ghosts, shades, and specters alike that don't fully make themselves known until the blur that is Haldor's half-naked body lays into the next line of the dead.
Haldor roars in fury, sweat streaming off of his body and snowing gently down upon the ground as he continues to move. Exertion will no doubt wear upon him, but Haldor's both tough and immune to the cold. Resting here in Antarctica can't hurt him. The Viking whirls his blades about, twisting and weaving amongst the spirits of the dead, blades flashing in blurry strokes of cold steel that end existence.
A hurricane to Rupert's whirlwind, ectoplasm and ethereal energies rain down across the frozen ground beneath the battlefield. Haldor moves with impossible grace and speed, every motion as deadly to the unquiet dead as they would be to the endangered living. Still, every few moments, Haldor can't help but find his gaze fixating upon that ball of chaos.
Pure.
Unadulterated.
Entropy.
As the pair continues to slash and tear through the various spectres, the moans and groans of dead souls being destroyed to be removed from the cycle of reincarnation fill the air. Their shrieks are that of pain personified as they poof into nothingness.
Still as they move through the miasma of death and entropy, the various spirits continue to whisper things as if they were under the control of something else. It's right that the ball of pure entropy and chaos gets Haldor's attention…
Both demigods hear words barely above a whisper. Nihilism. Loneliness. Sacrifice. Intoxication. Destruction. Despair. Rage. Greed. Madness.
It's repeated over and over again like a mantra as the spirits continue to swirl about around the source of energy. There's hundreds..of thousands of spirits that have been released. Even both demigods can only go through perhaps two each second? What's going to happen? What are they going to do?
Ripper blinks and slows down as he hears the whisper. "What the bloody hell is going on here?" He can't see the ball of entropy, but he can definitely see the manifesting spirits crowding around. "Fuck me."
"There's… A ball. It's like pure chaos, man. Pure motherfucking chaos."
Quite helpfully, Haldor points at it, shredding another spirit in twain as it attempts to fly through his sword. The Viking starts to drift upward, gritting his teeth as he moves ever close to the ball. Slowly he brings his hands and his swords together, the blades merging into an enormous battle axe.
"Give me a hand here. Maybe we can split it or… I dunno. Your mom's the one that's big on chaos, ain't she?"
"Yeah," Ripper replies dubiously, drifting through the air. "I know a few tricks, but I'm not sure what good it will do." He shrugs and looks around. "Okay, if you want some chaos, I can give you some chaos."
Down below, there's a rip in space..the sound of air displacing even heard from the raging winds of the Antarctic and the screams and groans of the spiritual miasma of doom swirling up in the sky. Who is it? It's the young boy still dressed in his khaki shorts with Maia now dressed for the cold on topof Drake. She looks around before looking up towards the sky, her eyes widening at the sight.
"You were right..it's begun. Ennui. Humanity's desire to destroy itself. It was released.." she says softly before motioning for the pup to rise up into the air.
Maia's dressed in a full fur coat provided by the little boy of course. Her eyes widen as she meets the duo up in the sky and sighs softly and looks at it.
"Any ideas on what to do, gentlemen?"
"… Wh- … Hi, love. Glad to see you're back among the living and incarnate."
Haldor curiously peers at the ball of chaos, considering it with a curious gaze. The Viking rubs the back of his head and shrugs a little bit at the question asked of him and Rupert.
"Can't we just hack it up into little pieces and hope it has the common courtesy to die?"
"We can try, I guess." Rupert still looks a little dubious. "I'm not holding out hope considering I can't even see it, and I doubt that these ghost-killer toys will actually hurt a big ball o' nothing."
Maia beams brightly towards Haldor as she continues to ride Drake who barks happily, even though it's much deeper and more threatening this time. She idly runs her fingers through her hair and takes a deep breath as she sighs softly and wrinkles her nose.
"I don't think that'll work. When I came to, I remember a few things from my capture. They called the boy Philemon..when they were beating him up before Amnis ripped out my soul. Philemon..the Unconscious…a Jungian archetype. It makes sense..the whole thing..it's the Unconscious. That.."
she says pointing towards the ball of chaos with the floating miasma around it.
"That's the unconscious desires of the Atlanteans. These spectres..Atlantean spirits gone mad from solitude corrupted by the Titans they were trapped with. Simply slashing won't do it…how can you slash and destroy the very personification of self-destruction."
"So… What? We all hold hands and sing Kum Bye Ah?"
Haldor seems speculative. Confused and speculative to be exacting about this sort of thing. A furtive glance or two is cast toward Phil and then toward Rupert.
"Thank you, Maia. That was incredibly helpful," Ripper snarks. "Now, I'm not afraid to say that I have absolutely no idea what to do. So, we know what -won't- work, then what -will-?"
"You're a fucking idiot, Rupert. What Haldor said was at least semi-helpful. I have to admit, I was thinking it myself.."
Maia sighs a little as she scratches the back of her head whileshivering a little in the cold as she continues to stare at the spiritual ball of doom. She takes a deep breath and hrmms for a few moments.
"Look, that is self-destruction..what do you do when someone is being self destructive..you have an intervention, right?"
"… You do?"
Haldor seems confused. This is no doubt nothing new, but the circumstances do make it rather stand out.
Ripper gives Maia a look. "I tend to help them along with it, actually. But, getting back to the point, we're going to … tell that we care about it and to stop hurting itself because it's hurting the ones who love it?"
"Do you have any other ideas? The Atlanteans are pissed. Their gods are pissed. Their people are pissed. They want to take it out on the rest of creation. What do you do with a tantruming child? Spanking doesnt work on everyone.."
Hey..this is the lovey dovey Maia. It seems she's still this soft hearted even as a demi-goddess.
Haldor rubs his forehead a bit with one hand. The Viking remains confused and speculative of this plan. This could be due to the fact that the Atlanteans have been nothing but trouble and tried to kill Maia twice already today.
"So what? You want us to scream at it until they get so confused they stop?"
You paged Jason with 'You're going through the doors, right? Cause if you do, you'll end up here in Antarctica.'
Jason pages: Then I am winding up in Antartica
You paged Jason with 'Pose going through the doors and disappearing then +mjoin us.'
"Okay, well if you want to talk them down, let's go talk them down."
Ripper starts rising into the air. "Tell me where this big ball thing is, mate. I'm gonna go have a chat and see if these folks will listen to reason."
His cloak billows out and seems to grow as he rises, almost appearing to fill the sky with inky black shadow. His appearance seems to shift between seconds, one minute the normally handsome Rupert and the next an inhumanly beautiful, blue-skinned, four-armed apparition cloaked in darkness and almost glowing with power. He is untouched by the swirling chaos as he begins to approach the big, invisible ball.
Haldor continues to point at the ball of chaos. Ghosts continue to shred themselves as they inevitably ram into Haldor's extended axe. Someone should probably endow the ghosts with some intelligence.
"It's right there, Rip. Do your thing."
When Jason goes through the doors of the Dark Hour castle in Times Square, he finds himself cold. Extremely cold. The galeforce winds of Antarctica would instantly freeze a mortal, but fortunately Jason isnt one.
As he arrives he'd notice three figures up in the sky. Two should be familiar, Haldor shirtless and in swimming trunks. The other..Maia on a giant Shiba Inu next to a giant ball of pure unadulterated chaos surrounded by a miasma of spectres consuming each other as they swirl around it. Then there's the dark form of Rupert, whom he may or may not recognize.
However, the figure next to him is one that he does and should recognize. It's a young boy dressed in khaki pants though he looks badly bruised. "Jason!" he chirps merrily as he sees him, snapping his fingers to provide a coat of warmth.
Meanwhile..up in the air, Maia sighs softly as she takes a deep breath and wrinkles her nose as she chews on her bottom lip a little, looking towards theothers. She sighs a little and grins wryly as she watches Ripper do his thing. Maia looks towards Haldor and reaches out to take his hand, squeezing tightly. "I hope he doesnt piss them off.." she whispers softly.
Jason might not be one but cold is still not his preferred thing, he almost at once begins to rub his arms even while taking in the sudden abrupt shift in surroundings. Then.. up in the sky! People! Who may or may not be Atlanteans, but given the lack of tight fitting leather probably aren't. At the sudden warmth in response to the snap of the boys fingers he nods in thanks and says, "Thanks.. potentially unknowable being of mysterious intentions and inscrutable powers wearing the form of a little boy I never got the name of. You're looking rough. Your friend back in New York is looking worse, nine very nasty things have her above an altar of Self Destruction and things falling apart and are generally sucking the life out of her. Or the death out of her. I'm not sure." Jerk of his head towards the others and the ball of chaos, "What are they doing?"
Durandal emerges from the doorway of darkness, also shirtless, though he's wearing a pair of jeans held up by a leather belt with Nordic runes inscribed on it, and has a pair of brass knuckles on his fist. "So where the hell does this lead…" that as far as he gets before the winds lash his powerful frame, and he instinctiely clinches. "You gotta be fucking KIDDING me!" He shouts as the cold grips him. "Asshole is trying to get me KILLED" He relaxes a bit, trying to move, trudging through the snow with his jeans and tennis shoes. "First there are monsters with a hundred arms, then some necro bitch with a death wave and now im in the middle of the /fucking/ ice age…" He looks up at the sky and the flying people and the sphere of bad juju. "Oh, fantastic… yeah, why don't you /talk/ to the big swirling marble of doom?" He shakes his head and continues trudging, looking for this "brother". "Why cant the world come to end in Maui?" he grumbles.
The divine Hindu in the sky doesn't hesitate as he flies directly into the Big Ball O' Nothing, following Haldor's directions. As he does, he calls up all of the charisma and presence at his command, channeling the full force of his personality into his voice and appearance in a somewhat subtle but unmistakable attempt at Shock and Awe. He calls out something in Hindi, followed by English, attempting to establish communication with the subconcious behind the manifestation.
"Listen to me," he begins, drawing on every ounce of authority granted by his semi-divine nature. "Listen, and understand. You have suffered a terrible fate. A fate worse than any you could have deserved. A fate remembered by man and God alike to this day, despite the wishes of my forefathers. I understand that. You have suffered for an endless eternity in a bleak, loveless prison. That day is no more!" He spins slowly inside the sphere. "Today, you have made yourselves known, you have come to express your outrage, your weariness, your hatred, your desire for this punishment to end. And you have been heard. But this must stop. You cannot go further. This world, once so beloved to you, is beloved to me. I and my brothers, my sisters, my lovers, my worshippers. This is our world now, and you MUST STOP! Listen to me, look upon me, and know that I am not your foe. I have no quarrel with you. Your story inspired me as a child, as every child in this World is inspired by the feats of great Atlantis. Do not destroy that. For myself, I beg you. Bend to my will, and I will see you rewarded. Spare the world your desire for destruction, and your torment can end. In my own name, written upon the skien of Fate, before God and Man, I swear that your torment will end, and you will be as beloved to me as my own people!"
Haldor drags his axe from the air, splitting it into its component drumsticks and sheathing them as Maia takes his hand. The Viking squeezes her hand gently and looks at her, taking dim note of the people standing near The Kid. One red eyebrow arches as he moves slowly toward her, still somehow managing to suspend himself in the air.
"Who're those guys with the kid?"
Maia was just with him, maybe she knows Jason and Durandal.
Maia's lost for a few moments as she watches Rupert give a Dr. Phil-esque speech towards the massive seething ball of self-destruction, anger and doom. Her fingers entwine with Haldor's and squeezes his hand tightly as she wrinkles her nose before looking down towards the ground.
"There's Jason..we met him before, remember?" she says softly. "Have no clue who the shirtless guy is though. And I'm kinda surprised with Rupert. I just thought he was going to go, "Who's a cute little fuzzy wuzzy ball of darkness and doom. You are..yes you are!" trying to add a little levity to the situation.
Meanwhile, back on the ground, the young boy spies the shirtless man and gahs, flailing his arms before snapping his fingers to provide proper warmth and protection. It's fucking Antarctica afterall. He sighs a little as he points up towards the trio.
"Atlantean souls were released..it's very angry..and the nine..they took my sister.." he sniffles once more, actually sad, as if feeling her pain even all this way..
Meanwhile, back in the air, the ball starts to glow, the swirling mass of angry spirits still going around over and over. But at least the consumption of various ghosts has stopped and it just pauses, the swirling ending before there's a loud screech and the spirits just stop, sort of floating there.
"I…think he did it..perhaps we can try to push it back into the Atlantean Underworld?" Maia asks as she lets go of Haldor's hand and points towards the ball of not so angry spirits of the dead..
Durandal claps his hands around his mouth. "Hey kid! Get over here before you freeze to death!" He trudges towards the kid. "Kid! Your sister is on the other side of the… of the…" He looks back the way he came, gesturing vaguely. "…of the thing." He moves up to the kid and leans down to try to pick the kid up. "Here kid, your gonna freeze." He moves to wrap the kid up, trying to keep him warm.
Jason waves towards Haldor as him and Maia look in the general direction and he glances as Durandel arrives as well, "Well. You came through as well? The others all doing their thing then? Excellent. Excellent. I hope. Still good sense on occasion prevails, we must not give up hope else we wind up in ennui and wee see how that ends. Messy."
Seeing as he's just basically named himself King of the Atlantean Dead, Ripper smiles at the now-calm spirits. "Follow me, my friends. Time to go home and leave this World behind you, lest it be destroyed by your presence. Come!" He begins to fly back towards the Underworld entrance, trusting the spirits to follow him.
"Oh yeah. The guy from that day with the rabbits."
Haldor peers at Jason, offering a wave. The Viking promptly looks back toward Rupert and the swirling mass of ghosts and Ennui. One red eyebrow arches as he considers it all, rubbing his chin with his newly freed hand.
"We could try. Might make them madder th- Oh. Alright then. Let's, uh, go try and figure out how to seal the door?"
Durandal kneels down in front of the kid. "Don't get the wrong idea, kid…" He wraps powerful arms around the boy, trying to transfer his own body heat to the kid. "Your sister is in trouble, we need to figure out how to help her… there are these people that are chanting something. Do you know what's going on?" He has to almost shot over the howl of the bitter winds.
The young boy shrugs his shoulders as he beams around Durandal and lets out a soft chuckle under his breath. He seems relieved. "No…she is okay now. They found hope. The people who died..they found hope and empowered her.." he explains before he looks towards the other Scion of Thor curiously. "I am a god..I am not cold..keep your coat..it is my gift.." he says with a warm smile.
Meanwhile, the ball of swirling energy starts to follow Rupert ashe goes down back towards the caverns. Maia follows as she wriggles nher fingers towards the others, feeling a renewed sense of hope, a will to survive no matter what the odds. Mary's revival would have a profound effect on all those present considering there is truly hope in nthe world once more.
"Let's bring it back..I know how to seal it..the rocks..inanimate. I speak to inanimate spirits.."
Durandal blinks as the kid smiles, quirking an eyebrow as the kid reveals that he is a god. Durandal shakes his head. "Of course you are… why wouldn't you be? It's not like things have been /strange/ recently… why the hell not?" He shakes his head and mutters something angrily about having a chat with his father, then nods to those gathered. "Well if the world is no longer in peril, can we please kindly get the hell out of here? I'm this close to using my nipples as diamond cutters!"
Ripper leads the souls back to their underworld and winks at the guardian serpent. "Here you go, mate. Everyone, fall in."
Oh good. Maia remembers that she can speak to inanimate objects and they usually follow her commands. Haldor pauses a moment, pursing his lips and knitting his brows as he considers this. Why didn't he think of that?
Quickly enough, Haldor blurs into motion again, sprinting through the air after Rupert and the Masses.
Jason takes a deep breath of the chill air, letting it out in a foggy cloud and he tucks his hands into his jacket pockets as he goes along, following after the ball of scary and the others. "Good for them, not a clue how they managed it but.. good for them. I suppose that even in the most dire of circumstances there is something to srive for."
And the three demigods go down once more to close the seal.
Meanwhile, the young boy looks towards Durandal chuckles softly and wrinkles his nose as he snaps his fingers once more. "You're /not/ cold..you're under my protection.." he says with a sage nod before looking back towards Jason. "Things have changed..this whole series of events has changed the world as we know it. People will know that the old gods are back..through you all. How will they react? What will they do? You can't hide in secret anymore..to let your legend grow, you have to help the people..or destroy it.."
Several hours later, the three demigods come back up after Maia does her thing to reform the seal with her magic Japanese juju. She sighs softly and smiles warmly towards Jason, bowing her head as she idly runs her fingers through her hair, taking a deep breath. She peers towards Durandal and smiles.
"Hello!" She's rather chipper, but then again..they all just saved the world…again..
Durandal relaxes a bit as warmth floods over him when the boy snaps his fingers. A faint wisp of steam begins to rise from his body. "Huh… yeah ok. Uh…thanks." He nods to the kid, looking around. Spinning as Maia addresses him. "Hi." He gives a grin, then looks around. "So, uh… what's a guy gotta do to get a first-class ticket out of…" He looks around again. "Here. Where we are."
"Just like that the age of man starts to come to an end?" Jason muses while he strolls along. Strolls along /so much/. "I wonder if it really truly let itself go so easily, or welcome back the age of the gods." A chuckle, "But then. If today has proven anything it is that there are possibilities. We'll have to see just how they turn out." Maia eventually gets a smile as well of course, after sealing is done. "Nice to see you as.. you. Been bumping into your double a lot of late. Why are you.. wherever the heck we actually are?" Those last words uncertain, Durandel getting a nod of agreement. Right.
After all the souls are back in and the entrance is resealed, Rupert floats down to the ground. His blue skin fades back to brown, and the extra arms disappear.
"Antarctica," he supplies. "Entrance to the Atlantean Underworld."
Durandal reaches up to rub his chin thoughtfully. "So there /is/ a point to Antarctica. Good to know," he quips.
"One of the entrances to the Atlantean Underworld. Take it from one who is experienced, don't go breaking into the Underworld through brute force."
Haldor glances at the Kid, moving over to ruffle his hair.
"How's your sister doing, kiddo? How're you doing for that matter?"
"Why shouldnt I be happy? I died..well..got my soul ripped out and I'm back. And the world wasnt ended.." Maia's still high on the extra hope she's feeling from Mary even though she's thousands of miles away. She idly runs her fingers through her hair as shehooks her arms around one of Haldor's before looking towards Philemon and wrinkles her nose just a bit.
"Ooop! Home!" Philemon chirps with a soft chuckle under his breath as he tries to fix his hair once more. "Mary's doing much better now..the nine who escaped from the underworld took us by surprise. Things nhave definitely changed. I hope you all can handle it. And perhaps it is a new age of the gods. This has ramifications more than you know. Hopefully you'll be responsible with your powers..but everyone might not be. The nine who attacked..you should know seven of them.." he says gravely. "They're back…aspects of the Titan of Death now. Their powers are even stronger than your own, and they will try and continue to strike down to bring an end to all. They're in cahoots with the Atlanteans who want to destroy all as well. Things have become more dangerous.."
"Things are always dangerous. Fortunately, so are we." Rupert smirks. "But we appreciate your help, mate. You did good."
Durandal nods. "So basically it's a fight for the future of humanity… funny that he never thought mention that part." He mumbles softly to himself, shaking his head. "Asshole," he curses.
"Can you actually kill the Titan of Death?" Jason considers frowning a touch, "Even doing too much harm to it's aspects sounds the sort of thing that could do the world grievous harm. That could make things all terribly complicated. The whole situation does sound an endless spree of ramifications, even without the rest mixed in."
Haldor shakes his head a little bit. For the moment he remains quiet; he's kind of the strong, silent, not terribly super-intelligent sort. On the other hand, Haldor does have a cut to his jib that might be pretty inspiring if he really tried.
"The last time a Titan was killed, it caused the end of an Ice age…I don't think any Titans should be destroyed.." Maia says softly as she looks back to Philemon as her hand reaches out for Haldor's, letting her fingers entwine with his as she gives his hand a gentle squeeze. "Can we go home?"
PHilemon beams brightly and nods. "Of course!" he chirps merrily, a portal back to New York before them, ready to take them back..
Durandal shakes his head. "Great… so we kill it and doom the planet, or we let it live to throw nasty stuff at us… Fan-frickin-tastic." Durandal doesn't do strong and silent… he does strong and cynical, strong and bitter. That's more his level. Then a portal opens up, and he nods. "Well, if I'm gonna be on tv I guess I'm gonna have to shave." He walks towards the portal. "Or maybe get a tattoo…"
Jason glances about the surroundings and states, "End of an ice age is looking pretty good about now. But I'm sure I'll change my mind in a minute." And with that he is passing through the portal. New York bound.
Rupert looks at Haldor and Maia. "We going back to New York or back to Japan?"
Durandal shakes his head. "Who cares? Long as it's warm and I can get a hotdog…" He reaches up and rubs his neck. "Do they have hotdogs in Japan? Real hot dogs, I mean, none of that tofu stuff."
Long distance to Haldor: Maia sads and awwww :(
"New York..it's been a while since we've been home. Sojobo will understand.." Maia says as she patpats Drake as he turns back into a cute little shiba inu pup that hops into her arms instead of the ginormous battle pup that he was earlier. With that said, she steps through the portal back home..
Rupert nods and heads through the portal himself.
Haldor shrugs at Rupert.
"I think our work in Japan's done for now. We just need to pop Sarukhito out of his coffin and we can do that back in New York."
Speaking of Sarukhito, Haldor springs across the Antarctic landscape to retrieve the crystalline coffin housing the Amatsukami's soul. The Viking, now carrying his charge, starts making his way back to the portal. Casually he casts a few glances around the Antarctic landscape before popping into it and back to New York. Sweet, sweet New York.
Durandal follows the group through the portal, turning a bit to look out across the frozen desolation. "Yes Yes, had a lovely time, we'll have to do it again soon!" He yells to no one in particular, then turns muttering. "Unless I can weasel my way out of it." He steps through the threshold…
Great Escape Pt 2 occurs simultaneously when Haldor breaks open the Seal to the Atlantean Underworld.
