Chapter 17: Monster's Ball

7:40 PM Day Four

Platform One

Mess Hall

"Shit! What the fuck are we gonna do!?" Tyler cried as the monster that had once been Chiaki began to step towards them.

"If it managed to survive a shot to the head, then its durability must be great. I suggest a retreat." Dr Richards stated, followed by another heavy footstep.

Joan lifted Cecelia up to her feet, holding the wounded Commander by the shoulder. "How are we going to escape?"

"There's no need to worry, sister." Nagito suddenly chimed in, walking over to the others and smiling over to Pietro. "We have our good soldier of god, don't we? Surely a brave warrior such as him can defend us?"

Pietro nodded after a moment, a grim look of determination on his face as he stepped forward. He idly cracked his fingers, sneering slightly at the monstrous creature now before them. "Nagito has that much right. You can all go: I will take care of the beast myself. It presents no problem to a man such as I."

"Just… be careful." Cecelia muttered, before winching in pain.

Nagito cast a sadistic gaze at the Cardinal, who had turned his back to them, before shepherding the others through the doors. As they left, Pietro only had a brief second to prepare himself as he suddenly came face to face with a table that was barrelling towards him through the air. Barely dodging, he grit his teeth as he looked at the monster, who had now grown a twisted parody of a face on its central mass.

"Pietro, Pietro, Pietro... Trying to play hero again?" The monster said, voice tinged with smugness, its voice repeated by several other mouths as various other tentacles grew from its body. "Trying to take command isn't earning you any friends, you know? Even a cook playing dress up like you should know that!"

Pietro regarded the horrid creature with an outright scowl, his face darkening as it spoke. Dodging a second sweep of its tentacles, he stood straight and spoke with calm conviction.

"...In all my time as a soldier of God, I must admit, I've yet to kill an actual monster like you. Men that could be called monsters, certainly... but nothing like a creature as fantastical as you. It does, however, make this process much easier for me." He paused, drawing a cigarette from his robes. He held a finger to the tip, and it lit up by itself. That done, he placed it against his lips and smoked, puffing out a large smoke-ring a moment later.

The monster growled in frustration, lashing out with another barrage of attacks. Pietro dodged them effortlessly, keeping a steady hold of the cigarette while he did so. The beast finished with a massive spear-like appendage, striking out to impale him but only found pain as the Inquisitor cut through it with his hidden blade. Its mouths bared teeth as the boy regarded it coolly.

"I am well aware of my failings, you know. Of my past mistakes. They haunt me still, and might even be the death of me in this game," he continued, before taking another puff. "No one but God Almighty Himself could say for sure. I know not what the Lord has planned for me in this game. Perhaps it will be my greatest test yet… or my punishment, for the sins I have committed. I am, however, confident about one thing: you will not be the death of me." He took one last drag from his cigarette, before finishing it entirely. That done, he flicked the bud to the ground, and extended his arm towards the creature. With his palm facing toward the monster, the Cardinal-Major uttered one final word.

"Burn."

A column of fire spewed forth from his palm, and rocketed against the hideous creature in short order. Flames licked at its tentacles, its skin burning and crackling under the intense heat as Pietro bathed it in supernatural fire.

The creature screamed in pain as the flames licked its exposed flesh. Blisters popped and puss oozed as its body was consumed.

"H-How!? WHAT IS THIS!?" It roared, its body trying to regenerate. It growled at the Cardinal, before it barrelled towards him, teeth growing in the front of its body to create a giant maw.

Pietro threw himself out of the way, just narrowing missing the creature as it attacked. He quickly leapt back to his feet, and snarled at it before it could turn back around.

"Burn!" Pietro held out his hand again, and a new explosive wave of fire slammed against the monster. The heat poured against it more intensely as Pietro amped up the temperature, doing his best to utterly eradicate the unholy abomination with his righteous flame.

The creature roared in pain again, its body growing sluggish and slow as large clumps of tentacles began to fall off and its flesh grew blackened and charred. Its eyes gazed at him, half in panic and half in rage. Looking from side to side it sluggishly threw any furniture it could at the boy, before growing spider like legs and beginning to crawl up the wall, heading towards the exit.

"You're not going anywhere!" Pietro thundered, dodging another piece of furniture. Before it could get away, he threw one last jet of flame towards it, engulfing the beast once more. The fire tore at its limbs, causing its spider like legs to blacken and shrivel up from the heat.

The creature cried out once more, though this time with less strength as it lost its grip on the ceiling. It fell to the ground, a broken mess of charred skin and its body began to break apart, until beneath the mess a somewhat humanoid shape reappeared. It turned its face weakly towards the towering Inquisitor, snarling.

"You... you think you've won?" It said weakly in-between laboured breaths. "You have no idea. Kiyoshi's probably halfway to putting a bullet in someone already." A cruel smirk appearing on its lips.

"...What are you talking about?" he asked, pausing just before he finished the creature off. Pietro narrowed his eyes, and studied the broken beast cautiously. "What is it you're speaking of?"

A cruel chuckle escaped its lips. "You idiots really never noticed? He puts on a good front, but the boy's mad. All I had to do was push the right buttons and he was all too happy to take the rifle. Why do you think he never showed up to the meeting?"

"..." Pietro didn't respond, unsure of what to make of the beast's words. There was a decent chance it was lying, but still…

"Still so uncertain, are we Darling?" A familiar voice suddenly came from the creature, one from the boy's past. A seductive, feminine voice, full of mocking, as the girl's features appeared on the creature. "Aww, sweety this isn't like you. When you lost that arm of yours, you were so certain of what you had to do next. Damn anyone else in your way, am I right?"

Pietro's eyes widened in alarm and he instinctively took a step back. A seething rage overtook him a moment later as he demanded, "You goddamned beast! You have no right to use her voice!"

The creature bellowed with laughter. "Why are you getting so defensive? Is it because you know I'm right!? Face it, after what you've done, you can call yourself anything you like, but the truth is you'll only ever be one thing, and one thing alone. The Professional Coward!"

Pietro growled in response, his face red with fury. He wasted little time afterward, and once more bathed the creature in fire, scouring it entirely. He kept pouring flame onto it, making sure it was completely dead before he finally stopped. Once the flame had washed away, the beast had been reduced to mere ash and charred lumps of burnt flesh.

The monster that had taken Chiaki's form was dead.

9:00 PM Day Four

Platform Two

Armoury

"Alright we're here." Toko said as the elevator doors shut behind her and her companions, Yujin and Kiyoshi. "I think we managed to avoid getting seen out there, but we haven't got long." She turned to the voice actor. "We're going to have to get past the guards. Do you remember how you got your current gun? Did there seem to be any point they were distracted?"

Kiyoshi put a clawed hand to his chin. "W-Well, they gave this one to me straight up. But I remember that they argued over some kinda weird politics or something. If we could cause an argument between them, that'd be a distraction..."

Yujin folded his arms. "Yes, I remember that. Do you have something planned?"

Toko nodded. "Yeah... yeah I think I do. If you guys follow my lead, we might be able to distract them long enough to get behind the counter. I... remember seeing one of them punch in some kind of code on the door pad. Once that happens we'll then have to rush them. Understood?"

"Okay... yeah, I-I got it." Kiyoshi nodded as he glanced nervously around the elevator. "Those guys are really scary, though."

Yujin patted him on the back. "The greatest challenges always are. Don't worry, we'll be right behind you."

Kiyoshi smiled as Toko nodded her head, fixing her sights towards the doors ahead of her. Time seemed to stand still as the group watched the light indicate them traveling down towards their destination. Then mercifully they came to a halt and the doors slowly opened. Toko's face contorted into visible confusion as she suddenly comprehended what she was seeing. There were no soldiers waiting for them at the counter, and the door to the back was wide open. While the view of the back was still obscured by the desk, signs of a struggle seemed to be visible.

"W-what? What the fuck?" Toko muttered, almost speechless.

Kiyoshi's face paled and his eyes widened. "Oh my god! What the heck happened in here...?!"

Suddenly at the boy's outburst, a figure suddenly walked out of the room, holding an SA80 Assault rifle. Dressed like the other masked men, he pulled back the catch of the gun as he loaded a magazine into it. Suddenly noticing the open lift, he pointed the gun towards them in a flash.

"Get behind me!" Yujin yelled as he suddenly barrelled towards him. Before the man could do anything, Yujin launched both of them through the doorway and into the armoury. A huge crash soon followed.

"Yuji!" Kiyoshi cried as he ran towards them in a hurry, Toko following in pursuit. Yujin struggled with the figure, raining blows down on him. When suddenly the figure spoke.

"STOP! Stop ya daft git, it's me!" It cried in a very familiar voice.

"...Roman?" Yujin said, pulling back his fists.

"Yes, the one and the same." He responded, deadpan, as he looked at the monk now straddling him. "Now will you get the fuck off me!"

As Yujin reluctantly backed off from Roman, Kiyoshi stood there with an utterly confused face. "Roman, why the hell are you here?! We weren't expecting anyone else!"

Roman stood up, stretching his back, before pulling back his mask. "What am I doing here? I'll tell you what I'm doing, I'm getting the shit I need to kick this mastermind's teeth in!" He said, picking up his rifle and walking towards a bag that was filled with weapons and gadgets taken from the room. "That duck thinks he can fuck with my treasure? He can go fuck himself!"

Suddenly some shuffling echoed through the room as the three noticed that in a corner, Shane and Arthur were sat in the corner, hands tied behind their back. One of them looked around, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Oh yeah, I also had to deal with those chucklefucks. No big deal."

The masked man looked at the group. "You cheeky cunt!" Arthur shouted, struggling against his bonds. "You motherfuckers! Untie me now!"

Kiyoshi looked over at Arthur and Shane. A grin started forming on his face, and he quickly turned back to Roman in order to suppress his giggling instinct. "So how did you get in here then?"

Roman turned to Kiyoshi, cocky grin forming once more. "Well my son, it was a simple case of watching the guard patterns and figuring out who came to and from this location. I learned that skill during my hike of the peak of Pico Duarte, when I had to slip past the cannibal women of the ancient Indian tombs... But getting back on subject, once I figured out which guards came into this place, it was a simple case of finding one of them, twating them 'round the head and stealing their uniform. It's not like this place has fucking facial recognition!" He laughed. "And after Tweedledee and Tweedledumber over there let me in, all I had to do was take them out. Then I started looking for some weapons, Quackers announced something about spies and the next thing I know Big Bird's Chinese cousin is trying to bum me!"

Yujin glared at him. "Watch your mouth, Roman... Though I have to admit what you have accomplished is very impressive."

"Y-yeah... unexpected too." Toko added, barely suppressing her apprehension.

Roman zipped up the backpack, flinging it onto his shoulders before turning to them. "So what brings you lot down here anyway?"

Kiyoshi scratched his head. "Um, well, we came down here to get weapons to help with the motive. And to make sure the spies didn't get them... W-Wait..." Kiyoshi's wings spread out as he grimaced, pointing an accusing claw at the Treasure Hunter. "You could be one of the fucking spies, Roman! Why should we trust you?!"

Toko looked to both sides, before quickly joining in. "Yeah! I-I bet this is all some kind of trick to gain our confidence! W-we shouldn't give him that chance!"

Roman's eyes widened in shock. "Woah! Hang on a fucking second! How the fuck am I a spy? I've been here since the start and almost got eaten by a fucking chocolate fountain! Why would I go through all that bollocks if I was working for them?"

"Y-you think that's an excuse!? Our memories have been changed! Anything you say could be a lie!" Toko responded.

Roman stared at them, confused. "Memories changed? What the fuck are you lot talking about?"

"We don't know how it happened, but apparently the spies were placed into our past memories in order to make us believe they have always been with us. Toko said she was almost killed when Dr Richards used a flashback light to convince everyone that she was one of the spies. When she came to us she was badly hurt, shot in the arm." Yujin explained.

Roman continued to stare. "...And you believed her? I mean if what you're saying is true, couldn't she be the spy? Maybe she was shot because her cover was blown or something?"

Toko glared at the boy. "T-that's ridiculous! Y-you don't see me disappearing for half the day and then coming back armed to the teeth! Unlike you I haven't done anything suspicious!"

All this time, Kiyoshi had been silent, breathing rapidly and shaking as he looked between everyone and tried to figure out who was telling the truth. All of a sudden, a flashback occurred to him. He turned slowly towards Toko. "T-Toko...? Back at the firing range, you said..." Tears started spilling from his eyes as he screamed, "I never ever told you anything! The spy's gotta be you, Toko! But... Yujin, I-I-I don't know anymore..."

"Kiyoshi, please calm down. We jump to any conclusions." Yujin said, though a part of him wondered what the boy was talking about.

"I'm not the damn spy! Here, I'll prove it!" Toko shouted, grabbing a gun from a shelf rack and walking towards the two bound men.

"Hang on, what are you doing?" Roman asked.

Toko stood in front of the two men, and pointed her gun at Shane. "Would the spy kill one of Quacker's men? Not if they are working for them they wouldn't!"

Yujin looked at her in apprehension. "Toko, you don't have to go that far. I don't think we should be..."

"What? Killing unarmed men? They're fucking despairs!" Toko responded, about to pull the trigger. However before she could fire, Arthur suddenly forced himself to his feet and ran into her.

"Don't you fucking hurt him!" He shouted, trying to disarm her. He managed to knock the gun out of her hands, but hands bound he was useless as she flung him to the ground.

"You stay out of this!" She said, bending over to pick up her weapon. Arthur in a panic kicked her legs and sent her toppling to the ground, a large dust cloud flying in her face.

"Toko!" Yujin said, running towards the squabbling pair and pinning Arthur to the ground.

Roman stared at Kiyoshi.

"...Did that despair just save someone's life?" He asked, not quite believing what he was seeing.

Kiyoshi stood with his mouth hanging open. "W-Wow... I didn't know they actually had hearts..." He turned to Toko with a frown on his face. "A Despair showed more value for life than you."

"A-A-Achooo!" Toko sneezed. She looked up, glaring at the boy. "Shut up you little bitch!" She said, grabbing the gun. "I don't need a lecture from you!"

Roman looked at her coldly. "Toko... You just sneezed."

The girl grit her teeth. "Yeah, so what!?"

Yujin looked up at her. "Then why didn't you turn into Genocide Jack? I clearly remember sneezing was one of the triggers, wasn't it?"

Suddenly Toko felt all eyes on her. Her face went pale.

"Err... I-I err... shit."

Roman pointed his gun at her. Toko was about to lift her gun when Yujin kicked it out of her hands.

She stood, hands in the air.

"W-wait a minute, don't shoot! I can explain!" She said, slowly backing into a wall.

Kiyoshi's expression turned sad. He picked up his own gun from his side with dangerously shaky hands. He aimed it loosely at Toko. "I never wanted to believe this about the friend I trusted, but... you lied to me! And everyone! It's over..."

"WAIT!" Toko shouted. "Look, alright I admit it! I'm one of the spies, b-but I can help you! I know things!"

"Don't listen to her!" Roman said. "She's just trying to weasel her way out of this."

"Wait." Yujin said flatly. "If she knows anything about this game we could gain some much needed insight." He stepped forward, grabbing a sword from one of the racks and pointed at her. "What do you know about this killing game? Why are you here?"

"I... Look, the four of us aren't the same, alright? I was captured by this guy in a white mask. I-I was just told if I helped be a part of this stupid motive I'd be let off this rig." Toko looked from side to side, a nervous smile on her lips. "I-It was nothing personal, I just wanted to get out of here!"

"Man in a white mask?" Yujin repeated softly, mind deep in thought.

Kiyoshi glared at the freshly-unmasked spy. He lowered his gun slightly. "T-Tell us some kind of info then... What do you know, Toko or whoever you really are? Who's the one causing all this?!"

Toko looked at Kiyoshi. In that moment her face shimmered and revealed that instead of skin, she was covered in white reptilian scales that glistened in the light, before shifting back to a human skin tone.

"Well to answer what I am, I'm not exactly what you would call... Human. Though you and the Monk over here can't exactly say much about that either." She grinned, before finding the sword suddenly closer to her throat. "As for who's causing all of this... man, I've got no fucking idea. All I know is that between barking orders at me, that robot duck they have kept talking to the guy that kidnapped me about making sure everything went "according to schedule". But other than that I've got no clue if he's the mastermind, for all I know Junko's come back from the dead and joined the army!"

"Wow..." Kiyoshi looked at the other two boys. "Yuj, Rome, what do you think?"

Roman's eyes narrowed. "I think she's full of shit. Tell you what, if you're telling the truth then answer this. Who are the other spies?"

Toko's face sunk. "I-I can't tell you that, they'll kill me!"

"I'll kill you if you don't!" Roman replied, aiming down the sights of his weapon. "At least my way you live a little longer!"

Toko grit her teeth.

"Toko. Even though you tried to deceive us, I believe that enough blood has been spilled already. If you tell us who the other spies are, perhaps we can end this motive without anyone else having to die. I doubt Quackers will be able to do anything if his spies have been captured. Help us and I will do everything in my power to make sure no harm comes to you. That I promise." Yujin said with a bow of his head.

Toko looked at him stunned, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"Well I didn't expect to hear that after getting found out." She said, surveying her situation once more. "Alright, fine. The other spies are... are... what the?" She said, eyes looking dazed. "Why... why can't I..." She looked at one of the cameras in the room. "Did you do something to my head!?"

Suddenly the field guide on Toko's arm blinked a red light, and she felt a painful sting.

"No-no! You didn't! You said you didn't!" Toko fell back, the veins in her arm turning purple and travelling up her body. "Please, I'm sorry! Someone help me!"

Yujin raced down, trying to pry the device off, but to no avail. In front of a horrified Kiyoshi and a stunned Roman, the creature slowly lost its disguise, its whole body, clothes and all shifting to some kind of human reptilian. As it lay in Yujin's arms, it looked up at the Monk, the vessels in her eyes turning purple as they flooded with the poison.

"Please… please don't leave me... I'm scared..." She said weakly, fear creeping into her reptilian voice.

The Monk hugged her to his chest. "I'm here, I'm not going to leave you."

The creature's eyes widened in disbelief as its face was pressed against his chest, before purple tears began to drop from its eyes.

"I'm-I'm so sorry. I just wanted to go… home." It said as its eyes rolled into the back of its head, and its body went limp.

The creature that had once been Toko was dead.

Kiyoshi fell to his knees and started heaving sobs. "No... Toko, I'm so sorry... They didn't have to..." He and everyone else looked with newfound horror at their field guides.

"Shit, they fucking kill us with these things!?" Roman shouted, his face in a full panic. He quickly grabbed his bag and weapons. "I am not dying here, you two can mope around all you like but I'm getting out of here!"

Yujin looked back at him as he left towards the lift. "Roman wait!"

"Fuck you!" Roman shouted, stepping inside the life and pressing the button. "Stay out of my way, or I'll fucking kill you!"

A shaken Yujin looked back at the scene as the sound of the doors shutting echoed around the room. Kiyoshi sobbed over the body of someone who they believed to be their friend, and Arthur, who had crawled back to Shane, checked his follow soldier as he began to come to.

"Shane, Shane! Thank God you're alright..." The Quartermaster breathed a sigh of relief, resting against the wall. He sneered at Kiyoshi. "I don't know why the fuck you're crying for her, kid. She'd have killed you the first chance she got, you know that?"

Kiyoshi sniffled as he wiped his nose with his sleeve. "She never wanted any of this. I just want to remember her as a friend." He forced a smile through. "You should get it, Mr. Arthur. You just nearly lost your boyfriend."

Arthur spluttered in disbelief at what he had just heard. "Fuck you! I'm no queer! Shane's my squad mate. An officer looks out for everyone under his command... Like whoever that prick Roman stole his uniform from. That bastard is trouble, you know that?"

Yujin tensed. "He only did what he had to do."

"Yeah, well I'll tell you this. That look on his face? That was the look of a desperate man. And I've been in enough battles to know that once a man is desperate... you don't know what he's going to do..." Arthur said darkly.

2:00 AM

Day Five

Platform One

Warehouse

"You see anyone?" Tala asked Anastasia, who was currently looking outside the warehouse door.

Anastasia's eyes peered from side to side, looking for anything in the darkness of the open platform, before pulling her head back.

"I can't see anything, but I don't like this. It's too peaceful. Why aren't the spies being more aggressive?" She replied, a frown on her face.

"Gonta not think we have time to worry about such thing. We search but not find friends yet. Gonta think if we just shut door, we will hear anyone come in. So we not have to worry." Gonta said, motioning for the others to follow him deeper into the building.

"He's right. All we can do is keep going." Nolan added softly, chewing on his fingernails nervously. The Ice Sculptor was clearly worried about Kiyoshi, and had been silent most of the time.

After exchanging a few looks, the group were in agreement and began to follow Gonta. As the Nolan kept his head down, concern crossing his face, he suddenly felt a warm arm wrap around his shoulder as Tala pulled him to her side.

"Hey, try not to worry so much!" She said with a fangy grin. "I'm sure he's fine. I mean with that rifle he's one of the safest on this rig. Any monster that messes with him is bound to regret it!"

"Yeah..." the blue eyed boy paused, his frown deepening. "But... I just hope he doesn't do anything rash. I don't want anyone innocent to get hurt."

"Gonta agree. Gonta care about friends. Gonta not know what he would do if..." He paused, hand reaching up to cover his left ear. He went silent as his eyes looked intently into the distance, before widening slightly.

"Err, big guy? What's up?" Anastasia asked, razing an eyebrow in confusion.

Gonta's eyes flicked over to her. "Oh sorry, Gonta get slight headache." He said, dropping his hand and chuckling. "But... Gonta now remember that when he search area at start of game, he found storage area at back. Maybe if Kiyoshi try and hide he go there."

Tala patted Nolan on the shoulder. "There we go! I'm sure he's hiding in there. I mean he's certainly small enough. The little squirt should eat more!" She said, letting out a laugh.

"Right. I hope so, the longer this goes on, the worse I feel. I just want this to be over with..." Nolan sighed, giving Tala a grateful smile. "Thanks Tala"

The group continued walking down the hallway, flanked on both sides by selves and boxes stacked high to the ceiling. Soon they found themselves facing a metal door that none of them had seen before. It had a large sliding metal bolt that kept it locked, but from their side it looked like it could easily be opened.

"Here it is. Though Gonta not remember it being locked..."

Suddenly, loud banging could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Someone's in there," Anastasia said, reaching for her knife.

"Wait, what if it's Kiyoshi? He might have been locked in there!" Nolan said, rushing to the door. "Kiyoshi! Kiyoshi, are you in there!?" The boy tried to open the bolt, only to find it a real struggle to open.

"Get back," Tala said, moving Nolan out of the way. "Let me do this."

Tala grabbed the bolt tightly, and after a pause it gave way and opened. However what was on the other side was nothing she was expecting. The room was empty, looking like a deactivated walk in freezer, and just by the door was an MP3 player hooked up to some speakers.

And playing on a loop were the sounds they had heard.

"W-what?" Tala breathed in disbelief. However her reaction was cut short as she soon felt a jarring pain in her stomach. Looking down she saw that she had been impaled from behind by Gonta, who looked at her with a sickening grin.

"TALA!" was all Anastasia could shout before Gonta flung Tala off the blade and crashing into the back of the room. The two cadets standing in horror, Gonta slammed the door and turned to face the other two. In his other hand he held the control for the MP3 player and with a simple click the sounds stopped, before he placed it back into his pocket.

"Well, I was hoping for a little bit of fun with you two before I got to the main event, but it seems I'm going to have to rush things along," Gonta said, dropping his accent completely as he locked the bolt behind him.

"What? Gonta, why?" Nolan cried, his eyes going wide. "What's going on?!"

"You son of a bitch!" Anastasia said, attempting to kick him, only to have her foot caught easily. The girl could only watch in horror as the image of "Gonta'' suddenly vanished in front of them. Now towering over them was a humanoid insectoid. Its six milky eyes looking at her from a head armoured in a black exoskeleton, which covered its entire form, only covered by the poorly fitting clothes Gonta had worn.

"Seems your friends were tougher than they look." It said, flinging the girl into a shelf next to them, causing her to be buried in an avalanche of items. "But it looks like I lucked out. You lot are pathetic!"

The creature spun the machete in his hand and pointed it menacingly at the Ice Sculptor.

"So how do you want this to go? If you stay still I promise I'll try and make this quick..." It said smugly, mouth chittering and clicking.

Nolan simply fell back onto the floor, staring wide eyed at the creature in horror. He tried to open his mouth to say something, but was only able to let out a few whimpers as he rapidly started scooting backwards. "Please... I don't wanna die..." he croaked out softly.

The creature stepped forward, closing in on his prey when suddenly the metal door was blown off of its hinges. The door barely missed the creature as he and Nolan both looked to the doorway. Stepping through the door was Tala snarled with razor sharp teeth as the large wound in her chest visibly knit itself back together, until it was healed without even a scar.

"Get the FUCK away from him!" Tala shouted, her voice deep and almost inhuman. She flexed her fingers, now tipped with razor sharp claws.

"T-Tala!? Be... be careful!" Nolan cried out, nervously and discreetly pulling his small icepick out and concealing it behind his back.

The creature's eyes flared in disbelief, before he lunged and lifted Nolan by the neck. "You take one step closer and snap him like a twig!" It snapped, tightening its grip.

"Let him go..." Tala said, a growling coming from her chest as she positioned to attack.

However the moment was interrupted when the Field Guide on the creature's arm suddenly began to bleep green. Distracted for a moment, Nolan lunged the icepick into its shoulder, causing it to drop him. The creature tried to struggle back when a hissing noise came from the field guide and needles injected themselves into the creature. The creature looked at them in disbelief, before letting out a weak chuckle.

"Damn. Guess I... wasn't... quick enough..." It managed to say before it collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

Tala looked at the creature in disbelief, before looking back at Nolan. "Are you alright?" She asked, voice beginning to return to normal.

"I... I think so..." the blue eyed boy whimpered, shaking as he looked at the now bloody icepick in his hands. "What… what the hell was that...?"

"Fuck knows..." Tala said, before looking back at Anastasia. She walked over, checking her over. As Tala shook her the Mercenary let out a pained groan. "The real question is what the hell just happened?"

"I'm not sure, all I can do is make a few assumptions, but the most obvious is that Quackers did something to him. And the only reason is because the motive is over, which means...!" Nolan's eyes widened, as he struggled to his feet. "Tala, if you can't wake Anastasia up, can you carry her? Someone has probably..." He trailed off, his eyes darting around the room nervously.

Tala paled. "Shit," she cursed, picking the girl up in her arms. "Don't worry, she's fine. Let's go!"

Nolan nodded as they both made their way out of the warehouse.

2:15 AM

Day Five

Platform One

Nolan, Tala and Anastasia ran across the platform, looking for any signs of life in the darkness. They searched for a moment but it didn't need long to find it for them to find what they were dreading. Laying propped up next to a railing, illuminated by the oil rig's floodlights was none other than Roman Callum Pearce, The Ultimate Treasure Hunter, dead and surrounded by a pool of his own blood that poured from a gunshot wound in his chest. Kneeling next to him was Yujin, the Monk's eyes closed and his teeth grit.

"Why? If only I'd stopped him..." He muttered to himself, before noticing the group that had arrived behind him. And then as if on cue, the speakers of the oil rig came to life once again.

"The second assignment is over. You put up a good fight, but it seems it just wasn't good enough. Your fellow cadet, Roman Callum Pearce, has lost the most precious treasure of all, his life! Everyone, come to the area marked on your field guides. After a second investigation, the second court martial will soon begin!" Quackers said as the grim reality of the situation dawned on them. Despite their best efforts, one of them had fallen.

And soon another would follow...

Author's Note: Thank you to JCW18, Parafin and Magus1108 for RPing their characters in this chapter and a thank you to Parafin, Storyproducer and Birb for being my beta readers.

While I will be making a note of this on the intro page at a later date, as some of you might already know this story was originally part of a fanfic shared universe called Legacy of Despair. Due to various reasons I have decided to move out of that universe and write this as a standalone story, one that may be brought into my own series of stories in the future.

To give you all a new sense of the story's setting, the story will now take place 5 years after the DR3 anime Hope Arc, so I will be going through my previous chapters and changing some things. Also Elizabeth Grey's age will be changed to 19 in order to fit the newtime of events better.

However don't worry, I intend for the changes to be as minimal as possible. But this is just a warning that if things in future chapters don't quite jell with the information given in previous chapters, then you may need to reread those ones.

I hope to have all the editing done by the release of the next chapter. While I would have waited until I had finished to release this one, I felt you guys have waited long enough for new material. Plus the changes don't really affect anything in this chapter, so here we go.

Anyway the second murder has now occurred. Let the theory making commence!

Review Section:

Doomqwer: We'll just see what the SCP Foundation is like in this new setting at some point. Remember it may be very different from the one on the internet.

Bellatrixshine: I hope they got interesting enough for you!