A/N Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate the kind watches and compliments, and look forward to future comments and critique!
Chapter Two: Thy Dungeon man
Part Four
"And mine!" said the Marine.
"There's my shield!" Captain America said, pointing.
"We will go to that room first, if you wish." Haku replied.
"Let's go." Master Chief said in a commanding tone.
Atemu and Haku pushed the transparent doors open, passed the room with the floor mats, and turned down a hall immediately to the right.
The room that held their things was the last on the left. Across from it were four rooms with solid, rather than transparent, walls.
Haku opened the doors. "For all our purposes, we will call this the armory. Most of your things will be stored here." He led them inside, Atemu walking beside him.
"Before you rush to your belongings, let me hand out a few that only their owners should touch," Haku said. Atemu handed him a long thin box. "Harry Potter."
The Boy Who Lived came forward, green eyes lingering on the box.
"Your wand." The youth said, opening the box. "Holly, eleven inches, single phoenix tail feather." Inside lay a short piece of wood, lovingly carved and polished.
Harry took it from the box, removed his glasses and said, "Reparo." He tapped the frame of the spectacles with his wand as the word left his mouth, and the crack that spanned one lens vanished.
Alex's eyes widened. No more magic jokes from me, this seals it.
"You will also find your Firebolt over there on the—"
"My Firebolt?" Harry shouted. "That's impossible! It was destroyed!"
"Nothing is impossible," Atemu replied, gesturing to the wall behind him.
Harry's mouth dropped open. Hanging there on the wall was his Firebolt, the same broomstick that his late godfather Sirius Black had given him in his third year of school. Below the broom, neatly folded and stacked, were his clothes that he used for Quidditch – his uniform, his knee and elbow pads, his boots….
"David Carter," Atemu said solemnly, holding out a box. Inside, completely untouched, was a white glove, made of some unfamiliar material.
"The Exotar," David breathed, and taking it, slipped it over his fingers. The thing glowed a dazzling bluish-white for a moment, then subsided. The glove was now perfectly fitted to his hand.
"For further reference, I advise all others not to touch the Exotar."
"Why not?" Jonah Hex asked, glancing about the room for his pistols.
"Because you're not me," David said. "Anyone else who tries to wear it gets their hand crushed. I've seen it happen."
"Ouch," John Connor winced.
"The rest of you," Haku said more loudly, "Will find your weapons hanging behind me, and those of you with armor will find it over there."
They all dispersed to find their respective belongings; Carin made a beeline for a black scabbard with silver markings hanging on the wall. She lifted it from its peg and took the sword from its sheath.
Several others turned from their own possessions as it was drawn, so bright was the blade.
Carin eyed the weapon, the weight of the hilt familiar, the metal warm in her hand.
"You are not checking for damage, I hope?" Haku said.
"No."
"We couldn't harm it if we tried."
"I know."
"Why's that?" Captain America asked, strapping a circular, red white and blue shield to his arm. He wore a Colt .45 revolver at his hip.
"Because," Carin replied, "It's made of—"
Carin was cut off by a deep, half-growl, half-yell as Master Chief grabbed Haku by the scruff of the neck and hoisted him three feet off the floor. Everyone stood dead still, unsure if they should – and could – stop the Chief.
"No, Atemu!" Haku shouted as the Pharaoh reached for his deck.
"Where is she?" the SPARTAN bellowed through grit teeth.
"Where is who—"
"You know exactly who! My A.I.! She was in my helmet, and now she's gone! Cort-"
"Atemu! She is in the arsenal, in the padded wooden box! And get a holopad!" Haku cried, pointing across the hall.
After a second of hesitation, the Pharaoh raced to the room opposite, returning a few anxious moments later with a circular piece of machinery and what looked like some kind of microchip.
The Chief, by this time, had just composed himself enough to at least set Haku down, relieving some of the tension in the room.
"I assure you," Atemu said, holding out the chip, "She's not been harm—"
The Master Chief whipped it out of his hand, also taking the holopad. He inserted the chip into one of the drives and waited rigidly.
After a moment that seemed to last an age to him, a hologram appeared on the pad. It was the image of a short-haired woman, seven inches tall or so, purple in colour and made up of constantly-moving numbers and lines of data. He held it carefully to his face. "Cortana?" he said softly.
The figure, who had been laying down, jumped to its feet. "Chief!" She whirled around, taking in every face, weapon, wall – every piece of data she could. "Where are we Chief?"
"You're all right, then?" he said, very quietly, so that only she could hear.
She turned to him with a knowing smile. "Worried about me? Yeah, I'm fine Chief. Where's your armor?"
He gestured behind him with a shake of his head. "Over there."
"Where are we?" Cortana repeated. "Who are all these people?"
"We're in a place called the Realm. Some…guy—" He had been about to say lunatic—"brought us all here to fight our enemies."
"Why?"
"Personal amusement."
"That's sick." Cortana said, facing him and putting a hand on her hip.
"Yeah."
"So, your enemies, huh?"
The Chief nodded.
"You're gonna have a lot of fighting to do then." She said with a half-smirk.
"Fine with me." His voice had returned to its normal husky calmness.
"So…" She said turning around to face the others again. "You gonna introduce me?"
Master Chief introduced Cortana to the other warriors, Haku and Atemu, then let her explain herself that she was an A.I. that worked through his armor.
"Hey, didn't you mention A.I.s before?" Goku asked, turning to the Marine.
He nodded.
"Were they like me?" Cortana asked.
The Marine set his jaw and nodded. "Yeah, just like you."
Master Chief heard that subtle ache again in the Marine's voice and decided to change the subject. "What kind of armor were you issued with, Marine?"
"It's mostly cybernetic…made of a thinner, flexible form of the MJOLNIR armor. It still has the personal shield, like yours. Is yours Mark V?"
"Mark VI."
"Ah." He surveyed the thick green armor as Master Chief inspected it for serious damage; it was pocked with bullet holes and blackened with gunpowder. They traded helmets for a moment; both were about the same size, both had a golden-orange reflective visor, and both had certain technologies that allowed them to monitor enemy movement and their shield percentage. But whereas the Master Chief's helmet encompassed his entire head, the Marine's left the mouth exposed. The larger visor of the Marine's helmet allowed for greater peripheral vision than the Master Chief's, and was equipped with more advanced tracking and monitoring systems.
As they swapped back their helmets and began to put their armor, they were distracted by a low mechanized hum.
They both turned, standing, to see a tall figure in red, orange and yellow armor. The shoulders of suit were thickly armored spheres, and these led down to the arms, one of which did not end in a hand, but a long, wide-barreled gun. It was this green-coloured weapon that was making the hum as it charged.
The Marine glanced around the room, trying to figure out who was in the armor, but the Master Chief beat him to it. "Samus?"
The triangular-like green visor turned to the marines, shimmering briefly in the light. "Yes?" came her voice, slightly muffled.
The soldiers couldn't help but stare, but the Marine finally managed, "Nice armor."
"Thanks," she replied, "You too."
Cortana held back giggles. "Are you blushing, Chief?" she whispered.
"What?" He said gruffly. "No." But he jammed his helmet on in a hurry. He then removed Cortana from her holopad and jammed her into one of the drives in the back of his helmet. The drive closed automatically, shielded, after he had inserted it. Had one of the other warriors looked more closely at the back of the Master Chief's head, they would have noticed that there were thin slots in his skin that corresponded to those in his helmet. In fact, he was not putting Cortana into his helmet but into his head…so in a way, they were connected.
"I think you like her," Cortana's voice came inside of his head, a warm, smirking tone.
"I do not." He said shortly. "Are all systems online?"
She giggled once, then made a noise like she was clearing her throat, if she had one. "Monitoring…oxygen levels, check. Blood pressure…heart rate…normal. Body temperature, normal…Respiratory functions—"
"I'm breathing fine, Cortana."
"—normal. I don't care, Chief. I'm checking anyway." He'd go to his last breath in a battle, if it were up to him. If she didn't look after him, who would? "I'm putting up your radar and shield percentage levels." Came her voice again, very matter-of-factly.
With a slight flicker, a circular icon appeared in the lower left hand corner of his HUD, a ring pulsating from the center outwards every second. This icon rotating around it and the pulsing rings showed nothing in its sweep, for now. A bar, directly above the radar showed him that his built-in shield was now almost complete.
"All clear?"
He nodded, then as he pulled on his last glove, "Mark the others as allies on my radar."
"Sure thing."
He felt her making adjustments in his head, slight whispery touches. Suddenly, nineteen yellow dots appeared, most of them very close together so it looked like a large yellow blob on his radar.
"All right?"
He nodded again.
"Good…so….did you miss me, Chief?" she asked, her voice now quiet in his head as if she didn't want to be overheard.
His mouth twitched beneath his helmet in a rare smile. "Nah."
But Cortana knew better and smiled, releasing a kind of rosy warmness into his head.
"Where are our weapons?" the Marine asked, diverting the Chief's attention.
Oh yeah, the SPARTAN thought. He'd been too preoccupied with finding Cortana and inspecting his armor that he'd nearly forgotten about his weapons.
"I ain't found my guns neither," Jonah Hex said, sidling up to Atemu. "Would yeh mind tellin' me where they are?" He added edgily, his eye bulging under the darkness of his cowboy hat.
"We stored the guns in the arsenal," the pharaoh said, looking at the Master Chief and the Marine, "Because you had too many to store in this room. This way."
"Lieutenant Ripley," Haku said, "You will also find your weapons there."
The woman followed Hex and the marines across the hall.
As Atemu entered, the room was illuminated. "Marines, all of these weapons are at your disposal."
The Marine and Master Chief looked at one another, that rare smile forming once again.
Before them lay shelves upon shelves, racks, crates and bins of guns and ammunition.
It was like a candy store for the Chief. Most of the weapons he recognized; he and the Marine both went for the shotguns first.
The Marine's shotguns were much different than the Chief's; they were double-barreled and looked as if they'd been sawed down. The way he held them enabled him to dual-wield a pair. He slid a couple of shells into the barrel of one and swung it in an arc. A satisfying click told them that it was ready to fire.
The Master Chief fought a twinge of jealousy; he wished he could dual-wield shotguns. But the green streak didn't last long – as he swung his own shotgun onto the magnetic plate on his back, sliding the extra ammo into the hidden compartment on his thigh-plate, his gaze fell upon a series of crates.
"You getting all this Cortana?" he asked quietly.
"You bet, Chief. I almost have the place mapped out." Ever since they had stepped into the room, the A.I. had been busy gathering data on every single piece of weaponry in the place, how many of each type there were, and where everything was positioned. "What's in those – ooh."
His sentiments exactly. Before him in the crates were all the grenades he could ever want.
Fragmentation grenades, plasma grenades, and other kinds he'd never seen. He picked up one of these – a gigantic, rod-like grenade with spines all over it.
"That's a spike grenade," The Marine said, coming over to stand by him. "Brutes used them, if I'm right."
"What's that?" Chief asked, pointing to a large, pod-like object. Its four metallic legs supported a glowing, multi-sided generator.
Cortana let out an excited "Ooh!"
"You know?"
"It's a bubble shield, Chief! I've heard some talk about those, but I didn't think they were complete yet…."
"Bubble shield?" Master Chief echoed.
"What year did you say you were from?" The Marine asked.
"I didn't. But I'm from the year 2552."
"It should be available to you soon."
"You know your history."
"I know my weapons."
While the marines were discussing weapons and different kinds of military tactics, Atemu had located Ripley's and Hex's weapons.
"Here you are," Atemu said, "The pulse rifle for Lieutenant Ripley – the flamethrower behind you is also available."
Ripley took the pulse rifle and glanced behind her, where on the shelf lay a large flamethrower – a weapon that she was all too familiar with. Just what enemies am I going to be facing, anyway?
"Hex, here are your pistols. Ivory handled, .44 caliber Colt dragoon models, if I'm not mistaken."
"You're not." Hex buckled the worn leather holster around his middle, running his scarred fingers over the ivory. "Ah also had a knife, a rifle and a sabre."
"Behind you."
The cowboy took the rifle and cocked it open to see down the barrels. "No damage."
"We did not tamper with your belongings."
He closed the rifle again with an ominous click. "Yeh better not have." After placing the rifle back on the shelf and sliding his Bowie knife into his boot, he headed back to the armory.
Ripley swung the pulse rifle over her shoulder and followed him.
Back in the armory, everyone was settled into their uniforms and were content that their weapons had not been harmed.
"You spoke earlier about the River Styx," Batman commented to Carin.
The others near them fell silent.
"Yes," she said, turning to face him. She saw that he was now wearing a black mask of a material she did not recognize and a long black cape. The mask was horned and covered his face except for the mouth area and slits for his eyes. So that is why you are called Bat-man. "What of the River Styx?"
"I wasn't aware that it had any real power."
"Why wouldn't it?" Carin asked, somewhat surprised.
"In our world, the River Styx was only part of mythology."
"I remember learning about that in school," David said. "What kind of power did it have?"
"The River Styx was said to have the authority to keep even gods from breaking a promise. An oath on the river was binding." Batman answered.
"So what you did…I mean, it's real?" David asked, turning to Carin.
"Yes, the promise cannot be broken."
"That means that our friends and family are safe. Completely safe from harm, while we're here." Trunks said.
"Yes." Carin nodded, and she watched the relief spread over the half-Saiyan's face.
"That makes me feel a little better."
"About Bulma?" Goku asked.
"Yeah."
"Bulma?"
"My mother. She's – she's the only one I have left."
The room fell silent for a moment as each warrior thought about those they had left behind. It was broken by Hikaru, who went up to Haku and said, "Excuse me."
"Yes, Ms. Shidou."
"You can call me Hikaru. Everyone does."
Haku smiled. "Of course. How may I help you?"
"I couldn't find my weapons."
"Oh yes…." A very slight line creased Haku's forehead, casting a worried veil over his young face. "When we took you from your world, the weapons disappeared. All of your belongings – your armor, everything – vanished. I'm afraid that you must summon them yourself. I believe that only you can."
"Oh." Hikaru nodded. "Okay, thank you for telling me. I'll figure it out…I'm sure they'll come to me again."
Carin looked at the girl curiously. This little girl is the ruler of a world, a warrior…she is so strong – wise, confident, yet humble. I wonder what she can mean by "they'll come to me again." They? She speaks of her weapons as if they live…living weapons, is it possible?
Carin's thoughts were broken as the Master Chief and Marine returned, armed to the teeth and followed by Atemu.
"Now that everyone is situated, let me show you your rooms…" Haku led them back across the hall, where two of the other solid rooms comprised their bedrooms. There was one smaller room for the four females and a much larger room for the sixteen males.
These rooms were infinitely more comfortable and accommodating than the room they had been held captive in.
The beds were plain but comfortable with clean sheets and blankets; there were two showers and bathrooms, a place with mats for stretching, a table, a basin of water and even plants in each room to make them more hospitable.
"What's in that room?" Luke Skywalker asked as they returned again to the main hall. He pointed to the fourth and final solid room.
"The infirmary," Haku said. "I hope none of you may see the inside of it," he added quietly, mostly to himself.
"I suggest you train and rest…you will have the next three days to train yourselves, and then the tournament will begin." Atemu said.
The others looked at one another, wondering what this tournament would hold.
"You called for me, my lord?"
"Yes. What is your progress?"
"All twenty of them are present and accounted for, sir. Everything has been explained to them."
"And where are they at present?"
"They have just been given their weapons and have been allowed three days to train—"
"Three days? I grow weary of this waiting."
"I'm sorry, sir – I only thought it was—"
"No matter. So be it…let them be at ease before the real trials begin!"
A/N: I own nothing except Carin Darkstar!
Goku, Trunks (c) Akira Toriyama's Dragonball Z
Carin (c) Silvre (Karyn N. Anderson) -- mine!!
Batman, Superman and Jonah Hex (c) DC Comics
John Connor (c) The Terminator movie series
Ripley and pulse rifle(c) 20th Century Fox's "Alien" movies
The Marine, The Master Chief, Cortana and all related weapons (c) Bungie
Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Logan (Wolverine) (c) Marvel Comics
Samus Aran (c) Nintendo's Metroid
Necro and Alex (c) CAPCOM's Street Fighter
Goliath (c) Disney's Gargoyles
Hikaru (c) CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth
Harry Potter (c) J.K. Rowling
David Carter (c) Dreamworks' "Invasion America"
Luke Skywalker (c) LucasFilm's "Star Wars"
Raiden, Scorpion, Subzero, Johnny Cage, Smoke and all ninjas (c) Midway's "Mortal Kombat"
Kohaku/Haku (c) Miyazaki's "Spirited Away"
Pharaoh Atemu, Dark Magicians and all related characters (c) Kasuki Takahashi
Dungeon Master (c) TSR and Marvel Productions
Thy Dungeon Man (c) Videlectrix ()