"Yes... he will do nicely. Take him down to the City!" The Dark Entity was moving from one possible soul donor to the next, average-looking but very frightened citizens being guarded by Circle mages on all sides. Her minions have been doing good work since she was brought forth to oversee things. Paragon's heroes were mostly busy dealing with other more 'important' business, so much that a few random kidnappings weren't drawing much attention.
The robed mage, a slight look of fear in his eyes as the entity walked past, immediately obeyed. "Yes, my master." With a quick motion to two guards, they grabbed the young man, frozen into place by spells, and started walking him off towards the cave entrance, one of the many hidden entrances to Oranbega that has not yet been found.
The entity motioned for another mage, walking submissively a few steps behind her, to come forward. "Raimos, oversee the processing of the rest." As she spoke a small device hanging off of a certain tigress' belt started to beep. Glancing down, the entity curiously detached it and held it in her hands. A string of text appeared on the screen.
"Hey Rowr! Wanna go on a portal mission with me? Gotta go save some other-world Oranbegans from the Malta!" The message was from someone named Shifting Facade. Other-world Oranbegans... this sounds like something I need to see. Quickly tapping out a reply, "Sure, be right there." With that she closed her eyes, concentrating, as tendrils of thick black smoke started to pour forth from around her knees and feet, swirling together into a small cloud, which started to rise into the air, the entity standing casually on top. With a gesture, the cloud sped off towards what the denizens called a 'ferry'.
It will be better to try not to arouse suspicion...now how did this stupid tiger look normally? As the cloud flew through the air, the black covering around Rowr's body began to ripple and undulate, then fading into solid bands, the tigress' normal orange fur beginning to show through. The ripples collected and then faded into the solid black stripes, giving the entity a look very much like the body she was possessing. A faint magical tattoo remained on her chest, barely perceptible at first glance, and the red glow of the eyes faded to almost nothing. This should be convenient enough to fool whoever this 'Shifting Facade' is.
Dropping down onto the ferry, the entity let her traveling cloud fade away before anyone could see. She was alone on the boat as it scooted across the water to the place known as Peregrine Island. Reaching the docks the entity checked Rowr's communicator one last time, turning on the direction finder for her friend. "Be careful Rowr, might want to go around the coast to get here," the message from Shifty glowed on the screen. Ordinarily I wouldn't view anything here as much of a threat, but I'll play along… Hopping off into the water the entity made her way around the island, reaching the closest she could come to Portal Corp via water, then proceeded to hop up the short and the rocks, landing in the courtyard area, where she found Shifty waiting next to the large spinning corporate logo.
"Rowr?" Shifty said with a look of surprise upon seeing the tigress for the first time in a couple weeks. "Hello." The entity was using Rowr's voice, but was able to overcome Rowr's vocal limitations, not realizing that was one particular trait that made her unique.
Shifty looked up and down Rowr's form, her facing turning from surprise to her normal pleasant countenance. "I like the new look! Are you ready to go?" Shifty said with her normal bouncy voice.
"Yes... Let's go." With that the entity followed Shifty into the lobby of one of the buildings, down the elevators and into a massive room filled with a giant shimmering portal. Walking up the gangway to the very edge, the entity felt a strange power coming from the glowing circle. "Impressive." She stated the obvious, but with none of the enthusiasm and awe the tigress would've felt coming here for the first time.
Shifty shrugged the comment off, "Yeah the first time you see it, but it's really not much different from the train." With that the young girl hopped directly into the Portal, disappearing without so much as a flash or sound. The entity followed suit, and the pair found themselves in what looked like Oranbega. It was different though. It was clean, well kept, and notably brighter than the city the entity was summoned to. Strange... if this is Oranbega, why do I feel no power here? The entity thought as she looked around the entrance chambers. I had better be cautious, lest this whelp try to attack me here. I won't be able to easily defend myself.
Moving forward, Shifty explained what their purpose was here. To save the native other-world Oranbegans from a villain group called the Malta, a strange assortment of human gunmen, armed with fantastic weaponry. Their purpose in this place was not clear, but they had to be rooted out apparently. Why do these 'heroes' bother trying to save these other worlds when there is so much happening on their own? I will never understand that.
Rowr's natural abilities of claw and nimbleness, along with Shifty's phantom armies and blinding flashes, the pair easily made their way through scores of Malta, none of whom stood all that much of a chance. The natives they rescued, however, caused some concern in the entity's mind, who mistakenly wondered out loud, "They should be worshipping me. Why are they not? Why do they not cower in fear?" Shifty overhead her speaking, and asked what she was saying. Realizing her mistake, the entity replied, "What? Nothing, I was just talking to myself. Nevermind."
"Hun you sound different, are you alright?" Shifty inquired.
"Yes I'm fine." Thinking quickly, the entity replied, "I have a cold." Hoping that would throw her off long enough. "We appear to be done here, shall we leave?" Without hesitating much longer she hit the recall button on the Portal Corp transmitter, the one that would allow them passage back to their own world.
Popping back through the portal, the pair quickly made their way back outside, where Shifty noticed her comm-link was blinking. "Oh it's Hemily! She wants to show me her Halloween costume, I'll be right back."
"Very well...I'll wait here and we can go on another mission." The entity took a seat underneath the Portal Corp logo, and waited, trying to sort out her thoughts on what she just saw. Closing her eyes, beginning a chant, she let her 'disguised' form slip away, the tendrils of black smoke spilling out of the tiger stripes to envelop her body once more. The entity relaxed, once again feeling the power of the lost city flowing through her. On Rowr's own comm-link, Shifty was running into several other friends, inviting everyone to go on another Portal mission.
Coming out of her trance, the entity looked down at the comm-link, seeing several names she could only assume Rowr was friends with as well. Psylum... Plasma Stream... Hemily Tiger... Neo Kitsune. Ah Neo Kitsune... the one they call 'Kitsy'. I've heard of this one before, I will have to keep an eye on her.
Before the others came to the area, the entity quickly forced the dark magic back into its hiding spots in the stripes of the tigress' fur. Deciding to avoid some confrontation initially, she headed down to the proper portal room on her own, waiting underneath the top platform, waiting and watching the others as they hopped down and ran off into the portal without waiting. They must be used to this. No matter. As long as they're involved in these other dimensions, they are not here, leaving my minions free to do their tasks. Excellent... The entity smirked, following the last of the group into the portal.
After a brief flash they found themselves in some sort of lab. Down below, sounds of machinery stomping through the hallways. The group appeared confident, but they did seem to notice Rowr's slight change, but had decided to ignore it for now until the mission was over with. They did seem in a bit of a rush, however, flying from one group to the next, taking out monstrous machines with ease. The entity, again, being so far separated from her normal realm, did not have power here, the magical circle on her chest being the only thing keeping her inside Rowr's body, and keep her 'disguise' active. If that magic were to fail... well... like the entity would become trapped here, and she did not even know where 'here' was.
The entity kept to the rear, letting the more powerful members of the group to dish out massive damage, then would hop in and help perform clean up on the very few stragglers. The robots... if that's what they were... were hard for the entity to slice through, but in enough time each one fell. Praetorians, the pink one called them. I wonder if they have a presence in my realm... I get the sense these... machinations... are being controlled by someone powerful indeed. Perhaps if I could turn him… The entity fell silent as they made their way through the base and into the final room. There, off in the distance and surrounded by 2 dozen more of the large grey metallic beasts, stood a roughly humanoid form.
Plasma noticed Rowr's stare, leaned over and whispered "Neuron."
Like that means anything to me. The entity sneered internally but only let a simple nod escape. The group huddled close together, and came up with a simple battle plan. Take out the minions first, and then focus on Neuron. With Shifty's phantom armies up front and taking most of his attention, the rest should be able to pound on him long enough to bring him down.
And that's just what they did. Several quick energy blasts, bright flashes, and Neuron's minion bodyguards lay in shambles. His focus was on the shimmering white 'ghosts' that he believed were attacking him. Without hesitation the rest of the group hopped forth and proceeded to pound, slice, chop, hack, and blast at him. Several times he was able to knock someone down and try to run off, but was quickly surrounded once more and stopped. The entity wondered how the tiger girl ever survived in such a fragile body, having taken several hits during this time.
When it was over, the group stood victorious over Neuron's body. The entity, on a whim, walked over and placed a hand on his back, searching for any semblance of a soul that she might be able to use... but alas, not being her native dimension she was not able to pull anything out of him. That's a real shame. He would have been a most powerful ally. The entity thought to herself as she stood and looked at the rest of the group, now staring at her in wonder.
As they began talking about their victory, their attention started to turn towards Rowr's odd behavior. Deciding this is not a good place for a confrontation, the entity quickly took out Portal Corp's recall device, and gated back to her normal realm, allowing the others to talk amongst themselves. Another quick flash, another hard landing on the gangway. The entity was followed very shortly by the others, and the pink haired one, sensing things were amiss and finally deciding it was time to deal with it, tapped Rowr on the shoulder. "What's my name?" She asked innocently, as the others stared at the feline closely.
The entity pondered for a second, then decided to play along. "Plasma." came the reply. Plasma gave a slight nod then turned to walk away. Then, without warning, Plasma had charged her fist up with raw energy, spinning and delivering a solid backhand to Rowr's face. "Jess!!!" Shifty yelled out as the tigress' body sailed across the room.
Ugh... I was not prepared for that, and this body is too slow to dodge. The entity thought, feeling absolutely no pain, but sure that Rowr's body was probably feeling the effects. As she started to get up, Plasma hopped over and pinned her to the ground, motioning to Neo Kitsune to restrain her. "Kitsy, can you keep her from moving?" Kitsy nodded and dropped some kind of inertial dampener on her.
"What... are you doing?" The entity demanded as she struggled to get up. Shifty, finally realizing that perhaps there really is something wrong, kneeled next to her friend along with Plasma and the others. "Rowr hun, you ok?" She asked, as the entity tried to free herself, "I'm fine!"
Plasma was staring very hard at Rowr, and began speaking with a very angry tone in her voice. "Rowr... has never... EVER... said my name right..." As Kitsy cranked up her holding device, the entity was forced to stop struggling and simply stare up at her. Hemily sniffed a couple times, and mentioned, "Either Hemily sense of smell funny... or that not Rowr."
Looking closely, Plasma saw something strange. "What's this mark on her chest?" She wondered. "What mark?" came the entity's reply. Kitsy growled quietly, "sumthins not rights with you Rowr... we all knows it..."
The entity's eyes started to glow redder and redder as her anger grew. Curse this weak body, curse it all! The entity demanded, "You need to release me... now! You have no idea what you're dealing with."
Shifty placed a hand on Rowr's shoulder, "Rowr dear, just calm down a sec please..." Kitsy's own eyes started to glow as she talked in a smooth calm voice. "And you not knows what you is dealin with... perhaps we should alls level it outs..." The entity sighed, finally realizing that she was trapped for the moment, and might as well play along. She closed her eyes once more, and released the magic holding her 'disguise' active. As the tendrils of black smoke bellowed forth from the tiger stripes and started covering her entire form, the others drew back slightly, unsure what was happening. The others, except for Kitsy who remained where she was, unimpressed.
"I was summoned by the Circle. My purposes are my own. I will return your feline friend when I am done with her." Hoping this would be enough to placate the heroes. Shifty frowned, and said "The hell you will!"
"Well what if we wants her back now?" Kitsy inquired. "You can want all you want," Was the entity's blasé reply. "Only I can release her." Her tone turned more condescending, "You should leave me be. She is in a... 'happy'... place right now."
As she spoke Shifty had turned and had summoned forth a confiscated Oranbegan tome and was quickly thumbing through it, looking for answers. Finally coming to a page she quickly glanced over the arcane writings. Her frown grew deeper as she muttered, "Bah! Need 3 mages for this..." Hemily, overhearing, leaned over and asked, "You actually needs mages? or jess bodies?" Shifty shook her head no, "Think we'll need mages for this... The ceremony to get rid of... whatever it is, doesn't just need power sources, it needs people to help cast a spell... but perhaps I can find another way."
Kitsy nodded, and spoke to no one in particular. "We can allways sticks her in Ziggursky..."
The Entity looked around the group, and turned her voice into an almost pleading tone, but with a hint of deception. "Are you going to release me now? I promise no harm will come to you or your friend..." In reply, Hemily warned her, "If any harm... Hemily will eat you alive... and that no joke." Plasma made some offhand remark about not getting where she was by setting free demonic forces. Shifty tried to calm Hemily down, "Easy dear, that's still Rowr's body."
"So? Bodies can be repairs..." Kitsy stated. "It have to come out somehow... and when it does..."
Remaining unphased, the entity responded to Shifty's consolation, "She is correct. Harming me will only harm this body."
Kitsy quickly changed the subject. "So whats your plans demons? What is you heres to kill? what is your names? or is you jess a parasite, like alls of your kind..." With a mock sound of hurt, the entity replied, "Who says I am here to kill anyone? My purposes are my own... they are none of your concern."
Shifty began to get angry at this, "It is our concern! Why'd you take our Rowr?!"
"She just happened to be a ... 'willing' subject... at a time she was needed, shall we say." The entity said nonchalantly. Turning away with anger, Shifty picked up her comm-link and started tapping away furiously. "I've got some extra magical hands coming..." finally looking up.
Kitsy turned her attention back to the entity. "Well you can looks at it this way... you's is goin nowhee, Rowr's body is goin nowheres... so how abouts you starts talkin, otherwise we can just sticks you somewhere cold and darks till we figure out how to evict you... wich is completely possibles." The entity smiled slightly, then promptly changed into a frown. "You want your friend back? Fine." Perhaps if I can get them back to my power circle I can destroy them and cease their meddling. "Take me to Oranbega, and I will give her back. I have no connection to her spirit unless I am down there."
Shifty laughed incredulously. "Ha! How dumb do you think we are? What do you want from there?"
"What do I want?? I thought it was what you wanted!" The entity spat back, as Shifty turned back to her Oranbegan tome to look for more answers, trying to see if there was any truth to what the entity was saying. "I can't give your friend back while I am here... you won't take me to the place where I can free her. It appears," the entity smirked, "that we are at an impasse."
Kitsy got up and stood over her, "How abouts we evicts you froms the shell... takes the body down there, and collects Rowr ourselves. Kitsy knows plenty of mages," She said with a smile. Shifty held her hand up, looking up from the book. "She might not be lying."
With a dark smile and eyes glowing red, the entity continued. "If you try to remove me here, the tigress will certainly perish. Her soul will have no way to get back to her body." Sighing slightly in resignation, "But knowing her, she'd probably spew something about heroism and 'saving the world' or somesuch... if she had any idea what is happening. You are all too much alike, just like the others who came before."
Kitsy shrugged. "And you coulds be lying, you might be the ones to perish, Kitsy has a hard times believin any words you says, you lies about who are allready, and you not gives Kitsy a name!"
The entity blinked and turned her head away. "My name is not important." At this point, the mostly silent Plasma Stream leaned down to whisper into her ear. "I am not mortal... and not like other heroes if it turns out I cannot have my friend Rowr back. I will turn your body to ash, and have your name scorched from every text, in every dimension and destroy you utterly." The entity simply smiled up at her, as if challenging her to do so.
"Kitsy thinks we should sticks her in the Zig... or if any of you's have any containment, she not has muches power out heres." Kitsy was trying to think of some way to keep this entity contained until they could figure out how to remove her and save Rowr. Shifty commented, "The Zig is notorious for losing criminals in transit to their compounds. 'Bout 80% of the people sent there never actually make it behind bars."
"Then we put her in a circle of holdings, Kitsy knows one, it will holds her." Kitsy replied. Moving forward to lightly run a claw over the entity's forehead, she asks, "Plasma... do you knows a spots we can takes her?" Plasma looked thoughtful for a moment, "Magic isn't my thing... that's all Shifty." Her brow creased in thought, her eyes suddenly light up with sudden inspiration. "I do have a.... yes that would work. Shifty," turning towards her friend, "you remember that tanker we saw, in Talos? You said there was a ley line there or something."
Shifty nodded, and continued, "We can drag her over there, and bind her there. Don't trust Zig security to handle this properly." Kitsy continued the thought, "Can be any flat spot. I will draw the circle and enchant it, it shall hold her for a weeks time, at least, and can be broken by anyone who has their name written within..."
With this last thought, and a sudden frown forming across the entity's face, the group unceremoniously picked her up, still frozen from Kitsy's restraits, and started walking towards the exit. This is not over, the entity thought internally. My minions will find a way to break their simple little spell and release me. They will not have won so easily. But I must appear defeated if I am to ease their suspicions. With that, she closed her eyes and let the heroes take her out to Talos, out to a remote tanker anchored several miles from the island, as night settled around the city.
Meanwhile, on top of a moutain ridge near the Portal Corp. building, a pair of dark green robed figures watched the group carry their master out of the door and towards the ferry... scurrying out of sight once they got on board.........