Society of Justice 3: Crisis on the Earth

[socialtangent]

Bartholomew began to cry, obviously reliving the trauma of the "Devil's" visit. In between sniffles, he tried to respond. "I...I don't know why he left me here...he knew my name and everything...but he didn't do anything to me. He just stared at me and went that way..." he replied, pointing down the poorly lit hallway. His green eyes opened wide as he realized something. "You're...you're not gonna leave me, are you?" he asked, wiping his eyes.

 

[Pm0n3y]

"Yeah, I know who you are Rich. I know who every one of you are. Since me and Jason share the same mind, I see and hear what he sees and hears. It's gonna be really awkward for me when he finally gets laid though..." Erebus said, shaking Richard's hand before looking awkwardly towards Jason. Jason twitched in annoyance before turning his attention back to the young Bartholomew.

"Well...we can't leave the poor guy behind. But the path ahead might be too dangerous for him to follow. What do we do?" He turned, asking those who were concerned.

 

[NeoAC]

Oh Christ. This kid is blubbering like all else. Jeez, almost sounds like my brother. I guess someone better comfort him....I guess I better comfort him.

Brian stepped forward to the little kid. "Here kid, we're not going to leave you. Not with that guy with the soulless eyes around. Here, tell you what. Why don't you come over to Auntie Taryn? She'll look after you." He led the kid towards the electricity wielding woman.

Besides, if this is who I think it is, she should be looking after her boy toy anyway.

 

[blaze96]

"I know you know who I am, but I do believe in a proper greeting when you first meet in the flesh. Consider it a side-effect of being a businessman, even though I'm not much of one nowadays." Richard said before focusing once again on the task at hand.

"Well of course we aren't leaving him behind, it's a manifestation of Levi's consciousness that Victor does have it out for. For all the trouble I'm sure it will bring us we should keep him safe. Who knows what injury to this child could do to the real Levi?" He said as he put a sword in each hand again.

 

[CounterAttack]

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Brian," Rowan quickly interjected. "Victor might go after Taryn in order to break Levi easier and completely take over. He doesn't know me. I'll look after the little guy." With that, he stepped forward and beckoned to the young Levi, intending to either take his hand or pick him up depending on the boy's choice.

[hr]

Still standing beside Leland, Katie watched the scene unfold with not a small amount of apprehension and nervousness. The whole place was too dark and gloomy for her liking; the sooner it was over, the better. "So, once this is over... any of you got any suggestions as to how we find Victor?" she asked Leland, Garrus and Requiem.

 

[elementsoul]

"We follow the trail of darkness and despair." Tyson said in all seriousness as he walked down the hall towards Levi and stopped remembering something that he forgot to tell Rowan. "Rowan keep the kid safe and since I have a chance to say this now before we fight Victor, don't do something stupid like transform into me when you go to talk to Erica. That may have seemed out of place but I'm going to be a higher target since I'm responsible for knocking him out so Taryn could regain control." Tyson said before turning down the hall the young Levi had said Victor had went through.

 

[tsatoma]

"Well we'll head down that poorly it hallway of rainbows and skittles that little Levi pointed to...perhaps we'll find Victor there. What we do then...well I imagine it'd be a big fight where hopefully we win with ease and banish Victor to the shadow realm or something like that," Leland replied to her, not exactly sure that he wanted to go down the creepy hallway.

Ethan, meanwhile, was staring at the younger version of Levi silently, thinking about the child. If it was an important piece of Levi's psyche, what would happen if some sort of harm happened to it? And would there be a way to...

He immediately shook the thought out of his head as best he could, instead heading down the hallway little Levi had pointed to. The distraction of walking down the hall and checking it out got any bad thoughts out of his mind; Ethan looking around the area in front of him with his night-vision on due to the poor lighting.

 

[socialtangent]

Bartholomew shyly took Rowan's hand and wiped his eyes again with his free hand. "Thank you, mister..." he said to him. Looking around at the others as they walked, he spoke up again. "You guys will keep the Bad Man from taking me away too, right?" he asked, uncertainty creeping into his voice.

As the team headed down the hallway, the scenery was no different than anywhere else in the orphanage. The still air was laced with the smell of dust and the only sounds were that of everyone's footsteps echoing through the empty halls. As they advanced, another set of double doors emerged from the darkness. Stepping through those doors, the team found themselves in an abandoned mess hall. Rusted metal trays and empty cups lay scattered over the tables and the floor. On the other end of the surprisingly spacious room lay two sets of double doors. The set on the left were pristine, brand new compared to the one on the right, which was as aged and decayed as the rest of the orphanage.

The young Bartholomew managed to trip over a discarded tray and fell hard on the floor, clutching his right elbow. He cried out in pain and started crying softly to himself as he nursed his wound.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Oh, geez... this looks like a perfect arena for a boss battle," Rowan mused quietly to himself before Bartholomew tripped and fell. "Ah, damn. Hey, it's okay," he said to the boy, kneeling down next to him and examining the elbow on which he had landed. "Let me see that... You'll be all right in a while, buddy. Nothing broken or bleeding. It's all good." He smiled encouragingly at his charge, figuring that as a little kid he would draw a lot more attention to the injury than an older person.

"All right, let's get you back on your feet," he added, helping Bartholomew up carefully. "See? You're okay, aren't you?"

[hr]

Katie looked around cautiously as she entered the mess hall, not wanting to walk into an obvious trap. It seemed the only way forward was the double doors at the other end of the hall. Perhaps Victor had redesigned the place to be this way, via his partial hold on Levi's mind. Either way, it was creepy as heck, and she didn't like it. She stuck close to Leland, knowing that he wouldn't like it either; her presence would hopefully make him a little more comfortable.

 

[Lizmichi]

"Are you ok Bartholomew?" Alex asked him pulling out some of her healing water. "Here let me look at it." she said kneeling down at eye level to the boy. "My name is Alex. I know what it feels like to grow up without a family." she said smiling softly using some of her healing water on the wound. "This will hurt a bit but I know you can be a big boy." Alex said softly to him.

Eric watched Alex heal the little boy and smiled looking at Richard. "So seems you found someone as a good mother." he said then walked over to the little boy. "Here let me fix your close." Eric said putting his hands on Levi's shoulders giving him a nice outfit, a smaller version of something he saw Levi wearing. He even gave him a pair of goggles.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson started walking across the dreary room. What could cause a man to colour his world like this? The cracked walls, the dust filled air, but more than everything else the sense of loneliness. I'd pity this man if he didn't intend to kill us. Tyson continued to walk forward ignoring the young Levi as he cried out in pain. He already heard Alex and Rowan go to his aid. Reaching the next doors Tyson put his hands on them and they felt colder than the room. It was clear that they were heading in the right direction.

 

[Pm0n3y]

"Well, I wouldn't say 'good'...maybe 'abusive and abrasive'..." Erebus said with a chuckle as he watched Alex and Eric perform their powers on the boy; Jason violently nudging him as a rebuttal. Of course, this did nothing to Erebus, due to being only a astral manifestation of partially unbreakable armor, though he did flinch slightly.

"C'mon Ero, no need to say that. She's trying her best...even if she is hot-blooded." Jason added, waggling his finger at his armor.

 

[socialtangent]

Bartholomew looked up at Rowan and managed a slight smile. "I guess I am..." he replied with a sniffle. Shortly after he was helped up, Alex healed his minor wound and Eric changed his clothing into a completely new set. "Uh...thanks a lot..." he replied quietly, unsure what to make of the sudden attention.

Suddenly, his expression changed. Little Bartholomew's visage of confusion and despair turned into that of anger and contempt, and his eyes quickly turned black. The air around him suddenly became cold. "You've all made a big mistake coming here," he said in a very familiar deep British voice. Quickly, he tightened his grip on Rowan's hand like a steel vice and hurled him into Eric, sending them crashing off to the side. He then quickly faced Alex and punched her square in the chest. The force of the blow sent her hurtling off across the room.

"I might as well have a little fun since you're all here..." Victor said as he snapped his child-form's fingers and vanished. The room became dead silent for a second, then the mess hall was filled with the sound of every door in the room suddenly locking. Steel locks with thick chains appeared on every exit. Then, a chorus of hisses filled the air as creatures began to crawl out of the shadows. The creatures, each one wearing a nun's outfit, quickly brought their claws to bear and rushed for the Society team.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson heard the door lock in front of him as Victor's voice came across the room. Rowan was manhandled into Eric and Alex was sent flying before the little Levi or rather little Victor. Creature's wearing nun outfits with claws started to crawl out around him. Acting fast Tyson picked up the closest nun to him and tossed it into a group of other nuns. He then turned and let out a loud sound wave that sounded like nails on a chalkboard towards a different group of nuns. Shit! I don't have my gun or my armor! Okay man just improvise with what ever you have at hand. Tyson started to run over to the rest of the group picking up a cafeteria tray along the way.

 

[CounterAttack]

"What the - " was all Rowan could say before 'Bartholomew' threw him away, crashing into Eric. It hurt a lot, although he probably hurt Eric a bit more from the throw. Winded, he fell to one knee for a few seconds to regain his breath. Soon enough he got up, noting the strange creatures rushing at the Society, and shifted into a much stronger and tougher form to fight them hand to hand. Although those talons looked pretty sharp...

[hr]

"Oh, dear God," Katie murmured. "We got set up." At the sight of Victor and his demonic nuns, she immediately stepped forward to prepare a defense and a counterattack simultaneously. The plant armour on her left arm expanded to form a thick shield; she doubled her usual thickness to compensate for the nuns' weapons. The shield grew out to resemble a heavy, full-body riot shield, and Katie began to grow rows of razor leaves and launch them at the nuns by flexing the thick vines covering the top layer of the shield.

 

[Lizmichi]

Alex flew backwards and ground hitting a wall on the other side. "Son of a *****." Alex said holding her chest some and got up. "God dammit, should have know it was victor." Alex said getting up slowly quickly making her ice armor with a barrier of gray around it. "Also this is why I never went to church." Alex said sending waves of water at a group of creatures heading her way.

"Owww I didn't want this man on me." Eric said holding his side feeling some things break. "God this isn't good. I now hate kids and I hurt like hell. I'm never having kids and Levi I hate you so much." he said.

 

[tsatoma]

Garrus' yelp of shock was nothing compared to Leland's yell of complete and utter horror at the sight of the creepy nun monsters. "I knew this was going to happen! I just knew it," Leland said as Garrus pushed him back into a corner.

"You need to stay the hell alive so stay back here behind this table and help us by keeping long-range," Garrus ordered, his brother nodding as he kneeled down behind it. "And now to deal with these freaky...nun-lady-things," Garrus muttered to himself, sending a quick shockwave to a group that was going to try and attack.

Ethan brought out his luger and fired a few shots at the nun monsters that were behind Tyson, aiming directly for their heads and hoping that they would even be affected by the bullets. Ethan couldn't help but think that he should have put a bullet right between little Levi's eyes when he had the chance, though after a moment of thought he wondered if that would even have helped at all.

 

[Pm0n3y]

"Manifestations?!" Erebus exclaimed as the two moved closer to Leland and Garrus

"No doubt about it Ero, it was a trap." Jason replied, face tensing up as the heroes began their attack.

"Think you'll need a staff spike or something for these abominations?"

"Nah. I think i'll use some hand to hand combat for the time being. It's getting kind of rusty as of late." Jason replied before rushing towards the Mutant Nuns. Erebus shrugged before joining the fight, armblades springing from his wrists.

 

[NeoAC]

"Of fucking course," Brian commented as the nun creatures came out. Brian was not a very religious man, but he still had some shred of respect for nuns. Not enough to avoid knocking the crap out of them though.

He looked around the room, for something, anything that he could use as a weapon. His gaze finally came across an old pipe jutting out from the wall. It appeared to be in a state of disrepair, and was almost rusted off the bottom. "That'll work." He grabbed at the pipe and ripped it free from the wall. "All right, sisters!" he shouted. "Time to make orphans out of your kids!" It was an ironic shout, he knew, but it didn't matter. He started rushing one of the demonic minions, swinging the pipe like a bat at the beasts.

 

[RBMidknight]

"Nuns don't have kids." Taryn muttered as she quickly shoved the sleeves of her jacket up and channeled electricity into both of her hands. She surveyed the area in a glance. Lots of creatures. That about covered it. She needed a clean shot at- 'There!' With a harsh cry of anger and frustration Taryn brought her hands together and shot a bolt of lightning toward the closest creature.