To the Gates of Hell.
Stitch stared intently onward as he piloted the ship. The location Chaos had specified was not far away. Stitch glanced at the onboard clock, it had taken them one day to reach the location. It was a long journey, far from the safety of earth. Serenity sat quietly beside him, they had played no games of checkers this journey, instead, they had discussed battle plans. The cache of weapons Stitch had mentioned had been raided, and Stitch was armed to the teeth. Serenity had not chosen any of the weapons, preferring her own powers. Because Stitch had no projectile abilities, he settled with guns. During the trip, Stitch and Serenity had exchanged all information they had on their destination...
A final resort it was called, a final attempt to turn the tide of war. The Dark Hand was growing desperate, they were in need of an edge. Thus, they built the facility, a horrid place, where freak experiments were conducted, and weapons of global destruction were created. All this was hidden from the Republic's watchful eye, hidden in a lawless section of the galaxy, where few dared to traverse. Before the terrors of the facility could come to be, the Republic was notified, thanks to an insider in the Hand, and a large scale invasion was waged upon the facility. The battle lasted a long two weeks, neither side weakening, neither side submitting. Finally, in a desperate gamble, the Republic pulled their entire forces together, and went for one mighty invasion attempt. It was a success, and the Republic infiltrated the Dark Hand facility, and laid waste to it. This battle was never named, though the soldiers that fought there called it...Ragnarok. When a battle so large was waged, it seemed like the gods themselves raged in the skies...
The facility itself was huge, a large floating mass in space. Inside, hundreds upon hundreds of rooms, labs, caches, and stores and stores of scientific knowledge is stored. It is a facility of many things, weapons, deranged laboratories, knowledge, and fear. The stories that came from the facility, could never be seen as rational, or humane. Of course, the tellers of the tales, were insane from what they had witnessed in that horrid place. Now, one of the strongest creatures in the galaxy speeds towards it, unprepared for what he may face within it's dark hallways, fearful of what it still hides, yet knowing he must enter. The facility, named by the survivors of that horrible place, the facility called...
"The Devil's Sanctum, straight ahead," Stitch spoke silently, almost to himself.
Serenity rose in her seat, and gasped at the awesome sight.
A large floating station loomed ahead. It was shaped like a football of sorts, thin around the edges, and fat near the middle. The sheer size was astounding, it was longer than some earth cities. In the dark space, it seemed to glow a faint purple, with thousands of flickering lights dancing in windows and off landing bays. Near the tip of the facility, a lens stuck forward, ominously pointing to the skies. It was not an observatory lens, it was the greatest weapon ever conceived. Brought into this world to level entire planets, wipe them clean from the universe, brought to the universe was The Devil's Eye, a canon so powerful, it could destroy any planet within it's mighty range.
Stitch stared at the mighty canon hidden with the tip of the station, and shook his head saying, "We should hurry."
Stitch turned the ship and drove it towards the docking bays. On the descent, he watched the escape bay, taking not of all the escape pods still not launched. Stitch estimated there were over one hundred, each of the pods able to hold ten people.
Stitch pulled the ship close to the docking bay door, and the door began to grind open. It slithered silently across, the interior of the station becoming visible. Stitch watched, and glanced to Serenity, "Chaos is expecting us."
Serenity nodded, and Stitch brought the ship inside the hanger, landing it gently. Behind them, the massive doors closed with a loud boom. Stitch clicked on the computer panel, and a map of the facility appeared. The Devil's Sanctum information was known to all with military ties, thus Stitch was able to print out the map. The printer whirred in the large console, and a long stretch of paper slowly came out. Stitch took the paper, skimmed over it, and tucked it in his combat pants. On the way to the facility, Stitch and Serenity had changed into more suitable apparel...
Stitch wore a light leather armor type of clothing. Though it had the look of leather, it was tougher than most metals. This armor included a tight fitting black jacket, and black boots. His pants were dark combat pants, nothing more. Serenity chose a similar set of armor, though hers was white, Stitch had tailored her a suit from 6-2-5's uniform, for 6-2-5 never bothered with his armor, as he never did much fighting anyway.
Stitch rose from his seat, and walked from the cockpit, Serenity rose and followed. Stitch walked to the living room, where on the couch was a large trunk. Stitch grasped the padlock, and tore it off, he didn't have the time for procedure, nor the patience. Inside the case were numerous weapons, Stitch grabbed a pair of plasma sub-machine guns, and motioned for Serenity to grab some weapons.
Serenity shook her head, "I can manage on my own thanks."
Stitch nodded, he reached back inside and grabbed some more weapons. A photon shotgun, twin plasma pistols, a few grenades, an automatic rifle, and extra ammo for each. He strapped the smaller weapons around his waist and under his arms, loaded the grenades into his belt pack at his side near the sword, and slipped the shotgun into the holster he wore on his back, he grasped the rifle firmly in his hands. Stitch looked to Serenity, who was grinning, "Going to war?"
Stitch nodded, "Yep."
The two proceeded to the hatch, and Stitch took a deep breath, and released the holdings, whipping out the rifle as the door opened. The door lowered slowly, Stitch's temples pounded, sweat dribbled down his temple, his finger twitched on the trigger, nervously itching to fire on the first thing they saw. Serenity extended her blades, and stood tensely beside Stitch, a look of anticipation entered her eyes.
The door opened fully, and Stitch leapt out, and rolled on the ground, pointing the rifle around, observing the surroundings. All was still, there were no sentries, no civilians, no one. Stitch slowly lowered the gun, breathing heavily, he should've guessed the facility would be empty, Chaos would've seen to that...
Serenity walked up beside him, and put her hand carefully on his shoulder, "Calm down Stitch..."
A loud beep interrupted them, and a voice spoke on the intercom, a voice that reeked of pain, "Oh, don't look so tense Stitch! Not good for you..."
Stitch rose, and shouted, "WHERE ARE YOU!"
The voice chuckled, the voice of Chaos, "Tsk Tsk Stitch! Did you think I would greet you at the doorstep? Pah! You have some work to do, before you make it to me..."
Stitch checked around, still no one, Chaos spoke again, "What? Expecting someone? Oh you won't find any Dark Hand soldiers here, though, some of...my...recruits will great you."
Stitch shouted at the intercom, "THE GRIMS?"
Chaos chuckled, "Wouldn't you like that? No...no I have others to do my work as well. Come Stitch! I await you in the main hall on the twenty-seventh floor!"
The intercom cut out, and all was silent. Stitch pulled out the map he had printed off, and checked the lay out. There were many winding paths to the twenty-seventh floor. Stitch motioned to Serenity, "We'd better get going."
Serenity nodded, and they headed for the door, to begin the descent into Hell.
Lilo opened her eyes, her vision was fogged. She looked around, dazed as she was, she could tell that she was in a cell. Lilo tried to move her hands, but she found them bound with a thick rope. Lilo sat there a moment, not quite knowing where she was. The room around her was pitch black, only light coming through the three openings between the bars illuminated her room slightly...
All of a sudden, her memories came back to her. She remembered the place, that horrible place, filled with darkness and horrible pain. Lilo became frantic, she struggled at the ropes, on the verge of screaming, she did not want to go back to that place. She remembered, the horrible tortures...
In one nightmare, she had witnessed the deaths of her parents. One was bad enough, however, she was forced to watch them die over...and over...she could still hear their screams...
The second nightmare, she was in a small room. Slowly, ever so slowly, the walls began to close in on her. Air, space, and time ran out...as the walls closed in all the way...
The third nightmare, the third nightmare. As she thought of it, cold tears ran from her eyes. It was Stitch, he was drowning in a vat of water. Lilo had watched, her limbs unable to carry her, as he drowned. Lilo watched, as his eyes went cold, and he went limp...
Lilo screamed. She didn't want to be here, not in this dark place, not here, anywhere, she wanted to be home, to be with her family, to be with Stitch. She wanted his warm embrace, his loving touch, his kind smile. Lilo thought about Stitch and worried, 'Is he okay?'
The door to the cell creaked, and Lilo looked up to see a figure standing in the light. A figure that looked like Stitch, a figure with red eyes. He wore a black trench coat, and black pants with leather boots. Chaos smiled at Lilo, and walked slowly into the room. Lilo tried to back away, but found the chair stuck to the floor. She wiggled frantically in the chair trying to escape the dark experiment. Chaos laughed, "My dear, I merely came to see if you are comfortable."
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Chaos came closer to her, and fell to his knees in front of her. He reached up one of his hands and gingerly stroked her cheek, "My dear, that is no way to treat your host..."
Lilo threw her head around, trying to escape his touch, she cried, "Why are you doing this? What have we done to you?"
Chaos watched Lilo for a moment, his eyes seemed to glow. He grinned evilly, "You have done nothing, not you, nor your sister, nor your family. It is he that must pay, all of them must pay, every last one, all of them must die..."
Chaos chuckled, Lilo stared at him, and she said, "Why? What have they done to you?"
Chaos looked at her, then suddenly grasped his hands around her head, she squealed. His voice sounded angry, "You don't understand! None of you would! You say you were saving experiments, pah! Where were any of you! Where were you when I needed the saving from that HELL! I've seen you...living your lives...living along happily while I suffered! Merely the thought, of you worthless beings living happily while I, the greatest experiment created, was locked in that HELL!"
Lilo looked at him, a look of anger in her eyes, "So, you were jealous. All of this, because we didn't know, because we couldn't do anything."
Chaos reached back, and slapped Lilo across the face, leaving a large red mark. Lilo looked at him, tears in her eyes, "If we had known, we would've done something."
Chaos stood and angrily stalked to the door, he turned and looked at Lilo, "You will all do something for me. You will all sacrifice yourselves, for my future."
Lilo shouted back, "STITCH WILL COME! THEN YOU'LL BE SORRY!"
Chaos laughed, "My dear, he's already here, and that's why I must leave. I must entertain my guests..."
Chaos turned and left, slamming the door behind him. Lilo watched him go, her heart now filled with worry, "Stitch, please be careful..."
Lilo stared at the door, hoping that soon, her savior would come...