Both Pilerius and Maeve fell through the Portal, immediately finding themselves surrounded by cultists and half a dozen Supermutants.
"Get them!" The Senior of the cultists demanded, as soon as the confusion had passed. This prompted the Mutants to lunge for them, though the Blue Lizard slipped through their fingers, darting off with Maeve in his arms.
"No! We can't leave!" Maeve yelled.
"My Dad's still in there!"
"Let's get out alive first!" The Count insisted, not wanting to get captured as well. So long as they were free, there was a chance for them all to survive.
Even if they hadn't killed Denis and Geoth immediately, it was much safer for everyone involved, if they were at large. The alternative was removing any and all incentive in keeping the four of them alive, by turning themselves in.
"Their lives are in your hands, Lizard!" Degaul called after them, his voice carried by the acoustics of the cavern.
"The Old Man is dying!"
Good!
The Argonian didn't want to share his feelings, not wanting to jinx his good fortune. Besides, they might take Denis out, if they thought that both hostages were worthless to him.
"G-Get to the front! Brotherhood of Steel soldiers are waiting for us!" Maeve informed him, getting him to nod as he turned a corner, his speed barely impacted by the teenage girl wrapped around his torso. As far as Pilerius was concern, it was like wearing a very ineffective piece of heavy armour.
He was surprised how few monsters got in his way, in fact, his path wasn't remotely blocked after getting out of the chamber, where they kept the obelisk.
As he made his way down these hallways, he found himself succumbing to culture shock. No wonder Maeve looked at his world, like it was a fairy tale. It was to her! Just looking at this grey, dull corridor, cracked surfaces all around him like a hydration deprived throat.
This world was sick, like Quagmire, only worse as it was inhabitable. The people were trapped, walking on the surface of this world's corpse, having to make do with whatever they could cling to, that resembled life.
Such a retched existence...
To think that Dagon saw this as beautiful and that his followers wanted this nightmare for Tamriel. How could anyone want a single piece of this world to pollute Mundus? Why ruin a beautiful dream by fusing it with a nightmare?
After several bends, a drop, a jump and four backtracks, Pilerius found himself approaching the first floor. However, to his surprise, the base of the stairway was already occupied, to the point that it was standing room only.
The Blue Argonian found himself grinding to a halt, stiffening in the presence of several knights in some rather bulky armour. They had a black visor, protecting their eyes, along with some sort of grid-like attachment over their mouths. Presumably to make breathing easier.
They had a plethora of rubber tubes connecting their faces to the back of their necks... again, to help with breathing?
Whatever the cost of these suits, one could not deny that these guys looked like a force to be reckoned with. Men of Steel, the likes of which could deflect any sword, arrow or even bullets. No wonder this world was reduced to ruin, if Godhood was made openly accessible.
"What the hell is that!?" One of the Knights called out, brandishing some sort of blasting stick, pointed straight at the Argonian's chest. However, he quickly observed that Maeve was clinging to said chest.
"What... Is that a kid!?" The Knight added, prompting his comrade to push his gun down, presumably to prevent an accident.
"It's Callaghan's kid!" She pointed out, turning straight back to the interloper, with a keen glare.
"Who... What are you!?"
Charming...
"I am Count Pilerius of Kvatch." The Argonian lowered Maeve to her feet, whilst talking, not wanting to look like he was using her as a shield.
"I have been assisting Paladin Callaghan, with closing the link between your world and mine but a complication arose and they were taken prisoner. My men were slaughtered and the girl and I barely made it out with our lives."
"They're... Prisoners? Shit! We don't have much time, if we're going to save them!" The Knight seemed more than a little shaken by this revelation, mostly because she knew what became of Supermutant prisoners. They were usually torn apart, eaten or dipped. Pilerius would have guessed the first two but wasn't really aware of how the transformation process worked.
"Can you tell us anything useful about the other side? Your world, I'm assuming?"
"He's a... Lizard..." One of the slower Knights at the back observed, getting Pilerius to roll his eyes.
"You won't get sick or anything, if that's what you're worried about. Denis and Maeve seem fine. In fact, my world's more likely better for you than your own.
The ruins are full of mutants but that shouldn't stop you, their forces will likely be scattered by now. So, we can take them by surprise. Just got to wipe the ones on this side out, which won't be easy but it's more than doable."
"Anything we should know about the cult's leader?" The Knight asked, stepping up to him.
"Degaul? He's a powerful mage, from what I understand. Has a massive ego and a basket full of issues. Just don't underestimate him, I'm sure you can take him out."
"Great... Like we don't deal with enough of that, here in DC." The Brotherhood Knight sighed, shaking her head.
"I see that you're like us, in a much more traditional way. A medieval knight?"
"A Crusader, technically but yes, I've been knighted a few times as well. My highest rank is champion of the realm though but the Rank that I value the most is Count. It's... The first rank I've held that has any serious responsibility."
Well, the first one he'd openly admit to being. Being 'listener of the Dark Brotherhood' wasn't something he should brag about.
"Ah... Taking the politician's route? In our world, you'd likely be an Elder from the sounds of it." The Knight admitted.
"I'm Knight Tegan of Lyon's Pride. Though the Lyons are gone, their pride is eternal."
"Charmed." Pilerius sighed, wondering what he'd said that sounded like 'tell me your name, rank and affiliation.'
"Hmm... I think we'll need some sort of re-enforcements. You guys are going to last longer but could get massacred, just as easily." Maeve pointed out.
"Waiting for too long is going to endanger your Father as well as reality itself, I'm afraid that we have no choice but to go back in and try to fix this ourselves. I've asked for re-enforcements but who knows when the Elder is going to get over himself, long enough to send said re-enforcements.
No, we can only truly depend on ourselves."
Wasn't that always the case? At least, that's what Pilerius reckoned.
"Make peace with your Gods, Brothers and Sisters of Steel." The Argonian said, gesturing back.
"For we're about to ruffle the feathers of their enemies."
Both Denis and Geoth remained in their corner, one tending to the other's wound. They only had the glow of a crystal for light, which was hardly adequate, given that Denis would be in an operating theatre, in an ideal situation.
Mind you, in an ideal situation, he wouldn't be operating on an old man at all.
Their captors watched with interest, mostly Degaul, what observed the Regulator work.
"Demon elf not make sense." Elaine grunted, stomping up behind him.
"He have healing hands? Why make stupid human patch him up with chems and knitting!?"
Degaul sighed, rolling his eyes as Elaine gave some of the game away.
"Well, for a start, I don't care to save the Dunmer's life and the most pressing thing is keeping that mad vagabond occupied, so that he doesn't start using that brain of his to plot against us."
"Me no like this sneaky stuff! Elaine prefer to kill enemies, like Warrior! Not play with their mind, like weakling!"
Degaul found himself sighing, tempted to point out that he wasn't a warrior but a mage. He was also a master of subterfuge not 'smashing.'
"We each have our strengths, Elaine... Otherwise, there would but little to no point in being different."
"Elaine no want different, everyone being Supermutant would be best!"
"We have cultures like yours, they seldom do well for themselves out here."
"Supermutants do better, Supermutants show them. Show all of you."
"I hope you do, it's something I look forward to." Degaul sighed, eyeing Denis' work. It was at this point that he heard a clatter and turned back, somewhat startled.
That didn't sound right... It wasn't clumsy enough for a Supermutant's big feet or hands, scraping around the place. It was as subtle as a pebble, dancing along stone.
Needless to say, Degaul found himself antsy at this and snapped his fingers, pointing at the direction of the disturbance.
Denis had no idea what it could be but he was thankful that he got a few moments of quiet, to work on the older Dunmeri Warrior. It wasn't easy performing any kind of medical procedure with medieval equipment, on a stone floor. Thankfully, he'd brought his own gear but it still was a difficult procedure.
"Alright... Almost ready for the stim..."
As he mumbled to his barely conscious patient, he heard the screams of enraged Supermutants, followed by a few fiery explosions, that lit up the deep of the corridors and made one hell of a satisfying noise.
"Mrgh! My Brothers! See what's happening!"
The Cultists were quite compliant as they shuffled away, doing their best to ignore the fact that Degaul was a few steps away from Hyperventilating.
"What was noise?" Elaine asked, looking to the Dunmer, as if he was hiding the answers from her. The idea that he was equally baffled hadn't occurred to her.
"That? Sounds to me like the Count had something up his sleeve."
The Mage was somewhat impressed by this reserved plan, assuming it was one. For all he knew, it could be something less impressive.
"Sounds like another mage..."
"Argh!" Elaine snapped, pointing at the corridor.
"Elaine SICK of magic tricks! Make them disappear, never reappear!"
As the mutants moved out, they were surprised by the oncoming debris. They were bombarded with blood spatter; several severed limbs and one was hit square in the face with a Supermutant's torso.
The Supermutants roared in frustration at the mess, being thrown all over them, promptly swiping it all off as quickly as possible before readying themselves for another attack.
In the darkness of the tunnel ahead, sparks danced along the floor. The Mutants watched in awe at the tiny flashes, finding it near impossible to predict where each one was. Right up until they stopped entirely.
For the brief moment they had, they shimmied in, hoping to investigate but quickly finding the point of a fragmented sword emerging from the shadows. The blade flew in between a mutant's eyes, burrowing its way deep into his skull, almost emerging on the other side.
The mutant gasped as his head was thrown back before feeling a great deal of force pulling him forward. He fell, face first, onto the stone floor, smashing what was left of his face into it.
"AAAAAARGGGGGGGGGH!" One of the Muties roared, raising his hunting rifle and blasting off a round. A green glow emitted from the dark, stopping said round in its tracks before sending it backwards, shattering it into several shards before sending it flying back, into the mutant's face. The Snakesword, now free of its previous hook, slashed across his chest, bursting the capillaries open and sending the beast spinning to the ground.
Rachael leapt out of the dark and blasted with several icicles, made tangible by a red energy and proceeded to blast two approaching mutants in the face. She formed her red whip in her hand, along with her snakesword and lashed at their legs, slicing them clean in half, above the knee and dropping the beasts to the floor.
The screams of their dying brothers didn't seem to put off the mutants, not one bit. In fact, they all quickly approached, weapons at the ready. By now, they were starting to blast at Rachael with bullets, though she was incredibly quick at deflecting the .308 rounds with her spinning whips, either that or flat out vaporizing them with the red energy.
"LET ME SHOOT YOU! HUMAN!" One of the Mutants yelled, obviously losing his marbles over this woman's ability to just ignore bullets.
"YYYYYAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGH!"
Rachael looked around and saw a nailboard wielding madmutant running straight for her. She wouldn't have been able to stop him from hitting her, without giving up on her defence against the bullets.
At that point, a gunshot fired across the room, blowing the beast's head off and fragmenting it into tiny pieces of blood, muscle, brain and skull. What remained of the creature's head went up into the air and rained back down.
Rachael could see the shooter, on the far side of the room... Brown coat, made of what appeared to be leather, with a large... glowing bracelet on his wrist. He seemed to be brandishing one of those blasting sticks she'd seen, kicking about the place. From the looks of it, he'd wrestled it from one of those mutants, who were supposed to be guarding him and the downed Dark Elf at his feet.
"Elaine! Get some control!" Degaul called out, backing into the portal.
"Bah! Get away! GET AWAY!" She roared in frustration, pushing her idiot comrades aside as she reached over to Rachael. Though the Nemer tried to react, she found herself unable to stop a third assailant. She was quickly grabbed in a hand, the size of her face and thrown across the room.
She was fortunate to have landed on her side, breaking into a roll-on impact. Her hip was bruised, along with her arms and shoulders but at least nothing was broken or... worse...
Still hurt like hell though.
"Can you heal the Samurai?" Denis asked, gesturing to an elderly Dunmer.
"We'll need him!"
As he said this, Elaine charged at the Regulator, with a mad shriek, bringing down her Daedric Warhammer over his head. Denis was quick enough to throw himself out of the way, scrambling to his feet and firing off from the hip. The bullet hit her pelvis, prompting her to roar in frustration as she lunged forward, taking another swing.
Her fellow mutants dared not shoot, in case they hit her and pissed her off. It was unlikely that any of them would die in any way deemed nice were they to do this...
Rachael glanced down to the fallen warrior, nodding and dropping down by his side. She observed that the 'vagabond' had already done his own brand of healing. Highly inefficient, in comparison to her magic.
Within seconds, she was able to revive Geoth fully, undoing all damage from the bullet wound.
Needless to say, she hadn't quite seen injuries like his before. It was like an arrow or bolt wound but without the steel or wooden extremity jutting out.
Geoth's eyes shot open as soon as she was done, glaring straight at her before sitting up.
"Thank you."
"Appreciated but we don't have time." Rachael pointed out as she saw the 'Vagabond' backing up.
"Paladin! Where do we go?"
"Nowhere. The tunnels will be full of these things, so we'll have to make a stand!" Denis explained, reloading as Elaine backed off, doing her best to shake off the multiple gunshot wounds, like a few hard punches in a lengthy boxing match.
"Fortunately, I've had some training in that regard. The kind that separates a gifted killer into a rock-hard bastard."
"As do I." Geoth nodded, noticing the weapon stockpile by the portal.
By now, Elaine was ready to rush them again, her mutants firing on them with their 'blasting sticks.'
"We can take her... She looks tough but she won't stand against the three of us!" Denis pointed out, firing off another shot.
"Four of us!" Rachael corrected him, blowing into her fingers, like a whistle and sending the echo across the room.
This prompted some heavy footprints to sound from behind the brutes, covering Elaine. They looked around in confusion as Ogrel charged out, roaring in pure, unadulterated rage. Ogrel seemed to be sporting some red warpaint around his body and the crest of County Kvatch, crudely painted on his chest, in a white diamond.
The paint was quickly mixed with the blood of his enemies, as he whacked one of them in the face with his ebony war hammer. Their blood spurted in every direction possible as they spun to the ground.
"You made me! Suffer for your arrogance!" Ogrel yelled, as he proceeded to beat on the beasts, with little restraint or remorse for his former comrades as they quickly became little more than paste on the floor.
Elaine cared about none of this, wanting to kill the annoying one, in the leather coat. She rushed straight ahead, hammer at the ready as she swung it at Denis' head. Though Denis ducked it, he found that the hammer was stopped, just in front of him as Rachael erected a red barrier, using her ring magic.
Denis took this as an opportunity to fire upwards, just as the barrier went down, hitting Elaine square in the face and leaving a large dent in her forehead.
"ARGGGH!" She roared, stumbling backwards and clutching her brow. At this point, Rachael furiously whipped at her, with her energy whip and snakesword, knocking off a significant amount of flesh as she did so but finding that it didn't prove that effective as a means of disabling the creature.
In fact... she just seemed to be getting pissed off from the pain.
As Rachael whipped upwards, Elaine broke into a charge, shoulder barging Rachael and knocking her onto her back. The Mutant quickly leapt up into the air, ready to bring her hammer down on the young mage and shatter her under it.
However, the hammer was met with Geoth's Katana, that blocked the attack, with ease. Though the Elder's arms faltered, it kept the hammer at bay.
Elaine attempted to swing her arms at Geoth, hoping to knock the old fool's head off, with one fell strike but she was disappointed to find that his firm grip got in her way.
Rachael took this as an opportunity to blast Elaine square in the chest, with as big an energy blast as she could muster, sending the Mutant flying backwards, landing with a thud on her back.
"Denis!" Geoth called out, tossing the Regulator his Katana. Denis was quick to catch it, preferring it to these ineffective hunting rifles and proceeded to give Elaine's head an almighty vertical chop. The immensely powerful alien metal found no resistance in the Mutant's flesh, muscle or bone. Within the blink of an eye, her head had been successfully severed from her shoulders.
The Regulator stared down at Elaine's remains as a puddle of blood leaked from them, swirling around his feet.
It looked like one of the two leaders was finally taken care of.
Degaul slipped through the portal, taking a deep breath as he readied himself for the eventuality of them following him. He had destruction spells, ready in each hand as he glanced back.
He immediately found himself stuck between the portal full of conflict and an approaching company of Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, led by the Hero of Kvatch.
In truth, 'which one was worse?' was a difficult question at this point.
"Degaul!?" Pilerius snapped at him, sword at the ready. The Brotherhood of Steel Soldiers also raised their weapons in anticipation of him doing something stupid.
"Damnation." The Dunmer muttered, under his breath as he backed up against the portal.
"I wouldn't go through there, were I you. It's going to be a bloodbath!"
"My Dad's in there, you Callous Prick!" Maeve countered, raising her gun at him.
"Then I hope you've got a strong stomach. The last thing that I saw? Elaine was going right for him... That 'woman' would take an entire armoury of bullets before they even start to bother her!"
"If you think a lone mutant can kill my Dad, then you're dumber than you look. Get outta the way."
"Fine! Fine... I do hope that you can figure out what remains are his and wha..." Pilerius grew tired of this idiot's prattle and blasted him with the enemies explode spell. He was hit with such force that he flew backwards, straight into the portal.
"C'mon! We still might be able to save them!" The Argonian suggested.
Denis, Rachael, Geoth and even Ogrel noticed the Dunmer fly through the portal, skidding along the ground in a ball as he writhed in agony, his chest sizzling as the spell's flames continued to burn through his flesh.
He was fortunate that he wasn't another race, his chest was blistered but it would've been considerably worse, without his fire resistance...
"Ha... My world spit you out?" Denis observed as several figures shimmered through the portal, the first two being Pilerius and Maeve.
Denis' daughter showed little to no restraint as she emerged, running straight ahead and into her Father's arms. She was relieved to see that the demon-looking man had lied.
The Brothers of Steel were somewhat baffled to see a docile supermutant but none of them seemed ready to fire on Ogrel, much to Rachael's relief.
"What... Is this place?" The Captain of the Pride asked, glancing around.
"It looks... Ancient!"
"Never mind that. We're going to need your help in clearing this ruin out." Denis explained.
"The Supermutants have a high enough number to invade nearby settlements and the people will have no clue on how to stop them.
Not only that but their weapons need to be seized and sent back to our own world and vice versa. The moment that this thing ends, we can't have any leftover tech, polluting either world. The damage would be... catastrophic."
If there was one thing the Brotherhood knew about technology, it was how quickly destabilization occurred, once a caveman was given a gatling laser. The people of this realm were in their medieval period, meaning that giving them firearms would seriously endanger their culture, environment and the lives of civilians everywhere.
"Agreed! What about the mutant over there, does he come back with us?"
"Me stay with Sky Lady!" Ogrel protested.
"I... Don't think you should." Rachael observed.
"The others are right; you aren't supposed to be here. Your weapons aren't, nor is your armour. You're a man-made creature, from another dimension."
"Me no weapon or armour though. Me give those away, me get better ones here! Ogrel want stay with Sky Lady!"
"Of course he does..." Denis observed, with a sigh.
"He doesn't know anyone or anything else... So he's... well, afraid to lose the one thing he has."
"Ogrel know no fear!" The creature countered.
"Ogrel just no like!"
At that point, Degaul started coughing, rolling onto his side and making everyone ready their weapons.
"Stay still, scumbag!" The Pride Leader snapped at him, laser weapon at the ready.
"Ogrel smash tampon man now?" The Mutant asked as Degaul shakily rose to his feet but Denis raised his hand.
"Degaul... Was it? Look... You've lost. The only thing that you can do is give up at this point, in which case I'll gladly take responsibility for your safety." Denis assured him.
"Please... Look around you, you're outmatched here. Just give..."
"Oh do shut up." The Dark Elf sighed, casting a healing spell over himself.
"Did you really think that a child's spell is enough to stop me? No... In fact, this scenario is just... perfect!"
As he spoke, the ruin began to tremor and he slowly began to levitate off of the ground. Brotherhood soldiers began shooting on him but their lasers dispersed before could even reach him.
"My God offered me power for my service! What do your impotent Gods have!?"
"Ogrel definitely smash tampon man!" The Mutant was quick to drive his hammer into the floating Dark Elf's stomach, hoping to cut him off. However, both Pilerius and Rachael knew the most likely outcome and dreaded it.
"NO!"
With a flash, everyone in the room was sent flying backwards, landing with a thud on the ground and entering into an intense roll as they went. They all came to a stop as the ground around them began to fracture and electrical energy began to pulse all around the Nihilistic Mage.
"Your world is perfect, yet you hide inside your metal suits!" Degaul's voice was somewhat distorted at this point, malfested by the power that he struggled to contain.
Without warning he blasted at the Pride soldiers, sending out a chain reaction, similar to a pulse grenade and surging their suits. All five eight of them screamed as the lightning surged through them, doing almost as much damage to them as it did their suits. This wasn't the deadliest thing, the worst part was their suits malfunctioned, electrocuting them and cooking them like a microwave.
Within seconds they all dropped to the ground, most of them dead, the rest weren't far off...
"Everyone! Ready your weapons!" Denis warned as he snatched his revolver and larger weapons up, off of the floor. He threw Pilerius, Maeve and Geoth their weapons in kind.
"This shit's about to get a whole lot worse before it gets better!"
"My Mutants! Protect me!" Degaul's voice was carried by the tunnel but also by now booming dominance of it.
It wasn't just the mutants, who would protect him. He also cast a purple spell, that cast over the whole room, like a wave, causing the fallen to sit upright or at least get up in some manner.
"Jesus!" Denis winced, having never seen a corpse just... get back up before.
He observed the Brotherhood of Steel Knights rise from their deathly slumber, minus the captain and one other. They groaned an incomprehensive babble into their speaker grills, slurred and seemingly sluggish as their brain had been reduced to a sluggish shell of what it was formerly capable of.
"Back up!" Denis warned, prompting Pilerius, Rachael and Geoth to comply, weapons at the ready.
"Degaul should be vulnerable again now!" Rachael warned them.
"That deflection effect would require too much power to be used for this long!"
"Thanks for the heads up!" Denis called, taking a shot at Degaul's head but finding that his bullet dissolved before it reached, much like the laser blasts.
"That effect? I... Am not sure of." Rachael admitted, prompting Denis to sigh.
"We go in close! Hand to hand!" He warned, noticing the approaching Brothers of Steel.
Maeve backed up as Elaine's headless body sat up, her head snarling at the young girl, snapping her teeth.
"Dad! Even this one is getting back up!" Maeve warned, drawing her gun and aiming at its head.
"If we do enough damage to their bodies, they'll go back to being dead!" Geoth clarified.
"Maeve, Ogrel and I can see to that!"
"Go! Keep her safe!" Denis insisted, readying his Terrible Shotgun.
"The rest of you? I have a plan..."
Geoth approached Maeve and drove his sword down, into Elain's head, prompting Maeve to empty her gun into the zombie's body.
"ARGGHH! I KILL YOU! STAY DEAD!" Ogrel yelled in frustration, smashing the heads of his resurrected kin.
"That one mutant, the one that came with the young woman? He's to help us repel the zombies and the other mutants." Geoth informed her.
"How do we fight a horde of mutants in this mess!?" Maeve gasped, finding herself exasperated.
"We cut them down as soon as they enter! Go!" Geoth snapped, grabbing the girl's hand and pulling her over to the doorway.
"I'll cut down any you miss! Shoot as many as you can!"
"I... I'll try!" Maeve assured him, taking a deep breath and propping up a hunting rifle. Her finger slithered around the trigger as she saw the angry blurs move towards her.
Pilerius gestured for the zombie Knights to follow him, ready to throw himself aside as soon as they were close enough to Degaul. His concern grew for Rachael as she threw everything, she had at the Dunmer to keep them safe but he knew that she could handle herself.
She was in her own league, as far as magic went. Up there with Agatha and Arik... A level he'd only ever dream about reaching.
Rachael attempted to bombard him with red energy but found that it was quickly overloaded by Degaul's defences. She found this beyond frustrating but didn't want to show it yet.
"Don't worry, I'll make it quick!" Degaul assured her, practically ignoring her bombardment of energy-based attacks.
"For you... Probably not for the little girl or the old man!"
"You don't get it yet but you've signed your death warrant, facing us!" Rachael assured him.
Pilerius was finally in position, he ignored the creature's stumbles and moved as soon as it was within range. He avoided its grasp entirely, prompting Denis to run up behind them and fire a shotgun blast into the back one's fusion core, drawing his revolver to take out the other two before backing up, drumming shotgun shells into them as he moved away.
"The Master, Dagon, Jagar Tharn, those mutants and you? You keep coming at us and we stop you every damn time!" Rachael continued as the power suits began bleeping, whirring under a siren sound.
"What!? What is that sound!?" Degaul demanded.
"Ah. That's just the sound of me being right."
The Nemer quickly conjured up an energy shield, a tall box to contain herself in and shield herself from the blast. Degaul, on the other hand, wasn't fortunate enough to have this ability and while his current abilities could deflect or stop projectiles, they couldn't handle something as strong as a nuclear explosion.
Never mind several!
Within the blink of an eye, the room lit up white as all eight fusion cores detonated. Degaul found himself immediately atomized in the blast as Pilerius and Denis were thrown aside by it. The former flew out, into the corridor and the latter hit a nearby wall.
Rachael, on the other hand, waited for the explosion to end before cutting her shield. By the time that the smoke had cleared, she stood alone, clothes blowing in the created breeze from the devastating explosion as her figure could finally be made out through the parting smoke.
She observed Denis, on the far side of the room, groaning as he moved forward, curling up into a ball. She wouldn't be surprised if several of his bones had been broken from the impact... He was lucky that he wasn't any closer to the blast or she might not even be able to treat his condition.
Denis was right about one thing, during his quick summary of the plan... moving away was definitely a needed step for these guys.
Maeve jumped out of her skin as she heard the explosion, quickly turning back to the inner sanctum and breaking ranks. Concern for her father, obviously outweighing her desire to do her duty.
"Dad!?"
"Maeve!" Geoth found himself snapping, cutting down a Supermutant and turning his attentions back to her, she was already in the room, rushing over to her Father.
"He's alive! He'll live!" Rachael insisted, though Maeve wasn't exactly listening as she fell to her knees and took his hand.
"Dad!?"
"Child, listen to me! He'll be fine!"
"D-Did you do the... glowy thing?" The Vault Dweller found herself asking, wiggling her fingers to 'elaborate.'
"Erm... Yes? I've cast healing spells on him, he'll be fine." The Nemer insisted, rising to her feet.
"Young lady!?" Geoth called, across the room.
"I require your assistance!"
Rachael found herself sighing, rising to her feet as she left Denis to his Daughter's bedside manner. She just hoped that it would suffice. Maeve gave her a nod of thanks as she turned her attentions back to Denis, whose eyes slowly opened.
"We'll erm..." He added a small cough.
"Probably not tell Morgan about this one, eh?" The Regulator chuckled, lightly.
"She'd erm... Probably kick my ass, if she found out, I nearly got killed."
"Pfft... You're assuming that I won't?" Maeve frowned before giving him a hug.
Rachael slid into position, casting several healing spells on Pilerius. His helmet had been removed by his former mentor as he was checked for visible injuries.
In truth, he was very similar to how he was, when they last met. Five years wasn't as long as most would think, especially when it came to lives like theirs.
The Argonian looked somewhat dashing in his black, gold plated armour of the Champion. He looked like a true warrior now, instead of the slapdash sellsword that she previously knew him as. Both she and Arik observed his progress, since Agatha's expedition, into Oblivion and he had grown so much.
They all had, really...
"Heh..." Pilerius winced, opening up his eyes as soon as he heard her healing magic.
"Haven't seen either of you in years... Yet, here you both are, right when I needed you."
He found himself struggling to sit up but did so anyway, he'd taken worse beatings... though he struggled to remember when.
"Careful! It's rude to go dying on a lady, while she heals you, Champion." Rachael pointed out, watching as the damage to flesh and bone was swiftly reversed.
"Heh... I'd never dream of it." Pilerius sighed, with a faint chuckle. This prompted Geoth to scoff, he rose to his feet and wandered off.
"Whose the old fellah?" Rachael found herself asking, in a hushed whisper, getting Pilerius to furrow his brow as he leant up against the nearest wall.
"He's... My Mentor. The one I told you about, after Oblivion..."
"The one you... Killed?" Rachael asked, glancing over her shoulder.
"What's he doing here?"
"Looking for... Me apparently." Pilerius admitted.
"Or maybe he was being honest, when he said he'd come to visit Jiub's grave. I hear the two of them were close."
The Argonian shook his head, pulling himself upward on shaky legs. Rachael tried to support him but he gently dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
"How'd you even... Find me?"
"By chance really. I met one of those... Supermutants, out in the wilderness. Ogrel. He couldn't remember who or what he was, so I offered him a chance to find out, in Kvatch. Then I saw what happened and your one armed man sent me here."
"Heh..." Pilerius chuckled, faintly as he picked up his helmet.
"Freakish."
"Bah!" Ogrel yelled, from across the room, tossing a Supermutant's severed head aside. He'd re-entered after slaughtering the last of the approaching force.
"Ogrel never thought say this but me bored of fighting!"
"You held them off, single handed?" Geoth pointed out, finding himself interested.
"That's impressive."
"Me fought tougher before, mutants predictable. Weird Dog, not so!" Ogrel shrugged.
"I suppose you have a point, things with lower cognitive function tend to prove a bigger challenge. Such as cliffracers." Geoth observed, with a shrug.
"So... Do you wish to stay in our realm?"
"Yes! With Sky Lady!"
"Well..." Geoth began, with some consideration.
"I'm not sure you could follow her everywhere but I do know a place that would suit you down to the ground. Several actually."
"Ogrel tell idiot elves that he handsome orc, they believe him!"
Geoth shrugged, not seeing that to be too much of a stretch, Imperials, Altmer and Dunmer were all so full of themselves that their perceptions were built entirely on assumptions.
"I'll gladly back your case then."
"Alright!" Denis called out, stumbling forward as his arm draped over Maeve, who supported his weight.
"We've got to get all anachronistic technology through the portal or destroyed!"
"Does this include Ogrel?" Geoth asked, approaching him.
"He wishes to stay and I'm sure we could fit him in, with our connections."
"I'd give him citizenship in Kvatch, so long as he behaves himself." Pilerius offered, something that Rachael seemingly appreciated.
"If Rachael and Geoth believe him to be trustworthy, I won't doubt their judgement."
"You understand that he'll grow, right? Become a giant, over the next few decades and be... Well, huge right?" Denis pointed out.
"It's... Not much of a risk but I can't help but feel as if it still is one."
"Ogrel belong here! This place good for fighting! Lots of places for Ogrel to fit in!"
"He's not exactly wrong." Maeve agreed, glancing up to her Father.
"A Supermutant in a world of swords and chivalry? I imagine him doing quite well for himself."
"Yeah... I'm sure he will, though I worry at the expense." Denis admitted, with a sigh.
"Well, this is your world... On your own heads be it and such." Denis sighed, glancing back to the portal.
"We need to get these Brotherhood Knights through the portal, Rachael's healing should've saved the Captain and any others who were salvageable... Regardless, they're encased in some very powerful armour, the technology of which is far too dangerous for this world."
"I'll get a clean-up crew of my best men, retrieve any and all items from your world." Pilerius informed him, thinking on it.
"I'll only bring people that I trust."
"Yeah, nobody with sticky fingers or an interest in the impossible. As much as I usually admire that sort of thing, this world is currently hanging in a delicate balance."
"Of course. The rest of you need to search these ruins for any and all items that don't belong." Pilerius instructed.
"Return them to this room, don't take anything! If you can't carry it, make a note of it and we can destroy it later. Same goes for Denis on his side of the portal."
"Of course, Maeve can head through and take a look, with Rachael. She might be able to identify stuff that we can't!"
"Alright! Meet back here, in an hour!" Geoth declared.
"Move out!"
It was a very quick hour, one of frantic looking, lifting and discarding a lot of items. After arranging a lot of items into piles and throwing them back to their native sides of the portal, both parties were ready to part company.
They stood to attention, at the heart of the 'inner sanctum' or what was left of it. Surrounded by guards, like a rundown ceremony as the Count himself stood at the heart of it, with the otherworldly Regulator standing awkwardly before him, feeling like he was shrinking as the many eyes were drawn to him and his daughter.
"Paladin Denis Callaghan of..."
"Washington DC." Denis whispered, quickly.
"Was-Washington DC. I, Count Pilerius of Kvatch formally thank you for aiding in the city's defence and fending off the alien threat." The Blue Argonian seemed to have a voice for this and a demeanour as well, he had a point that he was born for this kind of thing.
"For your many services to the county, we present to you a Kvatch Guard tunic, blade and shield as well as the title of 'Hero of Kvatch.' A title I bestow on those who have defended this City as well as I did, during the Oblivion Crisis."
"Oh, that's... Incredibly kind of you but..." Denis began, wincing as the armour, helmet, sword and shield were offered.
"It's just... We can't really accept."
"I am sure that it won't jeopardize the future of your world, Denis." Pilerius pointed out, not seeing how 'primitive' technology could do so.
"No!" Denis countered, with a bit of a chuckle.
"It's not that! Not that at all... I just... Haven't got anything to offer in return!"
"Of course not. You need not do such a thing as this is me, returning your favour. I wasn't expecting anything in return."
"Oh..." Denis began, scratching his beard.
"Then by all means... Thank you. I'll treasure it, always."
"We also had a blade crafted for young Maeve here, a short sword based on one that I wielded, in my youth. It is as light and thin as a cane but as sharp and deadly as a full rapier."
"I... Thank you!" Maeve found herself gasping as she was given the Ebony Blade in question, she especially liked the colour of the metal.
She found herself at a loss for words, something that many would consider a true achievement.
"Oh! Actually!" Denis admitted, reaching into his pocket of his coat and drawing an 8 ball from his pocket.
"Here, a... memento that brings good fortune. Doubt it'll change the world either." Denis shrugged.
Pilerius took the thing, looking a little puzzled at the black sphere, with a white iris at its core and a number '8' painted on it. It was... odd, like a pearl that had no shine to it.
"A guy gave it to me for saving his life, guess I owe it to pass it onto the one who saved mine." Denis admitted, with a shrug.
"That and I'm sure he'll approve of me giving it to a... Blue Lizard 'King' in another dimension. Assuming he'd believe that."
"You know..." Pilerius began, folding his hand around the eight ball.
"Somehow I imagine that your life would be saner, were you to live in our world."
"Somehow, I think so too." Denis nodded, giving Pilerius a mock salute, tapping his fingers off of his forehead as he took the bundle and began to make his way back to the portal.
"You know? Part of me hopes we can do this again some time!" He admitted, glancing back to Pilerius.
"The rest expects that we will."
With a nod from the strange band of creatures, the Callaghans stepped through the portal, which was promptly closed by Rachael and Pilerius' magic. It shrank into obscurity and simply vanished...
The only thing that was left of it was one of the Brotherhood Soldier's helmets, battered and fractured over the eye but it was still, mostly, intact.
"Makes you wonder what's been left over on their side of the portal." Geoth admitted, with a sigh, approaching Pilerius from behind.
"We'll take this back with us, I can seal it within my Vault." Pilerius suggested, with a shrug.
"Shouldn't it be destroyed?" Geoth pointed out, unlike the others here, he had a memory that spanned over twenty minutes and thus wasn't as willing to forget why they were there.
"Helmet might have poison mould in it!" Ogrel grunted, it was his best guess as to why such a thing would be dangerous.
"It was at the heart of the explosion and it's still in one piece!" Pilerius pointed out, with a sigh.
"Besides, it's just a helmet. I can pass it off as foreign." He added, picking it up and staring it in the visor.
"I wouldn't even be lying..."
"Dad?" Maeve asked, approaching the Wanderer from behind and extending a purple crystal out, prompting him to eye it.
"Hmm..." He observed, noticing that it didn't exactly glow or anything. It was likely some sort of Tamriellic decor.
"Guess they didn't get everything on this end after all." The Regulator shrugged.
"Might as well keep it. It'd make a nice memento."
"It's not... Dangerous?"
"Nah... Pipboy doesn't identify it as giving off anything and it's not made of any toxic compounds. So yeah, should be safe."
"Pfft... Hypocrite." Maeve chuckled, pocketing said crystal.
"So much for destroying everything that doesn't belong here."
"Well." Denis shrugged, with a faint smirk.
"What's the point in making up the rules, if you can't break them to score some brownie points, with your kid?"
He paused to weigh up his options before eyeing the Pride Captain, kneeling by her side.
"We need to get this one back to her people..." Denis murmured, thinking on it a little.
"Ah... Shit! I knew that something had slipped my mind."
"Hmm?" Maeve asked, not quite knowing what he was on about.
"We still have an Orc, stranded on this side of the barrier..." Denis sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I'm sure he'll be... thrilled to know that."
"Mrgh... I kind of hope he is. Had I have known..." Maeve began, not exactly liking the idea of stranding an alien here.
"Even if I'd remembered, I wouldn't risk keeping the portal open for a terrorist to get back home. It just doesn't seem worth, risking that entire reality for."
The Lone Wanderer eventually reached for the Captain's radio and got to broadcasting, hitting the small button on the side.
"Wanderer to Citadel? We've contained the erm... disturbance. Waiting at the Dunwich building for extraction." Denis began as Maeve examined the doom, not really liking this dead shrine, even though it didn't pose as much threat as it once did.
It still creeped her out.
She continued to wander away from it, really not liking the vibe that it gave off to begin with. Perhaps it was just a... her thing.
"Affirmative. We're looking at several fatalities and several injuries. Needing an medvac." Denis continued.
As Maeve approached the rail, she observed fresh blood on the handrail of the stairway, gently smeared under the pressure of the body that it came from.
Someone or something had come through this way, injured...
"Hmm... I doubt his family would miss him." Pilerius sighed, leaning back in his throne. In truth, Gorderruss Broshdrakt was somewhat of a nobody, an outcast to society and an embarrassment to his family. His disappearance, without a trace, with likely come as a relief for his Father.
"I just hope they give him a quick death."
"You've grown hard, in recent years." Geoth informed him, marching into the Count's throne room, already recovered from yesterday's fight.
"Which of your associates was responsible for that one?"
Pilerius was unsure as to how Geoth was allowed in here. One would guess that manpower was limited, due to the heavy causalities suffered over the past few days.
"It oddly began, the day that my Mentor tried to kill me." Pilerius admitted, gesturing for his guards to leave.
"It all kind of spiralled out of control, after I lost six months of my life to a prison sentence, for a man that I hadn't even killed!"
Geoth stood, somewhat unfazed by that. It was true, after all...
"If you're expecting apology or regret, I can't offer either. My actions lead your life to this moment and looking at where you are, I'd say it was worth it. I would and even did give up everything to give my son the best life I could."
"You're saying that you planned this?" Pilerius scoffed.
"Molag Bal would blush at a lie like that. For all you knew, you'd sentenced me to life in that squalled dungeon! I only got out of there by freak accident!"
"Now we both know that's not true, Pilerius." Geoth countered.
"Lesser men can't see it but destiny surrounded that cell of yours. Azura showed it to me..."
The Blue Argonian scowled, not quite believing that one. She only spoke to the Neraverine, in his time of need and Scire hadn't received anything from her since. Though that didn't necessarily mean that she had stopped speaking to Mortals entirely.
"She... What? Told you to have me kill you?"
"Hmm? Oh no... She showed me a lot, that would transpire before the Emperor's assassination. I believe she intended for me to put myself in that cell, however, I'd rather you be there."
"Why?"
"Simply? I felt you deserved a chance at heroism, a chance to make a name for yourself and be a part of history. Me? It would be a selfish pursuit of redemption. Admittedly I sought that in giving you the opportunity to save the world, in my place but it somehow felt a bit more... selfless at the time."
"There was nothing selfless about it, you destroyed my life, without even giving me a choice in the matter. The one bit of family, I had in this world, tries to kill me for the sake of... prophecy? What if you were just mad or delusional? What if I killed you for nothing?" The Count pointed out.
"Come to think of it, how'd you even survive!? I cut you to the bone, right across your torso!"
Geoth immediately responded by rolling his shirt up, exposing the wound. It was an old scar, that had healed well but even an untrained eye could tell that it should be fatal.
"I was saved by a very talented mage... A necromancer, to be precise. He gave me my life back, in exchange for a... rather gruesome favour." The Dunmer dropped his shirt again, covering up the should-be fatal wound.
"He reckons his meddling will expand my lifespan... Though I pray he's wrong."
"I pray he isn't." Pilerius stated, bluntly.
"Now. Get out."
Geoth found himself a little unnerved by that, it wasn't unexpected or unwelcome but it was still disappointing on some level.
"You're throwing me back out?"
"Absolutely, you attacked this city's Count. I could have you arrested for that. I'm banishing you instead."
Geoth sighed and looked away, heading over to he door, though he found himself unable to resist turning back and bringing something up, one last time.
"You sit, upon a throne that you murdered for and banish your mentor, who gave his life for you. Does this not speak volumes of what path you tread?"
"Get out. GET OUT!"
The Blue Argonian's voice was carried by the halls, almost like he had the thu'um. Everyone who heard looked back, to investigate before cowering back into their work.
He left his Master with no words, Pilerius was on the right path... it's just not one that Geoth had hoped to set him on.
"I'm sorry for leading you here." The Dunmeri Blade sighed, heading back out, into town. He dared not face anymore of this.
Pilerius rested his face in his hand, sighing heavily as slouched in his throne. The Ghosts of those he'd killed were fixated on him, their eyes pierced him with judgement.
He cared little for the opinions of dead men, even if they found some way back from the grave. Their disconnect from this world made their advice tainted, by naivety...
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
No other sound was audible as the Imperial City Arena burst into applause. Noblemen, Commoners, Merchants, Mercenaries, Farmers, Soldiers, Prostitutes and Priests gathered together in a unity of barbarism.
"Will our champion be bested at last? Not bloody likely but let's see what this poor sap has to offer!"
The Gate opened and revealed a Yellow Team Combatant, a large Nord, who looked like he was half giant. He wore traditional Skyrim Iron armour, with some makeshift repairs, using steel and a cow's skull as his left pauldron.
He had little by way of damage done to his body, no scarring or anything to that effect. Few were able to get any hits in and few were able to prominently wound him. He was the Champion of a reason, that reason was his demi-god-like physique.
"Dragged up in Skyrim is the giant, the monstrous, the human fruit squeezer... Haljen Lofbruk!"
The crowd erupted into thunderous cheer, seemingly happy to see the champion return and ready to see him crush another batch of hopes, dreams and skulls over the course of this sunny afternoon.
"However, he may have met his match in the Blue Team's new contender!" The Announcer warned.
"Half Orc, half... Azura's tits, I don't know! Probably half ogre! Here comes the all powerful, almighty... Ogrel of... Vault 87?"
The Supermutant let out of a roar, to assert dominance. He was certainly ready for a fight as he'd been cooped up in that sissy blood works all night.
"These two contestants will separate the men from the boys! The fighters from the flailers! The Gods from the men!"
"I'm bored!" Ogrel stated, out of nowhere, to nobody in particular as he looked around the area. He observed the private box from afar, picking up on how old, weak and fat the puny humans were in it. Well, all but that lady on the end, who looked like...
Sky Lady...?
"Lower the gates!"
At this point, Ogrel's foe broke out into a feral scream, almost like a feral ghoul, only he looked stupid as he wasn't meant to do that. This kind of broke his concentration away from the Sky Lady's selfless act of support and brought him back to this harsh, uncaring reality.
"Wuh? Oh- Oh right!" Ogrel opted to ready his hammer, slapping it down in his hand before charging forward himself.
"YYYYYYYEESSSSSSSSSS!"