AN: Alright, this chapter is finally done. I was gone for so long because the last two months I had to look for a new place to live and get all my stuff ready. I'm finally in a nice place and settling in, so I'm back to finish my work here.

The Form of Evil

The auditorium lights were still flashing red with intensity and the loud wailing siren would not let up. It was beginning to mess with their senses and keep them from thinking straight.

Halcen looked to Jin. "Jin, you were able to hack the door that let us into this facility. Do you think you can hack another to get us out?"

"Yeah, I guess… I just… With the override going, it's going to take some time to focus."

Halcen looked around the room. "Do you think you can override the override?"

"I can try. We know this panel should have access to it since this was where Armani set it."

"Alright, give it a shot."

Jin walked up to the keypad and began fiddling with it. After a couple minutes, he finally made headway and the alarms ceased their constant cracking and the red flashing lights stopped as well, and everything returned to normal.

"Oh, thank God," Kazuki said. "I was worried I'd go mad from all that before we died of thirst."

"We should be fine now," Jin said.

"But we do still need to get out of here," Halcen said. "Can we take the elevator now?"

"Not yet," Jin said. "It seems he's activated a lock on it from the top."

"So, what's that mean for us?"

"It won't respond to a simple hacking like the door that got us in. It's locked locked. He's got some serious tech mojo on his side."

"So, what can you do?"

"I'm gonna try a basic reboot of the system. It might free the other mechanisms into working properly."

"How long will that take?"

"At least five minutes."

"Alright, keep on it. We need to hurry. We can't let him get away."

Grey and his party were stuck in the dark on the other side of the facility. They pressed their backs to each other's, trying to form a circle. They were being encroached by some creature hiding in the shadows of the room.

Suddenly the lights flared and the room began bright again. The dim flickering lights from above were suddenly working again and the room lit up like a Christmas tree.

They all were blinded by the quick change.

They heard groaning and screeching, but couldn't see what had made the sound. Until finally they were able to open their eyes.

There was a being of some sort, sitting before them. It was massive and dark moldy green and slightly translucent. It was slimy and glossy. It was just a blob with no body or head. No mouth or eyes or nose. No distinguishing features. It was disconcerting to look at.

There were smaller creatures of the same likeness scattered about the room as well, circling around them. They sat motionless, but still there, fixed in their disgustingness.

The whole situation made the team anxious.

"What the hell is this thing?" Bo asked.

"It… it looks like some kind of goo monster," Jory said.

"Sludge," Fein corrected him.

"What?"

"It's sludge. Swamp sludge to be specific."

"Oh… okay. Does that make a difference?"

"Yes, a big different. Goo is just generic; it has no real properties. Swamp sludge gives us information. It gives us something to work with."

"So, their big final weapon is a swamp sludge creature?" Bo asked, unimpressed.

"Seems so," Grey said.

"So, we can just take care of it here, right?"

"That's what we aim to do, yes," Grey answered. "Let's go!"

They all rushed towards one of the smaller blobs, trying to leave the large one for last.

Grey charged at one of the blobs. He pounded it with a rapid punch. His fist went right through the creature. It absorbed his arm like goo. It felt cold and wet and disgusting. His body shivered in protest. He pulled his arm back out and looked at it. It was covered in a thin layer of green stuff. He shook his arm violently, trying to get the grime off of himself.

"You filthy heathen!" he shouted.

He punched the creature again, this time with his other arm. It did the exact same thing as the first time; nothing. He managed to get his other arm out as well. It was just coated in disgusting sludge. He began desperately trying to wipe off the stuff with his hands, but it wasn't enough to get himself clean. "You vile fiend!"

Fein swung his claws against the surface of one of the other creatures. Its body gave in to his sharp claws, as an indentation formed where they passed through. But just as quickly, the wounds closed back up without even a scar to show for it. He began slashing in a series of quick attacks. None of them did any actual lasting damage.

"DIE, YOU BITCH!"

His slashes became more and more erratic and desperate, and not a single one of them did a damn thing.

Then suddenly the thing bucked and a sludge pillar shot out at Fein, hitting him in the face and throwing him across the room.

He landed roughly on his back. He wiped all the slime from his face. He began gagging, turned over on his hands and knees and began spitting out the dirty green liquid from his mouth. And he started blowing out from his nose hard, trying to get it out of his nostrils. It had been lodged up into his mouth and nose. "Oh, it's so bad," he said, trying not to puke. The disgusting odor and flavor were overwhelming. "Oh, please make it stop."

"That's so gross," Bo said, watching Fein's unlucky go.

He turned to his blob. "Okay, now I know not to get close." He pulled out his pistol. He aimed at the center mass and fired.

BANG!

A bullet went into the blob and was stopped inside about halfway in, then began slowly falling to the ground beneath it. The thing gurled and didn't seem to move or feel any pain.

"Alright, let's try that again."

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Bo fired three rapid fire shots at the creature.

Again, it did not seem to harm it. They simply gave up their velocity inside its body and became still. The creature began swaying side to side, gurgling.

"What the hell is happening? Is it enjoying it? I feel like I'm just tickling it. What the hell do I do?"

The blob began to move toward Bo.

Bo looked unnerved.

The bullets inside continued floating inside the beast as it moved. All four of them were settling.

The goo beast began shaking violently. The metal pieces were quickly sucked up and shot out at Bo rapidly. They pelted random parts of Bo's body with bruising force.

He was suddenly covered in the grime and gross green slime as well.

"Oh, fuck me!" he shouted.

Jory pulled his sword from his sheath. He readied himself, getting into his fighting stance, feet apart, sword ahead, both arms down. He was trying to read the enemies movements but it was just a slime staying still. Nothing he did or tried to do would be any help. He was unsure of what he was supposed to be doing. But he attacked nonetheless.

He ran forward, bringing his sword tip down. He ran past the creature and slashed with all his might, trying to finish it in one move. His sword cut the beast like a hot knife through butter. But as the blade passed through, the slime that was displaced was replaced as soon as the metal moved on, leaving not even a scar along the creature's center mass. "What the?"

The creature giggled and its mass began to twist around into a spiral. Then it began to bounce up and bounce, its gooey form jiggling. Then the whole pod lunged at him, flying off the ground and landing on top of Jory's head.

Jory fell down onto his back. His body was weighted down by the creature and he began to squirm and tried desperately to push the thing off of himself. His arms and legs kicked and struggled to no avail. They passed through the creature with no effort and there was nothing to push off of him. No solid substance to grab.

The creature began to come down over his face as he laid there struggling. It began to overtake his body and his head was inside the creature. He could not see or breathe. It was dark in there and there was no way to call for help. He struggled furiously, and he began to gurgle and his mind began to drift. It felt like the creature was trying to take over his body and mind. As if it were trying to merge with him. He had no idea what was happening, but he had no way to fight it. It was all over.

Grey thrust a dark punch into the creature and it went flying off the ground into a wall far to the side. It splattered against the wall like a bug. But then it began to reform itself and slid back down to the ground, almost like there had been no attack.

Jory suddenly was able to breathe again and he sat up and inhaled deeply. His mind was suddenly free again and he was himself. "Holy shit, what just happened?"

"Are you okay?" Grey asked.

He was breathing heavily, trying to regain his composure. "I… I think so. God, that was terrible. I don't ever want to do that again."

"Well then get up," Grey said.

Jory stood up and pulled his sword back up.

"How did you do that?" Jory asked.

"I used Haki. But it didn't seem enough to finish the thing, just enough to send it off you."

"Haki, right," Jory said. "Something we can't use."

All four men gathered back together in the middle of the room. They had failed at taking care of these creatures. They were all still unharmed and undefeated.

"Anybody got any ideas?" Grey asked.

"I might have one," Fein said.

"What's that?"

"Fire."

"What?"

"Well, this thing like moisture and darkness. That's why it was so dark and humid in here. And it's a plant-based liquid to a degree. So… fire seems like it would be the best option for inflicting real damage."

"And how are we gonna start a fire in here?" Jory asked.

"Incendiary bombs," Bo said.

"And you just happened to have some of those on you, do you?" Jory asked sarcastically.

Bo pulled off his bag, turned around and dug through it. "Actually…" He pulled out a few grenades and handed them to Fein. He then put his bag back on. "Thank you, Jin."

"This will work," Fein said. "…I hope."

"What happens if it doesn't?"

"We probably die," Fein said. "Here goes nothing." He lit the fuses on the bombs and threw all three of them at the main big goo creature.

KABOOM!

All three off the bombs went off simultaneously, exploding on the creature and creating a massive fire.

The creature groaned in what seemed to be pain. It was working. Giant pieces of it exploded all over the room and began to burn. The whole room lit up and the smell of burning rotten meat began to fill the room.

"Oh, gross," Bo said.

"That's repugnant," Fein said, gagging

"What's 'repugnant?'" Jory asked.

"It means it's gross," Fein said.

"Then why not just say that?"

They all looked at the creature who wailed and shook in horror and pain as it tried to shake off the fire. It burned and burned… until the smoke reached the top of the room and activated the automated sprinklers. The alarm began ringing and water began to spray from the ceilings. Suddenly the water began soaking them and dampening the fire that was burning the monster.

"NO!" Fein shouted. He ran at the creature and began slashing at it. "Let's finish it off before the fire goes out!"

The others jumped in.

Jory began swinging his sword through the creature again and again.

Bo began firing more and more handgun bullets.

Grey began pummeling it with all his might.

But it was all too little too late. The beast had survived the fire. It was out. The smoldering beast was left with nothing but wisping smoke, that too soon faded in the downpour.

The other pieces of the creature all came back and molded themselves back into the large main mass to form one giant blob. Then it groaned and kicked them all aside, and began rushing to the back of the room.

"Where's it going?"

There was a gaping hole in the wall in the rear that led into a cave on the island.

"Oh, shit! That's right. The maintenance report!" Fein shouted. "It's gonna escape into the rest of the island. We can't let it get out there!'

Then a connection flashed in Jory's brain. "If it gets to the village, it can take them all over."

"What?!"

"It's like some sort of parasite. It was trying to bond with me, control me. If we let it get out there, it'll be the end of this island."

"Oh, shit," Fein said.

"Let's go!" Grey commanded.

Halcen, Kazuki, Shira, and Malthory were all walking around impatiently, waiting for Jin to fix the override so they could head back up to the surface and chase down Regulo Armani, evil Word Government black ops operative. He was on the verge of destroying Wickthorne Island and at the moment there was nothing any of these guys could do to stop him.

The Orvast Plague was ravaging the village and the villain was out walking around scot-free. They needed to get after him or lose everything. He had the cure with him and that was their only hope of saving this island.

Jin struggled furiously with the security system. Armani had put a personal override lock on it, preventing anyone from coming up the elevator. Jin had to reboot the whole system in order to fix it and cease the incessant alarm. And finally, there was a faint humming from the back of the room. The elevator was running.

"I got it!" Jin shouted with pride.

"Alright!" Halcen said. He began running toward the other side of the room and headed to the elevator door. "Let's go!" he shouted to the rest of them.

Everyone else ran over to the elevator.

The elevator came down and opened up.

Everyone piled in. Jin pushed a button and the five of them headed back up to the surface.

"Here we go," Halcen said.

They arrived at the top to see the night was waning and the morning light was breaking over the sky. It was still mostly dark but that would not last.

"We can't waste any time," Halcen said. "Alright, Shira. Find him!"

Shira went to sniffing around. She quickly picked up the trail of their prey, barked once, and began running.

The others followed after her. They had to move as fast as possible.

For Mal, that was very difficult, being as old as she was. But she did her best to keep up anyway. She knew she needed to keep running or risk losing everyone she loved. They had to find this man and the cure he carried. She couldn't leave this knowing there were people depending on her, and even worse, that she was the one they were cursing as they died. She could not let that come to pass.