In the shadows of the night/When you face the darkness/Call the power of the light/Let your heart be fearless
Never give it up never give it up, if you're strong enough, get the power!
Huntik, keep the faith and you'll survive/Huntik, is the seeker you're inside
Shout it out and make it loud, Everybody huntik go!
There's a secret lost in time/There's an ancient story/One for all and all for one/Fighting for the glory
Never give it up never give it up, if you're strong enough, get the power!
Huntik, keep the faith and you'll survive/Huntik, is the seeker you're inside
Shout it out and make it loud, Everybody huntik go!
Ohh Yeahhhh... Everybody
Huntik!
Guggenheim gives the team a mission, but the Huntik team also has other plans of their own. Lok and Sophie continue onto to Iceland for their mission, first to meet up with their Organization contact, for infiltration of the Guardians of Thor. Den, Zhalia, and Cherit go to New York instead, Den hoping for a breakthrough with the Titan Medusa, while Zhalia faces some internal matters regarding her past, particularly her foster parent. Yet during their touchdown, they are being watched...
"In The Dark"
Episode 80
Harrison's residence
New York, USA
Just outside, Den knocked on the front door, hoping Dante's spoiler comment was true - his brother knew someone was coming, but not necessarily him, so he might still be a surprise. He looked down at his bag, where Cherit had poked his head out, ears down yet smiling in anticipation, a feeling he definitely shared - although at the same time, he hoped it wouldn't be long.
It's kinda freezing out here today, after all...
The door opened-
Den grinned. "What's up, bro?"
-after his comment registered, Harrison soon returned the grin. "Den; it just had to be you" he said, arms crossed in a teasing manner, but it only lasted a second before Harrison clasped his shoulder. "Why else would Dante personally warn me?"
"Least you could've tried harder" Den pointed out, before they both chuckled, and it turned into the whole brotherly-affection thing. "You could've opened the door before I knocked."
"I knew it was you, but not when you were coming" his brother answered, pulling back, still grinning. "But enough about the not-quite-surprise; come in."
"Don't mind we if do!" Cherit cheered, popping out of his bag and going inside without preamble, barely visible to the street at all. "Ah, finally fresh air again" came his voice, even as Harrison registered this; he raised an eyebrow, and Den just shrugged, saying the Titan wanted to come. Even still, his brother walked inside while leading them into the cozy place; the aesthetics were definitely different, but he was already reminded of Dante's home, at least on the cozy factor. "Make yourself at home, Den" Harrison said, already taking his bag without preamble, though he wasn't surprised. "After all, I was expecting a house guest."
Den briefly rolled his eyes, but was glad; he'd missed being with his brother.
"Hey, Harrison" Cherit called over, hovering over a single table, holding up a picture frame carefully. "Is this not the team you spoke of?"
Harrison barely had to lean his head before nodding- Den was interested, stepping over and looking it over with Cherit. While he'd heard some bits about the team, thanks to his contacts with Harrison overtime, there hadn't been a lot of time to go over them in detail- he could now though, at least a bit more.
Out of the group of four, going from right-to-left: Harrison, in casual clothes; a blonde woman who might seem 'girly-girly' at first glance, but the firm look in her eyes/her posture slowly made him think that's a facade (he should know, having practiced one for years, along with recognizing the same in Zhalia's case), helped by a shirt patch that showed a sword pointing upward, surrounded by other details and two words he couldn't quite make out; an African-American woman who's bearing almost immediately singled her out as the leader to him, suitably cool and yet friendly at the same time; a guy almost a head taller than the rest of them, but he seemed the hardest of the group, considering the crossed arms, stiff posture, and generally unyielding expression... wait, he had a tattoo that seemed to represent Mexico, with a prominent football.
Oh, but to people in the US, it's actually a soccer ball.
"A unique bunch" Den noted, but with a little smile. He noted that the picture mentioned this had been taken in Central Park, which if he remembered from his maps right, one of it's corners was roughly about five miles away from here, give-or-take a few. "I remember you saying that your team just as often works separately, as they do in a group."
Harrison stepped closer, taking the picture frame, but still holding it up in their sights. "Yeah well, we're flexible that way" he noted. "After all, we determine whether or not there are amulets or artifacts connected to legends, or if they're just that, so we do a lot of digging around the world. We find nothing as often as we do anything, but once we've found something, that allows the Foundation to assign 'adventure teams' like yours (Den just snorted, amused) to collect whatever might be down there."
"A system that generally works" Cherit noted, a bit proud. "And also, it's why only you went to the Foundation's beachhead in Huntik; you were available, while the others were busy and couldn't be recalled in time, or something similar as I recall."
"But they sure as hell wanted to come" Harrison noted, shrugging. "I just got lucky I guess, or maybe Dante picked me as a 'prime candidate'. Either way, compared to your team or Dante, it's like they're minor characters."
Even though it was a joke, he still smirked at Harrison teasingly throwing shade on his team like that; that's a good sign that they're close. Plus, he's pretty sure they would do the same to him, as all good friends do sometimes - heck, it happened all the time with his own friends.
"Anyway bro, I'm pretty sure you're here for a reason other than visiting" Harrison continued, putting down the picture frame.
"Yeah" Den breathed, shrugging; Cherit landed on his shoulder in support, which he appreciated. "It's a bit serious and not good."
His brother's brow furrowed, but he said nothing.
"Just before the whole Huntik adventure, Dante entrusted me with Medusa" Den went on to explain. "Because of my darker side, I was better suited to her than most, especially since Dante was already with us in person. Medusa did bond with me, but reluctantly, and I can tell you I've had no luck with her in practical use. In fact, there've been near-incidents."
He still remembered... Cathy nearly got herself turned to stone by accident, because of this Titan disobeying his orders.
"Anything she's responded to?" Harrison asked.
"Yeah" Den said, grim. "Going by Medusa's legends, the others believe that what might drive Medusa... is a cycle-of-hatred feeling."
The silence in the room was nearly deafening- after two full seconds of no reaction, Harrison quickly looked away, but Den still saw the dark flickers that threatened to pop up. Not in the sense that his brother wanted to go back, but in the sense that he felt ashamed, guilty, angry at himself for behaving like that... Harrison held a corner of the wall, grip tight...
Cherit was worried, going by his motions, but Den remained where he stood.
"...your feelings on this?"
"I don't like it" Den stated, grunting. "In fact I hate it, a lot. I want to make strides with Medusa, but this way of going about the bond brings it all back, the same as it's doing for you, bro. Yet at the same time, I'm realizing that even if I did feel that way, it wouldn't change anything for me- it'd be just like Lok with Lindorm: feeling angry and destructive to synch with the Titan, but little more."
At that, Harrison slowly turned around- his expression was tight, perhaps even a little angry, but there was determination as well.
"If it were anyone else" he stated grimly, waving a hand, "I'd have said no."
Slowly nodding, Den raised his hand-
-his brother grasped it back, grip tight. "But for my brother" Harrison continued. "Anything."
"Wouldn't have it any other way" he stated, grimly satisfied; together they'd figure this out - even as he finished, Cherit added his paw to their joined hands, not saying a word but not needing to.
Iceland, Guardian's Temple
Around the same time
"So anyway" Hoffman explained. "This is how the temple was built, using these methods."
As far as the Guardians were concerned, this was just business as normal, including the two men were supposed to be guarding the open stretch leading to the artifact's room. Luckily for them, the artifact itself was well-hidden within the wall, and there was a magic detector set within the room itself- currently unknown to them, but the one opposite to the Organization is glitched. From behind that same wall, Lok briefly glanced at the scene, making sure it's all going well- he quickly hid again when it seemed to be, staying extremely quiet. Sitting beside him, hands to her head and glowing with a little magic, Sophie remained in a concentrated effort to maintain the illusion of them out there; that of Organization recruits getting the tour.
As she'd said, illusions weren't her strongest suit, so she had to stay this focused just to maintain it.
Carefully, Lok opened up his backpack a tiny bit, resulting in the low hum of his Holotome working on its carbon-dating scan. Still barely audible, but they're taking no chances - the moment they got in here, he'd noticed that the rock of this room was different from the rest of the temple, and had a few suspicions.
Good thing Sophie had told him to 'do whatever he thinks is necessary'.
"This might still take awhile; it's been at it for what seems like hours" Lok thought, re-covering his backpack folds, sitting beside Sophie with equal stealth - he'd liked to have held her hand, or touched her shoulder, but knew she wouldn't appreciate being distracted in this situation. "Good thing the Holotome's magic makes it a lot shorter than the standard time of 1-3 days. And we have no intention of solving this room, not until I'm sure of things."
So things continued in silence, except for the audible lessons given by Hoffman, even if he's really talking to empty air... yet if one of the Guardians touched the illusions, they would also need to feel solid...
Lok smiled a little; he trusted Sophie to handle that.
A small beep- he quickly moved with stealth speed, opening up his Holotome as much as he could. Beside him, Sophie's brow furrowed as her eyes half-opened, as despite maintaining the illusion, she wanted to hear this.
"Holotome" he breathed quickly, quietly. "Results?"
"Carbon-dating of scanned room, complete" it spoke, its volume settings currently at their lowest. "Age variance: Plus-or-minus 8 days. Certainty of scan results: 70%. Estimated age: several weeks."
Shocked, Lok couldn't say anything as his Holotome went back to passive mode, and even Sophie made a muffled gasp beside him.
Several weeks?
"...does that include the artifact?"
"Yes."
"Then-" Sophie breathed, looking at him; her tone was slightly strained, due to focusing her attention between two tasks. "-this artifact, it can't have been made by my family, because all of them would be dated before recorded history. What is it then?"
"I don't know" Lok answered honestly, a bit out of it. "Maybe it's something the Guardians invented themselves?"
Sophie just shrugged; she didn't have the knowledge of the Guardian's inner workings to tell him that.
"Well whatever the case, we know it's not a Casterwill artifact" he continued, glancing at her. "Meaning, we don't have any justification to take it in any future missions."
Her answer to that was eyes-only, aside from a small nod; she remembered Den bringing their reasons up as well as he did.
"Even still, we'll give the scan results to the Foundation to analyze later" Sophie said, briefly touching his hand. "Maybe they'll be able to make more sense of it and determine what to do next, for you're right, Lok; we don't have the right. But we still need to check that other hidden room, for it can still contain another Casterwill artifact."
"It could" Lok breathed, glancing at the corner of the wall. "And yeah, we should at least be thorough, since we're already here."
Still slow/stealthy, Lok had his Holotome call up that pre-established map of the Guardian's temple, complete with areas covered by magic detectors (glitched and normal), while also covertly scanning the artifact's properties - at the same time, Sophie stood up, preparing to adjust her Thoughtspectre magic to cover them again in addition to the illusion outside. Carefully, Holotome in one hand, Lok peeked around the corner again... the Guardians were still distracted but Hoffman was facing this direction. Quickly, Lok held up his other hand to get Hoffman's attention in peripheral vision (glad he remembered the term this time), then gestured to the left of the temple, along with two fingers extended.
The signal for 'move to second artifact location'.
A minute later, the 'tour' started moving that way- once he heard this, Lok nodded at Sophie with a little smirk, who smirked back as her Thoughspectre magic covered them again.
Outside Foundation Prison
New York, USA
"If we're being watched, this is the part where once inside, whatever's watching will need to get closer" Dante noted, the three of them out in front. "Then they'll still be able to hear us through the building, potentially."
Not that he's surprised; they'd captured a lot of the Blood Spirals' numbers, but the elite had disappeared, including the Betrayer- given that their link through Den, Zhalia, and Harrision had been take care of, they had to make do with other spying methods. Nearby, Grier and Zhalia were both carefully observing around them - thus far nothing looked out of the ordinary, but that didn't mean 'it's nothing', and more than that he trusted their instincts over the appearance of things.
"Well right now, we don't have a direction" Zhalia said, fainter before glancing up. "And it's not out of the question that 'something' might be high up, enough that we can't see it with eyesight alone."
He raised an eyebrow, then gave an interested hum. "Eyesight" he breathed, thinking he knew just the Titan for that.
Judging from the small looks on Grier and Zhalia's faces, they knew too.
Dante raised his hand- a Titan's symbol reappeared there, while he opened up his coat with his other hand.
"Emerge, Solwing!"
Appearing from nowhere, the eight-winged hawk instantly knew the situation, claws hooked into his legs, wings folded and perfectly still. Hidden from sight for now thanks to his trenchcoat, Solwing was itching to do recon, adjusting his legs and his golden armor pieces - while at the same time Zhalia just winked at the Titan, glad in her own way, while Grier made sure no one else was nearby to see.
"You're gonna have to be fast, to make sure no one sees you" Dante teased; Solwing purposefully dug his feet into his legs, briefly anyway.
"Here's something that should aid you" Grier added, lower as he dug something out of his pocket; a circular device, which he worked at. "It's a motion-sensor, specifically tuned to enemy Titans and spells, and with it's own location sensors for such blips."
Zhalia raised an eyebrow. "Not bad at all" she approved, one hand on her hip. "The Organization continues to impress in technological inventions, Grier."
"She's not far off" Dante added, even as he took the motion sensor, Solwing discreetly taking it from him. "And on the other side of the fence, the Foundation has the edge in spirit of adventure."
Grier looked between them, smirking a bit. "I realize you're sincere, but I also know what you're doing" he stated, arms friendly-crossed. "I'd ask you to keep the public displays to a minimum."
"But they are; I'm not a public-affection-type of woman."
"I realize that, yet still."
As soon as Grier finished, Dante moved his trenchcoat - a blur launched upward from his leg, the result creating a fair gust of wind. Other than it moving their hair considerably, none of them reacted that much, except for the obvious re-adjustments - but hey, had to give off appearances here.
"Knock if off, you two" he added, but with a little grin. "We should get inside."
Zhalia slowly took in/let out a breath, but moved onward in front of him- he followed behind with Grier behind them both. Now above the building roof, Solwing carefully scanned the ground and the skies with his keen eyesight, while the motion-sensor - delicately held in his beak - scanned for any readings...
...
She can do this; she has to.
They were led inside without too many problems, as their presence was well-known - but once she was feet away from a certain cell, she stopped, hand moving near her heart. Dante stopped just behind her, glancing at Grier, who nodded and backed away considerably... Zhalia didn't move as he touched her shoulders, rubbing gently.
"Zhalia" he breathed, too quiet for anyone else to hear.
Just her name, yet saying much more; she touched his hands back, gathering strength.
"Anything, just say the word."
Most times, she'd feel initially uncertain about the warmth he could evoke from her- but this time, Zhalia chose to let it go through her body. "Thank you, Dante" she whispered, equally quiet in volume. "If I couldn't do this, I wouldn't be here. But..."
Still rubbing, he waited.
"I wouldn't mind a little push from you either."
Moving closer, Dante appeared in her peripheral vision, just enough that she could see his smile. "You got it" he assured softly, his hand moving from her shoulder to her back, and then gently-but-firmly nudging her forward; she went with the motion, crossing that small threshold.
Her first thought? Klaus had kept himself busy; the walls of his cell were written all over with sharpie markers, workings both mundane and magical. And also that, due in part to someone's kindness, he had a small supply of books and other such writings around- even now in fact he's browsing, looking almost the same as before and not having noticed her entry yet.
It'd be so easy to just walk away... heh.
"It's been a long time" Zhalia managed to breath-
-as soon as she said it, Klaus' head popped up, recognizing her as he reacted with shock. "Zhalia" he breathed, standing up in a bit of a hurry, his book falling to the floor. "You actually came to visit..."
Things weren't easy from the beginning, and already she's having trouble- Zhalia tried to put it aside. "I'm sorry it took me awhile, but- I think you can understand why" she said, one hand holding onto the bars.
"Yes... I can."
As he said that, Klaus came closer to the bars, but stayed feet away - no doubt because he could see that even now, this isn't easy for her, and he didn't want to disrupt that. Seconds passed as they regarded each other, Zhalia glancing away for a little, but his gaze never left hers... she couldn't quite place his expression...
"Before anything else, I want to know one thing" he said, almost a whisper. "How did it start? What turned you away from the Organization, Zhalia?"
Right to the heart of the matter; that was the biggest question worth asking her.
"...at first, it was nothing special" Zhalia whispered, closing her eyes; she could easily see it all. "Lok, Sophie, Dante; they were odd, but little they said or did got a reaction beneath my facade. Well, aside from a few moments, but overall they weren't anything to worry about- they were still potential enemies to me. What really changed things..."
She trailed off, but Klaus wasn't going anywhere.
"What truly started the change came after we'd stolen DeFoe's amulets" she continued, feeling flickers of warmth as she continued. "We were supposed to take them back to a Foundation safe house, and Dante entrusted that task to me without any hesitation."
Her foster father almost had a little smile. "An arrangement that worked out in your favor, one way or the other" he said, her slowly nodding. "After all, you kept Gar-Ghoul in your arsenal, among others."
"Yes, but there's more to it than that" Zhalia said, voice a little gentler, even as her gaze went sideways. "The thing is, Dante knew from the start about my status... or at least, he heavily suspected it" she continued, seeing Klaus' expression change. "Despite that, he chose me for that task, and I could see some signs that he seemed to suspect- something compelled me to ask if he's serious. I even said I was the least trustworthy member of his team, something he didn't deny at all. You know what Dante said to me?"
No vocal answer.
"'Despite what Sophie says, I know that at the end of the day, I can trust you'" she recited, in her best Dante voice - it felt strangely good, and she let out a breath. "No one had ever said that to me before, not even you, Klaus."
Klaus' expression didn't change, not being able to deny it. "Further proof that he is the best in the Foundation's ranks" he said, but there was no disgruntlement or similar. "It's no wonder he was able to turn you away from us."
"He didn't turn me away, not in the forceful way you're implying" Zhalia stated, knowing that deep in her heart. "Dante didn't pressure me, and never confronted me about my status even when he had good reason- all he did was offer his hand, trusting in me. I'm the one who took it, never having been shown such a thing before - I made that decision, Klaus. Not Dante."
She looked at him, all doubt gone now. "I've grown a lot since then too" Zhalia said, aiming to prove it. "I'm not the little girl you took off the streets, and nor am I the woman that infiltrated them or the Blood Spirals; I'm just me now. I'm part of the Foundation with this team, and I know I'll always have a place in it with them."
...
"Looks like Zhalia's lost her hesitation" Grier noted.
Dante slowly nodded, looking at the monitor- he could see both of them talking, but there was no sound. This was by design, as there wouldn't be any until Zhalia gave the signal, which they'd relay to the people on-duty. Internally, he was relieved that it's going well, as there wasn't any visible resentment on Klaus' part and Zhalia's handling herself as he knew she would. He could've tried to lip-read their conversation but refrained, knowing this is just between them... what she chooses to tell them about their conversation is her choice, and he knew Grier recognized that too.
At the tail end of these thoughts, someone entered the room and spoke to Grier in an undertone.
Dante raised an eyebrow when he noticed, but it took a sec for Grier to respond: "They believe they've found Araknos' ring in Huntik" he said quickly, before issuing instructions-
-for Dante's part, he felt this was gonna get interesting real fast.
A brief touch on his mind came then; Solwing flying at breakneck speed, Grier's motion sensor going wild, and his friend diving after something covered energy. Solwing was gaining quickly, but the black energy grew in a large burst... it disappeared just as he got close, frustration taking over...
Definitely Blood Spiral, disappearing out of the blue like that.
"Keep an eye out; there might be other surprises spying on us" Dante thought to Solwing, who got it despite said frustration. Sighing, feeling a little of that same frustration, he moved over to Grier then, watching for a bit as he talked to someone else before they stopped.
"Whatever it was that was watching us, got away" he said, a little grim. "It definitely seemed to be Blood Spiral."
"Not surprising; a number are still out there, picking and choosing when to try and get under our skins" Grier said, similarly affected. "We can't doubt that they're still working behind-the-scenes."
No doubts here; they're still playing some strategy - beyond this current frustration tactic - and they needed to find it before shutting it down.
Even as Grier finished, his tome blinked with an incoming message before Grier opened it up- without prompting, it made a 3D image of a ring. The two of them grew even more serious, for it was Araknos' ring, which had been confirmed on the other end of this report.
"...well, now that the Organization has Araknos' ring, what are they gonna do about it?" Dante asked, in what he hoped was a mild tone.
Grier raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't comment. "For the moment, keep a tight lid on him" he said, crossing his arms. "After having bonded to Simon for so long, I have no doubt he's gonna be difficult to bond with."
"Yeah" Dante agreed, if a little quiet. "Keeping things under control is one thing, but your sense of honor and morals wouldn't go over well with Araknos, to put it mildly."
The other man nodded. "And if he's too far gone, then we'll likely keep him sealed" Grier added. "We don't want more incidents like the Ring of Arc."
He paused, remembering that incident vividly, in no small part due to the vision that Titan gave him...
"Yeah" Dante said, a little short. "Neither of us would want that."
After a moment, Grier looked at him. "That aside, I'm also curious: how go the Foundation's efforts to search for new Nexus portals?"
Inwardly, while Dante was glad that he's changing the subject, he still needed a few seconds here-
-but 'luckily', Grier was a patient man.
"Well, there are parties out there looking, but not a whole lot; exploring Huntik itself is still far more appealing to many, and will be for some time" Dante answered, mild enough - beside him, the other man scoffed in agreement. "But even so, thus far all they've found are these semi-transparent 'echoes' of former portals. Or that's the assumption, at any rate."
"It's about the same with the Organization's efforts as well" Grier answered, before smirking a bit. "Still, I'll bet that the next legitimate finding will be the Organization's."
Hehe; still going on with their little rivalry, not that he minded at all.
"Finding it is a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence, Grier" Dante mentioned, a bit playful. "We found the first one, got lucky the second time, so who's to say the third won't be ours too?"
"It won't; I'll make sure we break that streak."
"Challenge accepted, Grier."
/
Harrison's residence
"Think we're ready?"
"As can be" Harrison told his brother, adjusting the dark sunglasses- they'd be needed to keep Medusa's Stonegaze at bay, if she tried again. Though honestly he's not sure why her ability is limited to sight, while King Basilisk is more general in that area - sure he knew about her legend and everything, but why is it different between them?
"Ready over here too!" Cherit assured, holding up his own sunglasses with one claw.
"Good" he noted, before tilting his head. "Would any sunglasses work, Den?"
"Kinda, I think: shiny surfaces block Medusa's Stonegaze, even these dark ones. Must be something connected to her legend."
Hmm... well guess it's true then, but otherwise it works like King Basilisk's Stonegaze; anyway, he nodded.
Den sighed, not looking forward to this yet committed (and the feeling's mutual over here)... his hand rose, amulet in hand. "Petrify, Medusa!"
From the waist down she was a serpent, as was her hair being a single snake, which hissed at him - the rest of her was human aside from the skin color, yet still behaved like a snake in movements. As soon as she appeared, Medusa looked around rapidly, hissing and clearly itching for a fight and/or blood, on 'all fours' as much as 'standing'... Harrison kept himself ready, but hoped it wouldn't come to anything.
Behind her, Den's brow darkened as he did what had to be done- he held out his left hand (amulet in his right), a small green glow there, signifying the attempted bond. Medusa didn't seem to notice, for she soon caught sight of Cherit, who made a sound and quickly rose up higher just in case. "Hey!" Harrison called, getting her attention- a little risky for him, but he didn't want her attention on Cherit. Even through these sunglasses, he had the feeling Medusa would turn him to stone easily, but he fought to keep those thoughts down.
"It's not working" Den said tightly.
"Maybe, maybe not" Harrison said carefully. "She's not attacking, yet she's had plenty of opportunity."
In response to that statement, Medusa's snake-hair hissed at him though she herself didn't deign to directly look at him, forked tongue snaking at the air.
"I think Harrison's right" Cherit said, flying up over Medusa's head- the snake-hair tried to snap at him, but he remained out-of-reach. "Medusa could easily jump into the air after me - and she still might - but she isn't!"
Den slowly grunted, his look dark, but he closed his eyes with focus... Harrison recognized that whatever Den's thinking of was even worse, regarding this hatred/cycle-of-revenge stuff. Quickly, he watched Medusa again as did Cherit while Den fought to use his invisible demons- but as the seconds passed, Medusa's behavior didn't change.
Not for the good, nor for the worse; just didn't change.
"What's going on?" he wondered, getting a little anxious - and now that he mentioned it, he's a little itchy on his left forearm, right on his mark-
Wait a minute...
Even as Den/Cherit focused on Medusa (unchanged), Harrison forced up his sleeve- there, for a small fraction of a second, his Spiral Mark had been visibly glowing a little. Now as he registered this, it sat there with it's normal Curselocked 'print', looking all the world like it's perfectly normal... but like hell it is.
Harrison looked over-
-and there, almost imperceptible, came a purple-colored haze leaking from under Den's right sleeve... hovering around Medusa's amulet.
"Den!"
Jerked from his concentration, Den's arm moved away, pretty much severing the purple haze and it disappeared. "What-What!?" he demanded, purely instinctive, even as Cherit righted himself with particular emphasis on re-orienting his dark sunglasses.
He was about to, until he noticed Den's lapse had turned Medusa on him-
-luckily Den noticed in time: "Return!"
With little choice in the matter, Medusa turned back into green light just before she reached his face - Harrison let out a breath, unnerved by those red snake-like eyes being so close, but his anger-adrenaline was still going.
"Den, there was something coming from your right arm" he said intently. "Check it!"
"My right-" Den started to question, before he instantly got what he meant and forced up his own sleeve - for a split-second, his own Spiral Mark could be seen with a purple outline, before it disappeared back into the Curselock'd 'print'.
"Gah, this damn-!" Den start to curse, grunting as he cut himself off.
Harrison agreed with the feeling, positively agitated now; Curselock was supposed to prevent their marks from being worked on, or at least the 'listening in on' angle! But now that he thought about it, whenever their marks had acted up they'd always done so with a red glow... purple was (almost) entirely new...
Looking between them, Cherit groaned as he dropped the dark sunglasses upon the nearby table. "I have a really bad feeling about this! Beyond the obvious factor!"
That spoke for them all.
"They were trying to do something; that much is obvious" Harrison said, still a little tight. "Cherit, can you check if anything's different?"
"I'll do my best!"
Still a bit steaming, Den nonetheless held out Medusa's amulet, Cherit settling on his arm for ease-of-access. Carefully, Cherit reached for the amulet before jerking back, several times but getting closer - Den almost looked like he wanted to tell him to get on with it; Harrison couldn't deny feeling a bit of the same. Then Cherit poked the tip of a claw onto the amulet's jewel, which didn't react, and still the other Titan continued to carefully explore... eventually he pulled back for good, ears down a bit. "From what I can tell, Medusa is the same as she was before; hostile to everything and resistant to bonding" he spoke, still worried. "Mindset, behavior patterns, everything really- nothing's changed as far as I can tell!"
"But you know something's up" Den spoke, briefly pinching the bridge of his nose. "We all do... it's infuriating not to know, especially with these Blood Spirals. If they have something going on, I wanna know about it; I hate their suckering us into doing things for them!"
Harrison paused slightly at the way Den said that, if only because it was rather intense; he thought it must be connected to his hatred of failure. He had to admit, that made sense of some of his brother's actions, and possibly why he'd been so determined chasing after him...
"Agreed" Harrison said out loud, his brother looking up. "I don't believe for a second that we stopped this in time, not yet. Do you?"
Den just shook his head; Cherit's expression alone showed he agreed.
"Then we'll just do what we can" he said, determined on that much. "We'll stuff the Blood Spiral's plans where the sun don't shine, when that time comes. But I don't think we can avoid being in the dark, not all the time-"
"I know" his brother said, quieter. "That's what I hate."
"Good thing you're not alone in it" Cherit said, settling on his shoulder; Den slowly nodded.
Harrison slowly returned the favor, resting a hand on Den's opposite shoulder. "Definitely not."
Unknown Location
"Blast it!"
Unperturbed by his enemies' recent discovery, The Betrayer took note of Shauna and Wind, the former of which was threatening to unleash her rage yet again. Across her Spiral Mark, one Black Scarabese Titan clung tightly, while the other one and two Golden Scarabese moved about her feet, glad to be back on the ground again after that impromptu flight-assist. "Dante Vale's cursed Solwing was lucky" she groused, with only Wind's touch on her shoulders keeping her in place. "I could not get our Titans any closer."
"It is of no consequence, Shauna; we know their motive was visiting Klaus" he stated, standing up. "Whether an idle visit, or recruiting him back into the 'new' Organization, it pales compared to my partial success."
That calmed her, comparatively speaking. "You've done it then, Betrayer?"
"Indeed; Medusa's dark impulses now contain what I wish, hidden deep. It is more vague and disconnected than I had planned, but in hindsight, it will work best as a breadcrumb for them to follow."
From Shauna, that got a deranged side-grin - from Wind came something more questioning, if a legitimate kind rather than needless; no need to chastise him for it.
"Yes, Wind, they know we're interfering, but they do not know how" The Betrayer answered, offhanded, but only because he'd turned his attention elsewhere. "They will try, and fail, to figure out what we're planning with their limited information, and then eventually follow the trail that I have set, because they wish to know more even if it might be a trap."
Shauna soon stepped forward, arms wide. "And after that, will we finally free our brothers and sisters in the Huntik prisons?" she asked with a dark eagerness. "They are flimsy and would fall under a surprise attack, even if it is not done from outside, Betrayer."
To that, he chuckled; an excellent guess. Incorrect, but excellent.
"As appealing as that would be, Shauna, they will be expecting some sort of breakout or rescue attempt" he continued, amused - even moreso when Shauna struggled to keep an even (enough) expression, until Wind came up next to her. "Even if they believe we don't care for them in that manner, they at least would expect that we'd try to get valuable soldiers back. But if their attention is directed elsewhere to other, more recent attacks... then their attention guarding our brothers and sisters would diminish."
Just like that, Shauna snapped back to normal, smirking with pleasure.
"And during this next attack, will we finally get to go all-out, Betrayer? Use these new dark powers you have trained us in?"
"Patience, Shauna" The Betrayer spoke, serious yet still amused. "This next attack will still require going easy on them, but the one after that will not. And for now, you two must continue to train in preparation for the former, while I prepare the other pieces of the plan."
Naturally, she wasn't pleased, but the promise of doing so the battle after next did mollify her, and soon her thoughts clearly strayed toward imagining the chaos, the destruction. Wind glanced at her for a small time, not moving even as the Scarabese Titans moved around this feet, before his gaze returned to him with another piercing question - unlike Shauna, he preferred knowing as much as possible.
All so that he can be as efficient as possible.
"The plan with Medusa is not to control her new owner, Wind" he answered, scoffing. "The 'team' will be on the lookout for that, and one of them would recognize this with ease. It is how it has always has been; goad the heroes into doing our work for us via misdirection. In this case, the tampering is not in the personality or the amulet... but the vision granted when a sufficient bond has been formed."
The Titan it would lead them to would not be a pleasant experience for them either. He doubted she would instill any lasting effects upon them a second time, but in doing so, they would seek a particular Titan that had been long-lost, that he has only recently found hints of again... one who, along with Demigorgan and Legion, actually did not hate the Nullifiers...
Not as important as the Red Comet of course, nor is technically central to the plan, but certainly a valuable power to make use of.
Wind digested this, then nodded; he did not ask any further questions.
"Now Wind, have your Titans continue the surveillance, where you can at least" The Betrayer spoke, pleased with this. "And then, you two of you will continue sparing while I continue my own preparations."
"Yes, Betrayer."
Even as Shauna said it, she disconnected the Black Scarabese from her mark, and shoved it against Wind's side- unfazed, he held said Titan in his palm, the Gold Scarabese moving up his leg toward it's brethren. "Your turn" she said, outwardly dismissive as she worked her own mark, yet he wasn't surprised.
As they continued, The Betrayer mused how well they were coming along with this spell, one of Nullifier origin, even if not all cared to use it; it could not be perfectly replicated for human use like the others, but it would serve them well. The visit to the space where the Nullifiers remained imprisoned had been quite beneficial, as was forcing it's prisoners to aid them - after all, they had no choice in the matter; they could not leave the space, for the seal was specifically made to contain all the separate frequencies that these Nullifiers could become.
But of course, that did not apply to him, nor Shauna and Wind; their bodies were human, and so they could enter and leave the dimension much like with Huntik, because the seal did not affect them.
A very convenient loophole, one he took great pleasure in circumventing for many reasons...
And at the same time, he could vaguely sense Void was nearly back to normal... the actions of the traitorous Rassimov had certainly cost the Nullifier scout a lot of energy, but soon he will return. But of course, he alone would not be sufficient for their plans; while Shauna and Wind prepared their training, he would break Murdock and the rest of their soldiers out of Huntik prison, as they would need some help to stir up enough chaos. On another note however, it was disappointing how the heroes had found Araknos first... without him, he could not use the three Legendary Titans of Mind, Body, and Spirit to invoke the Amulet of Will. Still, it is no matter; he will do his best to subvert that rule and corrupt Overlos, as a final insult to Casterwill.
It would not be easy, but he intended to see it done.
To be continued...
And much like Book Three, still on the start-off point but finally giving hints - and only such - of the more interesting stuff hehe.
Stay tuned.