Avenger:"I was hoping you were dead, Carpenter. What do you want!" Carpenter:"I was always, you know, a tough guy. I've been cut up, shot, and thought I knew what pain was. That wesley little son of a bitch vampire showed me how wrong I was. I spent two years locked up in this hole, and I don't know what was worse: cowering in my cell at night, praying the Warden and his blood-sucking partners wouldn't want to feed on me, or listening to Hadrian, giggle like a little girl while he tortured us...and took notes."
Judge:"All of this, was for the purpose of revenge?" Carpenter:"Save it! You wanted in, I got you in! This place is filled with more angry spectres than you could possibly imagine! We spent years as human cattle for Degenhardt and his friends, and when we were no good for that, we were lab rats for Hadrian! The only reason I came back was to give Hadrian what he deserved: four days of never-ending pain! So I used you to get to him. We all got what we wanted!"
Defender:"Well, you won't have to worry about Hadrian anymore, Carpenter." Matt:"Yeah, that psycho tried to kill us, so I paid him back in spades!" Carpenter:"Dead! Hadrian's dead? But, I'm still here. You killed him? You killed him? Do you have any idea what it takes to get back here, TWICE! He was mine! And you...you sheep...YOU STOLE HIM FROM ME!" Carpenter gave a gasping breath and tugged at his shirt. After pulling twice, his shirt ripped off, along with a couple of chains that were around his neck. Carpenter stood before them, shirtless and he seemed to have a transparent aura around him. Carpenter had armed himself with two large cleavers. Carpenter:"[Loud whisper] You're going to beg me...to kill you!"
Carpenter ran straight for Matt. Carpenter swung his cleaver, but Matt blocked with his left Mace and shoved the Mace on the right straight through Carpenter's chest! However, Carpenter was completely unharmed! Carpenter started to go kung-fu on Matt; he gave two slashes with his cleavers and kicked Matt in the stomach twice, followed by a powerful roundhouse to the face. Matt was sent flying across the room and smashed into a wall. Matt got back to his feet instantly, suffering only a bleeding lip, which immediately healed itself.
Carpenter hissed with rage. Defender:"Carpenter wasn't hurt at all! He must have an anchor! But where?" Judge:"Wait! Anchors are objects in the ghost's life that gave them great pleasure or caused them great..." Judge suddenly turned to the electric chair. Martyr:"Pain! The chair! That's the anchor!" Matt:"That's why you couldn't get enough of this place isn't it, Carpenter? You're held here by that chair and you're also drawn to it!" Carpenter charged Matt again, with two transparent copies of him following. Since Carpenter was a super powerful ghost, he could move faster than others!
Matt Iron Spectre-ed his way past Carpenter as he charged and stopped directly next to the chair. Matt:"Guys! Keep Mr. Chop-happy back there busy for a second!" The chair mysteriously released a burst of red energy that would've harmed Matt if it wasn't for his Holy Ring. Matt grabbed the chair by the seat and started to heave. After a small amount of effort, Matt had lifted the chair from its bolted down position to over his head!
Matt:"Carpenter!" Carpenter was just about to swing at Defender when he looked over. Matt:"Since you like this chair so much...you can have it!" With that, Matt tossed the chair at the evil revenge-bent ghost. The chair smashed into Carpenter and carried him to the other end of the room. The chair blew into splinters on impact with the wall. Carpenter emerged from the rubble, with the transparent aura Matt detected gone and a gash that was bleeding blue, ectoplasmic blood on his torso!
Matt followed his toss with a Scar Dragon, which ended up hitting Carpenter. Carpenter glowed orange for a moment or two, but then returned to normal. Matt:"[Inner] This guy is no ordinary ghost! My Scar Dragon should've been able to kill him instantly! Guess we'll have to take him out the old-fashioned way." The Hunters had the same thought process going through their minds as well, so they pulled out their guns and ran as fast as they could. Carpenter could still move faster than any normal human, so they had to stay on their toes.
Avenger was running backwards and firing at Carpenter with his rifle at the same time. Carpenter, however, was plowing through the barrage and tried to swing at Avenger with his cleavers! Avenger narrowly dodged the deadly weapon's attack! Suddenly, Avenger saw a huge, Koopa fist smack Carpenter in the face, sending him flying into a wall. To everyone's surprise, it left an imprint! Judge:"What? It's almost like...he's a human, stuck between the world of the living and the undead! He's neither dead or alive!" Suddenly, Carpenter threw one of his cleavers at Judge, but Matt stood in its path. Matt activated his golden Reflector, reciprocating the attack right back at the evil ghost!
Carpenter was able to dodge his own cleaver, but he couldn't dodge Avenger's Cleave powered axe! Avenger rolled out of Carpenter's path and swung again. Carpenter had several "bleeding" gashes on his torso, and his mask was cracked from Matt's punch. Defender activated Ward and ran around Carpenter, the barrier of pure energy was damaging the vile deadman little by little. Martyr joined the fun by activating Demand and Retribution. Martyr was no able to run rings around even Carpenter! Martyr ran around Carpenter and began to slash him repeatedly with her daggers. Carpenter got in a couple of good shots, but the wound Martyr would've received appeared on Carpenter's body!
Eventually, Martyr's Edges wore off, so she was forced to retreat. Matt Iron Spectre-ed Carpenter, grabbing him with an open hand. When Matt reappeared further down the room, Matt slammed Carpenter forward in to the ground, leaving an indent once more! From there, he threw Carpenter back the other direction, back towards the Hunters. Avenger's axe was still Cleaved, so he let Carpenter have another flaming swing. Carpenter, however, shrugged off the hit and hissed at the Hunters with rage! From behind him though, Matt fired Fire-Fortress Blades. The furthest two completely missed, however the inner two each sliced a cleaver in half and the middle Blades sliced clean through Carpenter's head!
This ghost, however, was no easy prey. The spun and kicked all the Hunters away from him in one, almost invisible motion! With his, Carpenter and his two after-images charged in Matt's direction! Matt:"[Inner] Jezz! I've tried everything I've got against this creep! Except..." Matt leaped over Carpenter's charged and spun in mid air. Matt:"Celestial Wraith!" The six-by-six blast surged forward, straight for Carpenter! Carpenter turned just in time to see the beam coming directly towards him!
From within the dragon's mouth, Matt could hear Carpenter's screams of anguish and pain! When Matt's blast dispersed, Carpenter fell to his knees! Carpenter:"Graw...agga...GRAHHH!" With the last scream, a huge white fireball left Carpenter's body, which fell forward dead. Matt:"Poor, pitiful bastard..." Suddenly, he felt a presence in the room and turned abruptly. The Hunters felt it as well, turning with weapons cocked. However, whatever was in the room escaped through another door before any of them could fire. With the deed of putting Carpenter's tormented soul to rest, the Hunters passed through the other doorway and went into the deep bowels of Death Row!
The Hunters knew that they had to follow the shadowy figure, so they went through the doorway up ahead. After the doorway, they discovered another room that was filled to the rim with rot. The Hunters tackle this room the same way as its counterpart. They emerged victoriously. The group suddenly saw a blank computer screen turn on, revealing a connection. Matt:"Hey! Look at this! It says here that there may have been something wrong with Arkady other than spirit possession...all of his victims appeared as if they had been mauled by animals!" All of them knew what that meant...
Beyond the computer room, the Hunters saw a doorway. Figuring that something was beyond the doorway, they entered the room cautiously. Suddenly, Matt saw a massive army of rot appear within the computer room! Matt:"You guys go on ahead, I'll take care of these guys!" Defender:"But..." Matt:"No `buts'! [Extends his Mace] If these guys were to follow us, it would make taking care of Arkady infinitely more difficult. Besides, you know I'll live through it." So, with that, the other four Hunters proceeded, while Matt stayed behind and hacked an slashed his way through the army of rot!
The next room was completely vacant, except for an electric chair; Nathaniel Arkady was still strapped into the chair! Avenger:"Ah, hell!" Arkady:"You shouldn't be here! I've already killed to many people! Why are you making me do this!" Judge:"Nathaniel, please, there must be something than can be done!" Arkady:"Still trying to save me, preacher? It's far too late." Avenger:"Well, you won't be killing anyone anymore, Freak!" Arkady:"You should've left when you had the chance! Now things are going to become very messy..." Arkady's voice was extremely deep, and sounded like a growl of sorts. But suddenly he said in a normal voice, "I hate messy!" Suddenly, Arkady ripped the straps on the electric chair as if they were nothing and stood on his feet. He started to groan, as if in pain. This groan then changed into a loud roar, and Arkady's body began to morph and change. Defender:"This...can't...be good!" The roar grew ever louder and a few seconds later, the Hunters stood before an eleven foot werewolf! Arkady roared loudly once more and looked over at them with an evil and menacing look!
Arkady, in his werewolf-form, could move extremely fast and the Hunters were barely able to dodge his attacks! The Hunters' weapons suddenly flashed white, and when they fired, Arkady winced with pain! Judge:"The Messengers have sent us silver bullets! Let's finish this!" Even though the Hunters were using silver bullets, Arkady wouldn't be killed so easily! Arkady was one of the mightiest werewolves alive! Not to mention the fact that his body was the anchor for several spirits. By raising his arms, Arkady sent out a radial blast; the blast was really the spirits temporarily releasing themselves from Arkady's body and attacking the Hunters themselves!
After rolling out of the way of the Ghost Wave, the Hunters stood back up and retaliated with more silver bullets. Arkady was weakening, but not fast enough for the Hunters' tastes. With a mighty leap, Arkady went straight for Judge and pounced on him! Arkady:"Let's see you save yourself from this, Preacher!" Arkady was about to bite down on Judge's head and attempt to decapitate him, when, to everyone's relief, Matt entered the room. Matt:"BITE THIS!" With that, Matt shoved his Adamantium Mace straight into Arkady's mouth! Following this, Matt delivered a left hook that sent Arkady sailing backwards.
Arkady roared and spit up some blood. Arkady:"YOU! You must be that traitorous demon the spirits have been taking about! Tell me one thing:why do you waste your time protecting these fragile beings instead of ruling over them like a god!" Matt:"Because I'm no god! There is only one God and He is the one who created me! As for why I protect them, I've thought that would be simple; they're my friends. And let me give you fair warning Arkady, [sterns/lowers his tone] most of the villains I've killed, I killed because they messed with my friends..."
Arkady answered Matt's threat by releasing a Ghost Wave at him. Matt wasn't expecting this, so a great deal of wounds appeared on his body, where the multitude of ghosts scratched and slashed him. These wounds, however, healed up almost instantly. Matt retaliated against Arkady by firing a Scar Dragon at the huge monster. When it hit him, Arkady weakened sharply. Arkady was ready for more and he proceeded to charge Matt. The two of them grappled and it was evident that Matt was much stronger than Arkady. Arkady was a sly werewolf, however. With Matt's hands previously engaged, nothing could stop him from biting Matt! Well, except for the relentless firing of the Hunters. Arkady was weakening rapidly, the 5:1 odds were taking their toll on him.
Arkady crunched down hard on Matt's jugular and released Werewolf Venom through his teeth! Arkady gave a roaring laugh and gazed at the Hunters. Arkady:"If one werewolf was giving you so much trouble, then I wonder how you'll fair against two? The full moon is tonight and I injected my venom right into his jugular; he'll change in only a matter of moments!" Arkady started to laugh, but was cut short by a huge fist striking him right in the mouth! Matt:"Sorry to burst your bubble, pouch, but I'm immune to Werewolf Venom!"
Arkady was suddenly enraged! Arkady:"If I can't defeat you, then I'll take your friends instead!" Arkady made an "X" out of his body and suddenly a blast that was just as large as Arkady shot forward. The blast was the Tragedy Bomb, so called because it looked like a tragedy mask from an opera and would explode on contact! Fortunately, the Hunters were able to move out of the way just in time. However, Arkady was already prepping another one! The Hunters were almost directly behind Matt at this point, so when the blast came forth, Matt ran into its path! Matt proceeded to make an "X" with his arms, thus activating his Reflector. Matt:"Right back at you, Lowlife!" The bomb bounced off of Matt's golden shield and straight back to its source. The bomb exploded on contact, however, Arkady was only minorly injured.
Arkady performed a technique similar to Iron Spectre. He moved at the speed of sound straight at Matt, his arms swinging at the same rate! Matt was able to see the monster coming and made a huge fist with his right hand. Matt:"Heel, Fido!" Matt delivered his punch and it connected with the evil werewolf's face, sending him sailing across the room. Arkady smashed into a wall and started to charge again, but this time the Hunters fired a burst of silver bullets into the creature's hide!
This final burst of rounds was enough to finish Arkady. Arkady wasn't dead, but he was now to weak to fight. He roared with agony and staggered backwards, coughing up blood as he went. After a couple of steps, he fell to his knees and spit up even more blood. The Hunters walked over to the beaten werewolf, who was shaking with weakness.
Avenger pointed his rifle right at Arkady's head. Avenger:"I'm not letting you do this again! I should've killed you last time!" Arkady:"You don't understand! Last time was an accident! It wasn't my fault! This time someone did it on purpose...the rave...opened the hole again." Matt:"You're just trying to keep me form smashing your head in!" Arkady seemed to chuckle and scruff at them at the same time. Arkady:"Maybe you should think about...the person who had the most to gain...from the other side..."
The Hunters realized that they'd been played for fools and had wronged the "innocent" werewolf. Images of the bodies that Hadrian constructed, the gravestones by the Warden's mansion, the rave flyers, and the Warden's portrait entered their minds. Defender:"So it was a trick! The Warden's still alive, but how!" Matt:"The Vampire Venom! It kept me from feeling out the Warden's life force after we `killed' him!" Arkady:"The Hole doesn't close until they all go back, do you understand? If the Warden binds his family's souls to new bodies, it will damn the entire city! You need to stop that selfish bastard, before it's too late!"