Wow, sorry guys for the delay on this chapter. Life has been catching up with me. I hope this was worth it.
Tobey cracked a glow stick and tossed it in front of them, his shaded eyes adjusting to the extreme darkness. He looked around at the cave, taking in all of the sights. The stone was carved out by an animalistic care, not even dull pickaxes could achieve this brutal tunneling . His ands drifted to his trusted revolver and motioned for the others to form up behind him. They moved slowly and as quietly as they could. No doubt the gunfire above them would have made the detainees of whoever was beneath here alert of their position. He growled a he heard nothing but their own footsteps beneath them.
Gallowsglass and El Duce took point and the others fell in line behind Tobey. Ulfric was holding up the back of the line helping a still struggling Sheik regain her sense of balance. El Duce then raised his fist in a position that meant stop. Quiet as the grave, Tobey turned his head around the corner and soon laid eyes on a massive bug, it was a bombardier, and it had not been alerted of their presence. Tobey pulled back the hammer on his revolver and turned the corner. The bug reacted and turned around to see Tobey pulling the trigger on his revolver. The bullet sang forth and collided the head of the bug. Tobey pulled the trigger again and his fellow shadowrunners did the same. Their guns spat hot lead out and watched as the carapace armor disintegrate under the small arms fire.
The smashers watch them as they blasted the bug away. With the bug torn to ribbons, They watched in horror as a green like essence took the shape of the bug and fired a ball a screaming acid in their direction. Reactions kicked in and they dove for cover while the acid exploded overhead, engulfing many of them with little droplets of acid. It burned hot, searing through most of their armor. El Duce drew his strange weapon that Tobey gifted him with and looked down the sights and fired twice as an equal glowing substance blasted into the bug spirit. One shot found its mark but the other one went wide and hit only rock. Before their eyes the bug regenerated back into its original shape and form. "What in the hell was that?" Snake bellowed in shock, vocalizing the thoughts of all of the other smashers.
Gallowsglass grimaced and blasted an arcane explosion in the direction of the bug. The arcane explosion shattered the carapace of the bug again but did not kill it. Marth leapt upwards and in one smooth motion, impaled the bug's head with his blade. When the bug spirit came again, Tobey and El Duce emptied their guns to the spirit, sending it back to whatever harsh oblivion awaited it. "Something perhaps more dangerous then the giants out to get out head." Tobey responded in a cool manner that was like his typical attitude. He swapped the canister out on his gun and motioned the others to move forward. The heart of the elements was close and he knew things were not going to be easy. It never was on runs like these.
Link paired yet another attack from Zelda, his energy draining from his body with each attack, counter, cheap shot, and parry. For each ounce of energy he lost, she seemed to fight the same as when they first began to spar. His shield was long since discarded and he parried each blow he could. A long fissure ran down his chest and blood poured freely from the wounds. He brought up his sword against hers, but neglected to notice the well placed punch that came for him.
He was sent spinning head over heels and landed hard on the stone walls . He barely had a moment to regain his senses before a sharp pain ran the length of his arms. He looked back at Zelda who impaled her blade into his arm. "Tell me this Link." She asked again, speaking for the first time in a while. "Did you truly think you would win against me?" Before he could respond, she spoke again. "Don't worry, I won't kill you." She sliced her sword down and with Link screaming in no other way then history had heard, she severed his sword arm and kicked his still twitching body from the roof of the cathedral. "I'll let gravity and blood loss do that." She smirked and turned around. With Link out of her way, al she needed to do was to find where the heart of the elements.
She heard a bestial growl and saw a massive armored figure before her. Leman was standing not more than three yards from her. He had changed substantially, though he was still the towing man that she recognized . His hair was now grey and closely chopped to his head. His face was now lined with both battle scars and age. Perplexing, she thought. In his hands he carried his massive, rune-encrusted axe and sword at his side. He looked like an old line officer from a Legion long lost to time more then a Viking he appeared as in the mansion.
"Your death will bring him glory." He growled in her direction. She laughed and pointed to the twin axe he carried in battle. A two handed weapon would be useless against her speed and agility. She then watched as Leman gripped the haft of his axe and tore the twin weapons apart that made the double headed axe. Twirling both weapons to remember their weight, he howled into the wind and looked at her dead in the eyes. "For the Allfather!" and with those words passing his lips, he charged against her.
Zelda raised her blade and dodge the blades of the axes. Leman struck out with all of his strength and all of his skill. But his blades carved only air. Zelda danced around him and slammed a blade into his they then gently sliced across the hamstrings of Leman. The god howled in pain, Zelda was playing with him. Like a cat to a mouse before he ate it. His mind raced for a way to win. She moved to fast for the warrior to detect, even with his enhanced vision to detect. But the Lord of the Wolves could smell her, could hear the beat of her tainted heart. He was a hunter, born of hunters, but gifted with the soul of the wolf. He could embrace the elements in ways his father never could.
He closed his eyes and filtered out the rain from his hearing. He heard the excited rush in her breath as she closed in for the kill. He heard the blade cut through the wind towards his neck. He threw one of his axes out left, forcing Zelda to dodge it and he brought his other axe down where his nose told him to. The head of his axe found it's mark and though the leather armor took the brunt of the hit, it soon sent electrifying shockwaves through her body. She grimaced and jumped back to avoid any more incoming blows. "You are not the same drunkard I met a week ago? Where is that Leman, or is this another disguise?" She spat at him and the Wolf Lord growled like an animal.
"You are looking upon him, foul traitor. I am Leman, son of Thor and Luna. In my veins run the blood and spirit of the wolf. I look upon you and see only someone who let their anger takes hold of them." He twirled his own axes and took up a defensive stance. "Anger is a great thing, it focuses the mind to a single and unified purpose. But to let your anger take hold of your body, you are no longer your self and are only a vessel for your anger." Zelda paused for a moment as the words took hold of her, it was the chance Leman needed. He charged forward and slammed his axes into Zelda's side, causing the air to rush out of her lungs. She bounced twice before she regained her footing and Leman towered over her. She burst out with a rage and sliced across his chest plate, cutting deep and having the blade scraping the bone. Zelda howled with laughter and she watched as Leman began to change before her. His beard was beging to grow back again and his hair was becoming a tangled mess once again.
She laughed. "Disgraceful and I know who you are Leman." She stood a good three feet from him and parried his incoming blows. "You caused the death of your race... wasn't it you who gave the order to the gods to slay them to a man?" She taunted him and Leman bellowed with an unholy rage and he bashed he axe into her, causing the head to bury itself in warm flesh.
"You dare bring that up!?" He bellowed with rage and then picked her up by the throat and tore the axe head free from her chest, causing blood to spill freely from the wound. "I should have seen the rot before it spread. Instead I was blind for far too long. I place my own kind to death with the eagerness of those who wished to see it stopped. Too many innocents died in holy firestorm. Yet, here I am again at the doorstep of another race, with the executioner's blade in my own hand." He spoke quietly too himself, as if recollecting with the past. The moment lasted shortly and looked dead straight into Zelda's eyes. "Give my regards to Hel when you meet her." He began to tighten his fingers; wet snaps were being heard in greater noise. Leman smiled as he heard her heart rate increase dramatically while his own heart remained perfectly calm as he strangled the life out of her.
At least, that was until he had company.
The stranger kept his watch over Ike until the time he would awake. His wounds healed with an unnatural ease. If it had not been the apples of youth that was given to him, the regeneration would have been unnatural to many eyes. Ike was still out and the stranger along with the Princess Peach kept watch over him. Leman said he needed to depart for some reason, of which he wouldn't say. Peach was still feeling uneasy about the fact that Lucas along with the Ice Climbers going to Seattle. But Tobey was so persuasive that she allowed him to do it.
Peach sat in a chair next to Ike's bed and watched him as if she was trying to take her mind off of something. The stranger, who had never revealed his name, stood quiet and unmoving for the hours on end. Peach massaged her temples and thought about Leman. He remained tight lip about his past, and especially more so when she raised a question about his mother. Leman was always cold and distance even before he was introduced as the God of the Wolves, but something happened in his past that really made him remain tight lip.
She looked to the Sentinel; he had remained silent as the grave. She couldn't even hear his breaths under his hood. Peach sighed in frustration and looked to the Sentinel. "When will they return? They have been gone for hours and Tobey assured me it wouldn't last long?" The Sentinel turned his head in a slow motion, almost in an automaton way. He pulled his hood forward even father down and gave her his damning silence. Peach was beginning to reach the limit of her anger and rose from her seat. "Answer me! You know more then you are telling!"
"He won't tell you anything." A voice spoke up from behind them. The two turned their hands and gazed upon Lithia. Her armor was splattered a light crimson from her enemies blood. "He has taken up an oath of silence in the presence of non-gods." The stranger turned around and unsheathed his blade. It was long and intricate, while many had runes carved into it, his carried words of a different language and he stood his ground. The sword was raised at an articulate angle and he stood his ground ready for the defense.
Lithia unsheathed her spear, which became more of a halberd now then an actual spear. The Sentinel took one of his hands off his hilt and gestured for her to come at him. She obliged and charged forward. The stranger sidestepped the incoming blade and, with a move devoted to decades of training, he decapitated a thick locket of her blond hair. It was apparent that it was an insult rather then an actual last minute swing. The locket of hair fell to the ground and the stranger smirked under his hood and readied his blade for another blow. Lithia bellowed under her breath and charged at him again, and the stranger once again danced around the blade.
Peach rose from her seat as if to get into the action herself. The stranger spared her a look that specifically told her not to get involved in this. He could handle this situation on his own. Peach looked as if she wanted to argue, but the words died in her mouth and she remained where she was. The stranger took his blade and leapt forward at Lithia. Lithia feinted the blow and slashed across the chest of the stranger. The crackling halberd ate through the armor and the stranger was caught off balance by the blow and flew to the ground, shattering his shoulder on the impact.
"Clumsy ape!" Lithia spat the taunt and slammed her halberd into the stomach of the stranger, pinning him to the ground. He turned her back and unsheathed a long blade, comparably to the size of a long sword. Peach was blasted back by a blow of eldritch energy and was pinned against the wall. A set of dark magic crept around her, constricting all movements. Lithia strode over Ike's still sleeping body. She looked down at the prone figure, and laughed coldy to her self. "Ironic, is it not? I come here for the heart of a hero and I don't even gat a sweat broken because of this." She raised her sword, ready to move in for the kill. Peach closed her eyes, she didn't want to look.
The sound of metal colliding with metal filled the air and Lithia's breath rushed out of her lungs. Peach opened her eyes and her own breath as well escaped her. Between Lithia's blade and Ike's heart was Ragnell, And with Ike's fingerless gloves holding the sword. Ike swung his spared hand, balled as a fist. The blow buckled Lithia's armor and sent her reeling back. Ike heard a loud grunt and looked to the stranger, who tossed him his own sword.
Ike caught the blade with ease and quickly familiarizing himself with both of the weapons, he crossed both blades and charged at Lithia, show was still trying to catch her senses after the blow. Ike brought Ragnell down over head while he followed up with the strangers sword from the left to the right. Lithia howled in pain and charged back at Ike, her own blades aimed for the kill. Ike parried her blows with deft turns of his blades. "Damn you, die already!" Lithia swore and thrusted forward with her blade.
Ike laughted to himself, "Have you already forgotten Lithia? I can't die as easy as you want." He finished the sentence with a harsh mule kick to her chest, sending her sprawling out the door. Ike was hit hard in the face by the cold and chilly breeze of the mountains. His body slowed down for only a moment before he leapt out into the snow topped mountain. Lithia Howled and with a speed that belied her bulk, charged Ike. Ike spun around and parried both of her strikes.
Lithia swung wide, and Ike took the advantage he saw in her opening. He ducked right, swung around with Ragnell and penetrated her armor. She brought a fist around, though Ike had seen this plan before it came. "Enough of this dance." He tossed Ragnell up into the air and using the silver blade, he used his free hand and grabbed both of her hands. He then took the silver blade and rammed it through her forearms, not severing any veins but enough to lock her arms into place. He then drove the sword into the ground and raised his spare hand to catch Ragnell as it descended. He easily caught it in the palm of his hand. Lithia looked as if she was trying to pull the sword free but a pinning boot kept it where it was.
Ike leaned into her and placed the tip of Ragnell to her throat and chuckled slyly. "Word of the wise Lithia, a tactical mind is better than one consumed by a battle lust."
Three more times had the group encountered the bugs and for three more times were they dispatched. Tobey was burned in several places and his coat had many holes in it. El Duce received a new scar across the length of his face and even Gallowsglass was toting some new injuries. Tobey clutched his burning side and in his other held a smoking shotgun. Snake was burned in several positions and the corrosive acids ate through the majority of Samus' armor, having taken the brunt of three bombardiers at the same time. Ulfric was sliced in several areas by the claws and Sheik suffered the same, more or less.
Tobey heard something and raised his hands to have the others stop. He closes his eyes and noticed that it was indeed the sound of human footsteps in one form or another. It was an ambush. Three figures approached them, all of them massive creatures. One bore a spiked back, another was a gorilla of a being, pun intended, and the other one was a very tall and ripped human. Snake swore colorfully under his breath. Fallen smashers. Tobey did not need his shamanistic powers to tell they were enthralled by some other being. Each one carried a dark aura around them, some more noticeable then others. Bowser's eyes were deep crimson and his shells were tar black. Donkey Kong had his fur a much deeper hue of darkness and Captain Falcon looked a bit more mentally unstable then usual.
Tobey bit back a sarcastic remark about their luck and chambered the next shell in the shot gun and looked to the smashers. Gallowsglass mentally opened a communication link with Tobey. "You know this lot?" With a mental nod, he heard Gallowsglass murmur some insult. "So I take it you don't want them to be harmed then?"
Tobey shrugged, or at least the best he could while he was trying to keep some pressure on the injury. As if in response to the silence, Bowser spoke up. "Think you can past us? We seek what our master demands us to. There are only two who seek it, one that will find it, and another to be ground under the heels. So I ask you simply… which ones are you?"
Samus spoke up, her rational voice all but gone. "Bowser listen to yourself! What the hell happened to you? Granted you weren't the most social of people, but you weren't this much of a sociopath. " She said in perhaps the most textbook definition of backhanded comments. Several of the other smashers sighed audibly and Bowser chuckled deeply.
"Very well then. You have sealed your own fates." Captain Falcon sored forward with a balled fist on fire. However, he was met with El Duce throwing a charged blue fist, the two collided and the end result rivaled that of a flash bang grenade. Being one with his body and mind, El Duce was able oto channel his essence into his strikes and release them at the most needed times of impact. The end result was catastrophic. El Duce countered Falcon's kick with one of his own, aimed at a much more sensitive part on the male body. Honor was for duels, and this was not one of those cases.
Marth, Ulfric, Sheik and Gannondorf attacked Bowser while the rest focused on Donkey Kong. It appeared that if under the dark influence made them a bit stronger. Marth found it hard to land a damaging blow on Bowser's shell, something he had no trouble with in the past. Snake found the same to be true with Donkey Kong; his fur was strong as steel and sharp as razors. Clearly here was some arcane affect on their body. Ulfric struck out with all of his strength and skill, yet his weapons only bounced off the armor of Bowser.
Frustrated he Shouted a word of power. A rather poor choice of tactics considering the deeper they went, the more unstable the architecture went. In this it looked as if something louder then a gunshot would cause this whole thing to topple down on them. The shout did just that and the rocks above began to creak and whine in protest to the sound. A few boulders dislocated and tumbled down in-between the smashers. Kong seemed to get and idea and playing some obscene tribal beat, slammed his palms into the ground. More boulders began to fall and many feared that this would soon collapse over them.
Tobey gestured further down into the tunnel, which appeared to be about ready to collapse in on itself. "This way, it's not much farther!" Toeby yelled with all of his voice and The shadowrunners were the first to respond and followed the elf. The smashers responded not shortly after but it looked as if the fallen had heard as well. They turned to follow it but Ulfric stood in between them and shouted again The blow forced them back but it caused the rocks to fall down at a much greater rate. "Ulfric! Get your ass out of there now!"
The Nord casted a side look to Tobey ad the two warriors made eye contact for the briefest of instances. It was all that Tobey needed to know, Ulfric wasn't goin to go anywhere. Tobey the looked to where Ulfric was looking, and he saw Sheik laying unconscious on the ground. Tobey raised his shotgun in a salute and turned to where the Heart of the Elements would be. It would take a lot more then that to kill that stubborn Nord. Of that he was certain. Ulfric would survive; there was nothing wrong with that.
Leman looked into the blinding spotter lights of what appeared to be the local law enforcement. He tossed Zelda aside, who gasped for long restricted air. Leman growled and he heard the sound of bullets being chambered in his direction. "Lower your weapons and we will only take out your kneecaps." Allfather, when Tobey said the rent-a-cops of Seattle were not better then the deranged criminal, he wasn't kidding. Leman leapt backwards, narrowly escaping a marksman shot clearly aimed at his head.
Zelda stood back on her feet and looked to Leman. "It would appear that we share a common enemy. Why should fight amongst ourselves and just let this group inter-" She didn't finish the sentence because Leman slammed his right shoulder into her chest, sending her off balance. Leman gripped both of her wrists and with a grunt of effort, threw themselves from the building. Zelda screamed with surprise and the two fell from the top of the cathedral as the police forces opened fire.
Both of them landed hard on the ground, wet snaps of bone echoed all around. Leman saw that his forearm bone shattered and had pierced his skin. Zelda swore she felt a few of her ribs brake under the blow and she saw a small pool of blood where she landed. "This world is ours, witch." Leman growled as he rose to his feet.
"No…" Zelda said coughing up some blood and pointed to the sky. "this world is theirs." Leman Looked up and saw a large shadow approaching them. Long, and as far as the horizon went, a shape was made out in the rain. Leman resent his bones and watched as Zelda disappeared in flash of eldritch energy and the World Serpent moved in next to him. Jormungard looked right into Lemans eyes and Leman did the same.
"Know this, son of Thor and Luna, I am more then capable of devouring you, flesh and all" The serpent hissed before Leman. "But know this, you may have won the first victory, but it is hollow. I give you your life for now, because you now will tell of my forthcoming. Send fear into their hearts, for I will come son to the halls of Asgard."
Leman howled like the wolf inside of him. "You have only sealed your own fate , world serpent. I am not your apostle. But now I know who you are, and I will rally those who will fight against you and all others. I will place you to the torch… just as I have done before." Jormungard laughed and oiled into a shroud of mist. Leman gathered his senses and saw Link bleeding out. He rushed over and carried him deeper into the city, away fro the incoming stream of fire.
Ulfric s
tood, he was beaten and battered but alive none of the less. The fallen smashers stood around him, triumphant but angry, they were sealed off from their prize. Of that Ulfric laughed. "You have failed to achieve that which you were sent to do." Falcon countered his insult with a well placed punch, sending Ulfric tumbling to the ground. She was just about ready to come to and Bowser towered over her, ready to shatter every bone in her body.
"Not so, Ulfric." Bowser said as he grasped a chocking Sheik by the throat. "While the heart of the elements is not in our grasp, we are about to thin the ranks of our enemy. One-" He twisted his wrist and Sheik grunted loudly in pain as one of her bones broke under the pressure. "At-" His grip tightened on her throat and she began to gasp for air. "A time." He then tossed her aside, slamming her into a wall, shattering at least three bones. Falcon then unholstered his side arm and was about ready to kill her.
"No!" Ulfric bellowed and they stopped. "I will take her place." The words came as a surprise and then to the glee of the fallen. "As long as no harm will come to her." Bowser nodded and Donkey Kong picked her up, a bit not gracefully and carried her out o the catacombs. Sheik was kicking and screaming all the while. Ulfric calmly stood before them, and looked into the fallen racer's eyes and slammed his fist on his chest.
Falcon's gun spoke only once and soon Ulfric's world became a realm of darkness.