Sunday Candy [Closed - Mature]

[Drake Pathos]

This was it. This was the Twilight Town in its radiance, the same radiance it had days before the explosion. Days before Darius brought death and destruction in his immature way. Something he couldn't escape, that fire and zest he craved. That fire and zest he chased and liked to catch. That fire and zest that swirled wild with fret and burned those who gave it the slightest lit. That swirling, engulfing, gripping, grasping, suffocating, raging whirlwind of wild anger and passion. Passionate inferno that was so hateful yet loving and the empathy it had burned the apathetic. That was the feeling of destroying a mark of Twilight Town. A mark that was now gone, but maybe it was for the best. Despite the regret and realizing he was evil for blowing it up, the tower REALLY did ask for something of the like.

But he knew. He understood. He even felt the sting of his consequences as someone sent pecking units. Assassins never meant to succeed. He'd burn them, too. No regret for it, even after staring at the black and smoldering orange-red of charred bone. Flesh vanished like a magician doing away with a card. A different kind of vanished suit. And there he stood, perusing a candy shop near the epitome of it all. One of the two, anyways. In his bronze-colored clothing, a puffy hat and dark-brown hair. He did what he had to do to survive. Darius decided he wanted to do more to make up for what he did. But, he had been mastering his disguise for weeks, even months. They knew him as Devin Copper. His favorite candy was the Zipper-Gobbers. Some dumb child-named candy that was terrible for anyone's teeth. He liked the root beer they made, the sundaes they gave him. He was poor, he had nothing. He hadn't seen Ellis in a week.

She...needed space. After an intense firefight while scavenging in the Sea of Skies, she saw a different side of Darius. But he still kept a hand held towards his warm amulet, wondering where the few interesting people he'd met had been. Faye, Tsumiko, Terra. Not many, that Prince Alexandre or whatever was cool. But he didn't like Princes, regardless of their new-age mindset. They always ended up rotten and healed into a proper Prince. Or a tyrannical one. Ellis was wandering Twilight Town, viewing the golden beauty for her own eyes. It felt familiar, but still she enjoyed the sight. No one noticed her, as she nearly blended in entirely. Darius sighed, knowing each moment meant that there could be someone else ready to find him. It was dangerous hanging around the very place he betrayed for petty vengeance. Sitting at the counter, he spun around in his chair, leaning back and looking out the windows. Three well-dressed and masked men stood with their hands at their waist, locking their left and right hands into themselves.

They did nothing but stare. Turning to his right, a man in a suit with dark hair and a slender body had a gun resting on the table. He had a mechanical mask on. "So, Sherry, can you go to the back and get me some of that Sunday Candy? Thanks, babe. And, uh, bag it up for me." Civilians scrambled out of the candy shop and the clerk listened as she was told. From a distance, the masked man carefully removed himself from his seat. Brushing himself off, he looked over at the brown-haired Fetch. "Darius." This prompted a swirling flame to flow through the air, and it engulfed the boy as he stood up. His body was equip with the OGF suit and all of its weaponry. "L'Ombra." Darius' armor revealed two arm-mounted blades while L'Ombra pointed his gun at Darius. "Well. You must have to be annoying, don't you?"

[Seeker of Carnage]

L'Ombra and Darius stared at each other for a while, waiting for one another to make a sudden movement. L'Ombra lowered his gun, which prompted Darius to fidget but the assassin did not change his composure. He sat at a booth by the window, setting down the gun and locking his fingers. Looking out of the window, he looked at Darius and then back to the empty view. People were kept away from smartly placed mercenaries. A unit he'd organize himself, they were not officially linked to Marigold so he kept it for himself. Darius sheathed his swords and his armor dissipated in a burst of fire. Sitting back down, he kept his head down. "Darius. This can go multiple ways. You know why I'm here. You know why you're here. I know, Ellis knows and I'm pretty sure nobody wants to hear dear Copper was the awful defiler of purity. The arsonist that kicked the hornet's nest."

L'Ombra slowly turned his head, and intense look masked by his frontal piece. "People died. This place was more than burned, a man brought terror and nightmares into this world. He destroyed this place and it was in the moment of weakness you created. Did you know that?" Darius didn't answer, he just simply tried to suppress whatever emotions he had so Ellis didn't come near. He spun around a couple times and then leaned back to look into the sun-filled square. "So, you probably have a sniper trained on me...right? I mean, when you chased me to this system, that sharpshooter kept quite the aim on me. To force me into a group of bandits and civilians, however, that was some good stuff." His hands hidden under the table, L'Ombra tightened the grip on his interlocked fingers. "This isn't a joke, Darius." Darius turned to him, an apathetic expression on his face. "I know. Though, what you don't know is that you're prepared to capture or kill a father. Someone who -- oh it's Tsubot." This brought a look of confusion from L'Ombra, recognizing the initial part of the name.

Leaning, set aback by the name, an enraged mecha shoved its hand through the window and gripped L'Ombra by the head. All he could let out was, "Oh dear." Before being flung across the square. His body smashed along the ground a couple times before slamming against a tree. The tree began to extend and grow, planting themselves into the ground. He used the roots to spread the wood across the underground. Darius stepped out of the candy shop with flames engulfing him once more, forming his armor. Revealing his arm-blades once more, he awaited L'Ombra. The assassin had to deal with slight bits of blood dripping from his mouth. "This little shit...Sparrow, disable the target. I'm going to have fun with this." Darius was already dashing his way, prompting L'Ombra to summon  a thick spike of wood from the ground, which Darius vaulted around and over, kicking off it. He came down on L'Ombra, but suddenly he was repelled by a heavy shot directly against his visor.

Tumbling into the spike, wooden hands came from the ground and entangled Darius. Suddenly, his body burst into flames as more hands tried gripping him. As the hands burned away, L'Ombra focused to keep the boy in a loop. "Havelock, the robot. Destroy it." Tsubot fired her fist, a burst of steam and pressure propelling it. A man appeared from the shadows, kicking it to where it would slam into the entangled Darius. This freed Darius but made him tumble and yet again vulnerable to L'Ombra's traps. A wooden fist burst from the ground, launching Darius into the air. Tsubot sluggishly and rigidly tried to attack Havelock, who danced around the robot. His daggers swiftly dug into her joints. Sparks flew and the robot would seize for moments at a time. Mounting her, he would repeatedly stab down on her neck. "TSUBOT!" As Darius fell, he had wished Ellis was near him.

"Ellis..."

[Drake Pathos]

Soaring in the air, Darius thought about his past time spent with the robot he built to guard Ellis and when she could, Tsumiko. The time spent with his fiery wisp that granted him emotional solace. The warmth in his heart, the very thing she was birthed from. When they stared at each other, it felt like he had the soul of a thousand lives of daring heroes and grey villains. Of reckless adventurers and ignorant, compassionate beings. But now that they were separate, Darius was alone. Tsubot couldn't help him, she was not very advanced and the first of her kind. But now a man wielding daggers was tearing away at her metal. The paint chipped and scrapped off, the metal dented. A very crude being created by the passion of both Darius and Tsumiko.

While the blueberry head likely didn't see her in such a light, Darius saw Tsubot as a daughter despite being young. He birthed her, gave her magical life. That took great will. Now he was being attacked by villainous people. Awful defilers of nature, of life. Takers of freedom. The very chains of wood binding around his body as he was suspended represented the role L'Ombra played in the worlds. His body burned the wood, yet again was it renewed each time. Tsubot gripped Havelock whom was on her back, slamming him down and then spinning her arm to do so yet again, creating a crate the size of his body. Grounding him, she pounded away before gripping him again. Tsubot's eyes were entirely read, signalling she was in her full offense mode. Suddenly, her attention was taken by the large explosion freeing Darius. His Mortar had gone off, sending him soaring to the ground. When he regained his stance, he approached L'Ombra and trapped him in a flurry of molten stabs.

His body was riddled with seared wounds, prompting him to summon a pillar of wood behind him to shift through. Darius sliced it apart, keeping up his onslaught. Clashing, L'Ombra's scimitar and Darius' blades met with great agility and speed. Suddenly Darius was knocked off his feet when a bullet slammed against the side of his visor, sending him tumbling. Sheathing his Sunfire Blades, he summoned his Wildheart, entering a duel with L'Ombra. "I was going to let you have this, but to destroy...the only thing I'll create. The only being I'll create...L'Ombra you are one of the wild things such as I. I will crush you like I will be crushed too." "A pity. You really deem that hunk of metal a being? Living and breathing? It is nothing more than a temporary animation of magic. Don't delude yourself." The two clashed, fire against electric. Darius was faster but the precision of L'Ombra allowed him to time his parries and counters just right.

Gripping L'Ombra's blade with his armored hand, Darius through his blade behind him, causing it to ricochet off the ground and into a light pole. Gripping L'Ombra by the throat, he slammed him on the ground before proceeding to build momentum while his blade returned. Throwing L'Ombra into Wildheart, he nearly impaled the bastard before vines of wood had separated the two. The blade was deflected while L'Ombra regained the neutral. "Brute force will only bring demise in the face of intuition." Darius summoned the blade to his hand, going for an overhead slash. Though he feigned it and shifted the blade to his other hand to go for a stab. Driving the blade into L'Ombra's gut, the assassin gripped Darius' shoulder and a spiny spike of wood drilled into his prototype armor, impaled his right shoulder and disabling that arm. The spike of wood looped around and created a secondary hole, eventually combining the two from its spines.

"AGH! My arm....I need that!" L'Ombra chuckled with a low, menacing tone, stabbing his scimitar into the other shoulder. Slowly it slid through, reaching a few halts before being firmly planted. Separating himself from both the wood and sword, L'Ombra circled around the boy. "We are the outsiders...Darius. We are free to do what we want, even crush our own. I chose wealth over an insomniac plague of pain. I am a deliverer, not a receiver. A dealer dealt with a hand that holds a higher trump card than the Sun." Darius, screaming in agony, wondered where everyone had gone. But the crowd control that L'Ombra did seemed to have stretched far as routes into the square were blockaded by wooden fences, with mercenaries portraying themselves as bandits building a story about being bounty hunters and fending off the militia. L'Ombra came here in a manner that made him lack liability. If he were to be caught, he'd receive his Burn Notice then and there.

Meanwhile, Tsubot just kept pounding on a brutally broken Havelock. Prompting Sparrow to curse over the comms that only L'Ombra had a working piece for as their companion had his broken. "Kingslayer, this is Longbow....He's...He's dying god damnit. He's dying and you have to save him!" L'Ombra chuckled, speaking over the comm. "You may be stoic the majority of the time, but god damn don't you have a soft side. Seems... "Don't let that...thing kill him!" L'Ombra nodded, looking over to Tsubot, waving a hand as thin veins of wood seeped into the frame and immobilized Tsubot. But he did not expect what came next. From her mouth poured a wild inferno that consumed Havelock.

It glowed brightly with a brilliance that spoke instant death for Havelock. As soon as he could, L'Ombra flailed his arm towards the mouth of the mecha. A thick spike was sent soaring through the ground, impaling Tsubot's head and quelling the fire by shattering the bonds that kept the top half of the head on as well as the mechanism used to feed from the core. The spike bent downward driving into her body. Unable to pierce to the core, the spike split into a cage for it. Pulling back his hand with an invisible resistance, L'Ombra tried his best to tear the core from the mecha's body. Suddenly, the mecha vanished and Darius was climbing her back while L'Ombra was turned around. When he turned to meet Darius, a large cannon poked from Darius' chest. Tsubot turned and messily gripped L'Ombra. Firing down a blazing bomb, L'Ombra could only remember a bright light and debri flying all around him. The vegetation and wood around him he'd manipulate crumbled into dust as their life force was expended.

Havelock laid there, his body badly burned with scorched and liquid skin, charred on the surface but his life was still salvageable. Riding on Tsubot, Darius made his escape. She had flown off with wildfire and steam being left behind. In the diner, there was the clerk that watched it all, terrified and frozen. When the time came for the militia to take control of the situation, Havelock and L'Ombra were already gone. All that was left were the arrested mercenary. Of course, it was a ruse and they'd never make it to trial, which they assumed was their escape. No. It was their execution. Darius and Tsubot disappeared into the sewers after making a good enough distance. They camped down there while L'Ombra and company recovered from their own wounds.

[Seeker of Carnage]

L'Ombra struggled to stand once he was hit by the full force of the Mortar shot Darius dealt to him. He stumbled around, coughing and weezing as dust and smoke kicked up. Looking around, he took a moment to regain his orientation, regardless of being unable to shake off his handicapped movement. Sluggishly retrieving his Scimitar, he used it to keep himself standing, moving over to Havelock's burned body. "Longbow? Longbow can you hear me?" All he could hear was static. He removed the ear piece and crushed it. When he came upon Havelock, he realized the type of medical care would need to be extensive and likely from the nearest SOL station as they usually had state-of-the-art and fresh tech. But Marigold had resources, yet he knew she likely wouldn't approve of this set up. Noticing the Clerk that had heard their conversation, he slowly stumbled into the gaping hole that Tsubot made. Retrieving his pistol, he lifted it up at her, prompting her to scream.

No shot was heard, simply the final breath of loud anguish as he eliminated the last remaining witness. Her blood was splattered along the wall behind her, chunks of brain and skull slowly rolling down the thick ichor that was a humanoid's lifeblood. Turning back to Havelock, Sparrow had removed himself from the ground and surfaced, strapping his sniper to his back. Taking Havelock into his arms, he had a look of sorrow as he removed his mechanical mask. L'Ombra turned his head away, aware of their silent romance despite their outer personalities. It wasn't even exclusive to each other or their orientation. They were comrades and they entrusted their lives in each other. A terrible reason, but a reason nonetheless. L'Ombra signalled to Sparrow, who lifted Havelock and contacted an extraction squad. A group of well-armed mercenaries lead the trio safely into the sewer system, narrowly missing the entrance of Darius and Tsubot as they retreated to the headquarters.

Before leaving, Sparrow left his two comrades in the HQ's medical facility and proceeded to dispose of the mercenaries that knew of them and their location. When everything was situated, Sparrow was immediately at Havelock and L'Ombra's side. "He's in a coma, L. He's not waking up now...not for a while." Seemingly apathetic, L'Ombra grunted at having to move to an up-right position and looked to Sparrow, his mask removed. "Well, that's the perks of being a front-liner. He did his job...and it had consequences." Sparrow kept his calm, but both of them knew he wanted to yell and pout and scream and blame. "She really wants him alive." "She does. I intend on bringing him alive. I took his arms, though. He won't be making bombs for a long time. Nor will he be swinging that blasted sword of his." Sparrow sat silent for quite a while, remembering something very important about the case.

"That kid...has a companion. A friend aside from the mecha. She's small, a wisp or fairy or something alive and flying. If we take that, if we crush her, we'll crush his will and his light. Vengeance won't bring her back. Vengeance will only be an Icarus in the sky. Flying too close to the sun." "Talkative, eh? Well...Errgh...We'll get him. I'll send scouts to retrieve whoever this companion is, likely another golem of fire. I don't want to just take his arms, I want to take his will. When I present him, I want his eyes to be dead and empty when she stares into them." "I know his abomination nearly killed Havelock...but could you be mad about what he destroyed?" L'Ombra kept silent, remembering the artifact Del Rey had that was destroyed along with his life.

"He held something very dear to me, that bastard of a kingpin. And Darius destroyed that last remaining precious jewel of mine. I won't forgive him until I've had my way." Sparrow and L'Ombra sat solemnly as the market was closed off. L'Ombra already commissioned mages to clean the mess, so by the time people were allowed back in...everything was ordinary. Except the hottest news would be that the jewelry shop and all the shops were robbed of their money but the perpetrators were caught and the money was returned. Just like his older jobs, neatly cleaned up after a messy party. No trace. L'Ombra would likely see someone from the Darksons soon if the doctors alerted them. Likely Three, even. He was not looking forward to it. But thankfully, Darius had no where to go with a blind mecha and him being left in his disabled state. He had no where to run.

[Tsumiko]

It had been quite a while since the songstress had been to Twilight Town. She casually strolled through the streets with her fingers laced behind her back, taking slow, deliberate steps. She hummed happily to herself, a small smile playing her lips. With each step she took, her head would bob from side to side. It had been a rather… peaceful day, but it was about time that she began to check in with her friends and ‘family’. She was sure that they were beginning to miss her dearly. The first stop on her list was this wonderful world, frozen in everlasting twilight. Or so the saying went.

Along the way, however, there was a wavering in her chest. Tsumiko raised an inquisitive hand to her chest and placed delicate fingers upon her breast, over-top her heart. She hummed quietly in curiosity, looking down. It hurt a little. Whatever could it be?~

Allowing her feet to guide her through the streets, the silver-blue haired woman turned a corner and felt as though she were nearing. The area was quite empty, which was odd considering the town had so many people in it. It was almost eerie to see an area so empty. It peaked the woman’s intrigue at that moment, and she began to wander even closer. Eventually, the sound of conflict reached her ears, and she laid eyes upon quite the unfortunate scene. Hidden in the shadow of a building, she watched as Marigold’s affiliate, L’Ombra, and his crew face off against a bot that was fashioned in the songstress’ image and its creator. Subconsciously, the woman raised a hand to her chest a second time. So that was the cause of the disturbance, was it? Poor little Tsubot…

She watched as the robot consumed a man in flames after having been rooted to the spot. But that was only after seeing the young... brunette be stabbed through. My, Darius had changed a bit. Or at least, the woman could only assume that it was him. She doubted that he would allow any others to make such violent use of the bot that he placed so much time and care into maintaining. Despite that, he fought on to save the badly damaged robot. In the end, the two took off in a blaze of glory, soaring off in the sky. It wasn’t long before everyone had went their separate ways. By the time she entered the plaza, all the combatants were gone. “Huh… Well how very rude of them. Making a mess and leaving it for others to clean up.” Tsumiko said to herself and looked around at the aftermath of the fight that had just taken place. She acted as though it wasn’t much of a deal and stepped out into the middle of the area, arms crossed casually under her bust. Tsumiko had taken the moment to enter the shop, gazing around at the destruction, and approach the now dead clerk.

“I see you’ve had a bit of an incident, here.” She began, giving the vacant eyes of the bleeding woman a bright, soft smile. “I apologize for the mess, but if you could… forget you saw any of this, then I can have your shop here fixed up in no time at all. Consider it a… compensation for your cooperation. All you have to do is not say a word. Heehee~” Closing her eyes, the woman tipped her head to the side with a benevolent smile. Of course, there was no response from the corpse, and the songstress nodded her head in thanks, taking it as a sign of agreement. Giggling a second time, Tsumiko gave a small curtsy and left the shop through the front door, like a polite lady ought to.

Now, she had a choice to make. Follow to L’Ombra and help them lick their wounds? Or track down the boy and his bot? The woman weighed the ups and downs to both options, and made her decision. Turning on her heels, she took off to where the good Sir L’Ombra might be, and would later swing by where she thought that Darius might be hiding, using her connection with Tsubot’s core as her guiding light. But that light was so very damaged. A small smile curled the corner of her lips. Hopefully the two of them survived long enough to be found. After all, she did promise herself to help the boy at whatever cost. No way she was going to let him die now, of all times. “Oh sweet, silly Darius. What have you gotten yourself into this time?~” She asked out loud in a quiet, amused voice as she walked with a bounce in her step.

Shortly after she had faded into the alleys the the town to find the assassin, the mages that were hired had done a fantastical job at cleaning the place up. It wasn’t long before the songstress had appeared in the facility that the trio was in, getting fixed up. Being who she was, and the connections she had, it wasn't all that hard to get in, and she walked right up to them with a pleasant smile on her lips. “Hello, gentlemen. Have a… rough outing?~” She asked them in a cheery tone. Her eyes looked them up and down, surveying all the damage that was done, and then moved a hand to cover over her lips as she giggled. Despite what she had just witnessed, she seemed rather unfazed by it all. “Mind if I help patch you all up?” She asked, almost innocently as she tipped her head to the side.

[Seeker of Carnage]

Groaning in pain, L'Ombra watched as a the blueberry-head that the Darkson boy fawned over had entered. His youthful face, something perceived as a young, inexperienced and innocent young adult's regardless of the irony of that description and how untrue it was, was now fully in view of the blueberry-head. He looked at her with his shimmering eyes, his face bruised and his body riddle with black spots from where the molten blades scraped. L'Ombra chuckled, shaking his head. "Where did you meet that boy? These past few weeks...I've been hunting him down and what a wild dog he is." Sparrow resisted the urge to look towards the healer, completely mute now that someone outside of their trio that had a voice had entered the room.

"Havelock is going to need more than healing. I think I'm going to have to request some assistance from the RND department. I hope the fellow assassino will provide...As for I? I can be healed quite easily." L'Ombra could hardly move with all of his wounds. Sparrow stood up and walked off. He didn't remove his mask, so he kept himself cloaked and his features hidden. He took his sniper and moved through a wall, vanishing. He went to go hunt down the arsonist demon and meant to take what he could've taken from him. What might be taken already. But Havelock's heart still beat, as faint as it was. L'Ombra sighed, looking towards Sparrow's exit and then back to Tsumiko. "Now, would you like to know how I found Darius? How this...came to be? It's quite interesting, actually, and I think you might be intrigued. And you may be able to help me." L'Ombra smiled devilishly, thinking on how to truly break the pyro.

[Drake Pathos]

Meanwhile, Sparrow took to the city as the sun was descending more and more. Darius was camped underneath the city, crying in pain and shuttering. Tsubot cradled him, with no sound other than the creaking of the damaged mecha's harmed joints. With a linear rhythm, Tsubot tried to comfort the bleeding pyro. His arms were barely attached, prompting him to remove himself from Tsubot. "Tsubot...I need you...I need you to harm master. For his own good." Tsubot sat still, her back against the brick wall of the sewer's innards. Darius clenched his teeth, his eyes shut hard from the pain. "I command you to...I command you to rip my arms off so I can sear them shut." Tsubot didn't budge. Darius couldn't help but stumble back onto the ground, unable to use his barely-attached arms to keep himself from fully falling. "I know! I know why you won't...But you must. It is for my own good. No matter how I scream, just do it. As fast as you can. Do it."

Tsubot struggled to stand, her joints locking briefly before releasing and then repeating. Slowly grabbing and squeezing Darius' arms, she jerked hard. He didn't feel his arms anymore, but where they had been damaged still burdened him with unfathomable amounts of pain. Yelling out, his voice rung throughout the sewers and poured out from the grates from how it bounced around. Sparrow, nearby a drain, took note of this audible yelp of pain. Knowing where to go, he swam through the ground and into the sewer. Scouring the damp tunnels, he saw a light in the distance. Eventually he came across an unconscious Darius and hulking Tsubot dangling her arms over him. Headless, she seemed to be in a position that had a hint of sorrow. Motionless, Tsubot merely felt the presence of Sparrow. Immediately he fired a shot into her right shoulder. The bullet exploded, tearing off her already weakened arm.

Tsubot stumbled past Darius, narrowly avoiding him with her foot. She followed the impact trajectory, but was easily avoided. Firing into the back of her knees twice, two explosions disabled her leg-based movement. Stepping over her back, Sparrow slammed the tip of his sniper into the middle. Turning to Darius, who was awaking from his self-inflicted burns. An inner anger unlike Sparrow arose. "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED DARIUS!? For someone to take everything from you. We know how much you love this abomination. I'm hear to eliminate it. I'm going to bring you in...You'll pay for letting this...thing burn him." Emotions were clouding Sparrow's attention and judgment, Being flung into the wall, cracking it a little. Tsubot rushed Sparrow, who swam into the wall, moving to the side and exitting the wall. He shot the other arm off Tsubot, who planted it into the brick. Darius shook his head, crawling the best he could.

"Please! Please don't! Please! I can...I can fix her! I can fix whoever she hurt! I can...I can..." "And that's you're mistake, Darius." A large explosion of fire sent Sparrow tumbling. He wasn't too badly injured, but a bright dot of flame had danced around, flinging fireball after fireball. When she suppressed Sparrow enough to force his retreat, she flew to her companion's side. "Oh...Darius...Darius are you okay? What happened? It's been a week and this happens! You're arms...Oh my...Oh my god." Darius couldn't stop crying, looking at the only thing he truly loved. Ellis gave him hope. She was his light in the darkness. "Oh. You k-know. Just...Just b-being me, Elle. J-Just being good Ol' Darius. The M-Mighty...Sun." Ellis went to go embrace Darius, but suddenly a hand ripped her away from Darius.

He stood there, silent. Shocked. He didn't shudder or move, his eyes only popped open and he sat with a gaping mouth in his armless stature of hopelessness. "ELLIS!" Soon after, Darius passed out. Tsubot was immobile, and they were victim to whatever creeped along the tunnels.

[Tsumiko]

“I met him in a strange place with blinding white walls.” The songstress answered his question honestly, flashing him a tight, bright smile. Looking over the leader of the pact, the burns and wounds only seemed to add to his… charm. For a short second, the woman wondered what the sound of his screams would be like? Were they deep and restrained? Or shrill and unhindered? Listening to his tough-guy persona, Tsumiko felt as though he’d be the type to try and hold it in, cursing under his breath.


L’Ombra then continued to speak, and the woman turned her glimmering eyes to the charred man that laid there, motionless. “Then I will leave what happens to him to you~” Again, her thoughts wandered for a moment. What did it feel like to be burned alive? Was the heat so great that it matched burning passion? No, no. It had to be much greater than that.


Tsumiko, still smiling sweetly, followed Sparrow with her eyes as he left the room. No doubt to enact a hasty revenge for his friend. Some people were just so simpleminded when it came to those important to them. And yet, she didn’t think herself any different. The songstress would protect those she loved and valued with her life, and would take any that stood in the way. Taking the seat that Sparrow had formerly been using, Tsumiko pulled it up to L’Ombra.


“Please. Do tell me your story.” She said with him, turning her eyes and attention to him as she raised her hands to mend his wounds a little. "You've peaked my interest." She didn’t care much for the man, especially after what he had done, but if she was to be sitting here, the songstress may was well be doing something with herself.


Her hands hovered over the first of his wounds, and a light humming came from the woman’s throat. Her hands began to glow with a soft light, but it appeared… dimmed. As though the pure light had been grayed out to a slight degree. But the woman paid no mind to that fact, as she gazed at the strapping young man, smiling in anticipation. He better talk fast.

[Seeker of Carnage]

L'Ombra chuckled, signalling a nurse to retrieve his possessions. She retrieved a tracker of some sort, which he waved towards the blueberry head before inspecting it. "Interesting you say that...you see..." A smile stretched across his face. L'Ombra had been tracking Darius' mark for a long time and it kept L'Ombra nearby. "Well, the very thing that had him disappearing at random intervals. It's why this was so hard...and yet so easy. So simple. We just found out what created it and pursued that lead. But the story behind that..." L'Ombra looked at the slow-blinking beacon, indicating Darius was still on the world, but no where nearby. L'Ombra began to tell the tale of his hunt...

---

A month ago

---

"Oi! L'Bow, Guess what I see? Rocks. More Rocks. I think that one had some holes in it! That one's shaped like an egg!" L'Ombra rolled his eyes, relaxing in his chair as Sparrow piloted their ship. It was rather open and luxurious, a very welcome inheritance from Del Ray's departure from Twilight Town. Now it was time to divide attention between Darius and Del Ray, with the latter taking immediate precedent. They had been sniffing for scouts, eventually redirecting towards La Cite' de la Cloches. L'Ombra's intel had pulled him there, with an aged vault of the Del Ray family being the main point of interest. When they reached a good, out-of-city location, the trio were met with a pack of humanoid wolves. They all snarled menacingly, shooting gazes of wild, uncontrollable blood thirst. L'Ombra entangled them with thick vines of wood, which they tore through easily. Sparrow and Havelock, however, had gunned them down. The trio had straightened their padded suits, placing mechanical masks on their faces.

Rolling through the six miles between his ship and the city with his woes, L'Ombra eventually came upon the grand entrance to the holder of the behemoth cathedral. It was a massive, architecturally stunning city. It amazed even the likes of L'Ombra with how the brick became so radiant in its best parts. But it was not the gold that Twilight Town had sustained. Sparrow immediately hid himself into the shadows, Havelock doing the same as L'Ombra cloaked himself. Following the directions collected from his intel, he came upon a cafe. This was the first of many stops as he had to meet a contact -- a mole in Del Ray's operation more specifically. Sitting there, he ordered some coffee and a danish as the man passed him a file.

Peaking at it, he nodded and put a finger to his comm. Standing up, the server brought the coffee and danish once the masked man was already gone. Screams rung throughout the cafe as they noticed the blood splatter stretched across the ground with the contact slumped over. L'Ombra spoke over the comm, nodding toward the alleys where Havelock lurked. "Cloak'N'Dagger, status. Same for Longbow. We're nearing the location--" Suddenly, a fiery burst had ejected from the building. Groups of well-dressed guards crashed into the building across from the now-burning apothecary. Readying his pistol, he signaled Havelock to flank while Sparrow readied himself for whatever would emerge. A figure full of fire held a blade of radiant flames, emerging from the smog he created from within the building. When it all cleared, L'Ombra held a gun towards a ginger-Darius.

"Well, I couldn't take care of my business without stumbling upon a nuisance. I presume you're Darius Fetch." Darius blinked his eyes, sensing Ellis near him as they took off. The boy knew someone was coming after him, but L'Ombra wasn't too worried. He had some matters of his own to take care of. Little did he know, Darius was also preparing to take on Del Ray. He still needed to finalize his vengeance, just without severely reducing the population. L'Ombra ordered his companions to ease down, continuing down the path. Eventually he came upon another stop, a gypsy stand that was temporarily set up. He had the gypsies stow away a few key supplies such as breaching devices. He just needed to pay a storage fee. Retrieving them, he moved on. Darius, meanwhile, was kicking down doors and taking names. His usual way, except he refrained from his normal lethality.

"I'm really doing good, Ellis." He would continually tell her, each time being met with a response that wasn't too keen on what he was actually doing. As the protagonist and antagonist hunted down the former mob leader, they both intersected at the entrance of the bank. L brandished his gun and Darius his sword. The issue was, if they solved their dilemma now the winner would be too wounded to deal with what was inside. "You're not dumb, I'm not dumb. Let's go take care of this once and for all." While the assassin didn't trust the boy to NOT thwart him, The two agreed, entering the building.

Upon entering, a bank of grand structure, they were instantly met with violent resistance. While L'Ombra kept his moves brutal and had assistance from Sparrow in eliminating his half, Darius was using the broad side of his sword and incapacitating the guards. Finding the vault to the bank, L'Ombra revealed his breaching bombs, but Darius waved him off. Making his hand grow a brilliant bright, he punched the door with all of his might, sending heat all throughout and making it grow a radiant orange. It eventually collapsed in its molten state, but it allowed them to get in with considerably less noise. L'Ombra, sweaty from the intense heat, searched the room for any sort of hidden hatch. Eventually he used his scimitar to slice off the top layer of the floor to reveal a hatched leading much further down. Havelock appeared from nowhere, ready to accompany the two.

Once they descended down, the trio was met with a mace-wielding guard. This was Del Ray's favorite hired muscle, Gerald. He was a mountain of muscle, but was not hindered by it. Immediately Darius rushed in, a mace clashing with his Wildheart. Havelock went in on the gigantic man, disabling his legs while Sparrow shot out one of his shoulders. L'Ombra walked up calmly, stabbing him through the chest and removing the blade, walking past the guard. The trio eventually came upon another vault, trying to puncture it with both the bombs and Darius' fire. A menacing chuckle had taken their attention, getting them to turn and peer behind. Del Ray, wielding a giant scimitar himself and a shotgun, left and right hands holding each respectively.

"So, this is where you hid. You know, I don't--" Exploding from the ceiling was a large mecha that came down on Del Ray. He didn't expect it, and like that it was over. Splat. Now the vault would forever remain locked until L'Ombra could get someone from the Darkson RND department to crack the door. Furious , he pointed a gun at Darius' head and pulled the trigger. Tsubot teleported in the way, absorbing the blow. Jetting off, Ellis granted the mecha and Darius flight."DARIUS! God damnit...He had...He had it. He had my precious...my..." He angrily shot into the empty space, knowing Darius was long gone by now. Such a pitiful and uneventful way fro someone to die. Simply crushed by surprise. No foreplay, long discussion wasting everyone's time, a giant mecha just...fell on him.

After that, L'Ombra began calling on former, buried contacts to help search every nook and crany for the pyro. Which led to a firefight. Darius was in his ship, minding his own business when a squadron lead by L'Ombra's trio ambushed them. The ship Darius and company used was not well-made, it was simply something he slapped together to get the hell out of dodge. After several breaches in the hall, this sent Darius crash landing onto Neverland. The Lost Boys helped him hide, but L'Ombra was swift to capture one of them. Dragging the spear-holding child into an open field, he yelled out to the pyro. "You know what happens if you don't come out." Darius, hesitant to make his entrance, looked at the Lost Boys with great grief. "I'm sorry." He said, raising his hand, revealing a burning insignia. Ellis gripped his shoulder with her tiny, fairy-like hands and Tsubot hugged Darius. All three disappeared in a burst of flame, reappearing within one of the ambush crew's ships and flying off.

Shutting his eyes hard, tears welled up as a shot rung throughout Neverland. Another home burnt to the ground in some way or another. For the time being, Darius was out of L'Ombra's hands. Up until another firefight forced him into the same system Twilight Town was in, again using his mark to teleport into safety. This time, L'Ombra picked up the magical signal the mark emitted, reading its fingerprint. L'Ombra knew he was in Twilight Town. The very town where it would take place. His intel had come back, and he learned a bit more about his companions. About his love for Ellis. L'Ombra was going to play off of that...and snuff out her fire. Not knowing about Darius' disguise, he had sniffed him out, tracking him and eventually discovering his implantation into society. No one knew it was him, and he had apparently gotten sweet on the candy shop clerk, which urged him to return because of that fact. One day, L'Ombra approached the girl without his mask on.

Smiling at her, she hesitated with her movements. His eyes were too imposing, too striking. She felt uneasy around him. He ordered a sundae, but she couldn't help but panic when he stared at her. When he left, he turned to her, "You were so pretty too. A sad thing, girl." She was too scared to tell anyone, fearing that she might get involved in something she didn't want to. Regardless, Darius' disguised persona made her feel comfortable. A smile was always on her face when he was around. He was so lively.

---

"And now...she is very much dead. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to have to take everything from him for ruining my chance at taking something back from Del Ray. Something very important to me. It's just good that the Darksons have you, and soon they will have him...just broken. Then Miss Marigold can do anything she wants to him." He chuckled, awaiting her to heal him. "It was a sad thing, having to kill her. But I knew she'd be stuck there. Ah, but the mess is clean and people were told a different story from what actually happened. All is fine."

[Tsumiko]

As Tsumiko’s tainted light magic was placed against the assassin’s beaten and burned body, healing the wounds. Sure, the pain would be alleviated, but only after a sharp stinging graciously touched upon him. Her eyes watched as the nurse brought something over, and L’Ombra showed to her the tracker. So they had been using a third rate tool such as that, hm? Regardless, the songstress listened to him speak, retelling his adventure.

So it was L’Ombra that shot that cute little shop clerk, who was dead upon the songstress’ rival. It really was a shame. From what she could tell, the girl was quite the catch, and the little that remained of her face was enough for her to tell of her previous beauty. Tsumiko had to wonder what it was that Darius took from him, but it had to have been important to incite such hyper-focused rage. She was almost to a point of satisfaction in L’Ombra’s healing, and continued up until that point.

The glow around her hands faded, and they returned to cross under her bust in a casual fashion. L’Ombra wasn’t 100% healed, but he would be able to move around now without being in too much pain. “All is fine if you’re content with it, is it? I’m sure that woman would say otherwise.” She said as she stood up. Tsumiko directed a smile at him, pleasant, sweet. “But I suppose her lips are sealed now. Heehee… Oh well. But that was indeed an interesting tale. Unfortunately, I have other matters to attend to. I do wish you and yours the best of luck with what’s to come.”

With a courteous bow of her head, the woman then turned to leave the facility. Now, it was time to hunt down her little pyro friend and see what sort of trouble Sparrow caused him. Hopefully, he was still… salvageable. Tsumiko followed the pull of Tsubot’s core. Strolling through the streets, she had to sniff out that flickering light. She was going as quick as she could without causing suspicion.

It wasn’t too long after, that the woman found herself in the sewers, walking forward with a raised brow and a look of mild disgust. Thankfully, she didn’t have to toil in that filth for too long before coming across an unconscious Darius and an immobile Tsubot. Giggling softly at the sight, she approached them to do a quick bit of healing.

[Drake Pathos]

As Tsumiko left to retrieve Darius, Sparrow entered. He had awaited the songstress to disappear and even checked before revealing a capsule to L'Ombra. The assassino stared, his face filling with joy as he sprung from his bed. A nurse came to urge L'Ombra to lay down and rest, but he gripped her face and a green aura exuded from her body, being absorbed into L'Ombra's hand. She aged rapidly, as well as her body dehydrating at an equal rate. Eventually the nurse was simply a dry, decayed carcass that L'Ombra looked at awkwardly. "Maybe the news was just too good. Whoops. Well, nameless and expendable. Sparrow, do your thing...I'm going to set everything up." L'Ombra disappeared, heading into the forest between the city and the mansion. While the majority of it was damaged still as trees take a while to come back, L'Ombra was able to restore parts of it in order to build a torture room. The torture room itself was hidden underneath a hunting shack, but it was still there.

As Tsumiko found Darius, she would hear the whimpers of a flaking mecha. Tsubot couldn't exactly cry out to her mother, but she did want to. She wanted to so bad, if it wasn't for her head being blown off. Tsubot was nearly limbless, unable to move and the damage finally reaching her core in some form. Darius was frozen in shock, his eyes wide and staring at the ground. This wasn't something he could solve through fire. Through destruction. Through any means that meant sweet vengeance...No Ellis was alive and to keep her that way he knew this situation trapped him under a bed of caution and fear. Tsubot leaned in the direction she sensed her mother, falling over. Darius slowly turned his head to look at Tsubot, hesitantly turning to face Tsumiko, his face was full of despair. "Ellis...Tsumiko...Ellis...Give me Ellis..." He couldn't stop thinking and obsessing over the disappearance of Ellis, his heart pumped heard.

Darius ignored all the acrid around him, all the putrid despair and the loss of his own parts. He couldn't take his mind off of the fiery fairy. "Ellis....Ellis....Ellis..." He shook his head each time he called out her name, continuing this while increasing the energy of each time he said Ellis. Eventually, he would just yell and cry and break down and shatter and just make a mess all over his face. Flashes of memories of their journeys through the worlds, mapping them out and gliding through space. The stars they passed, things they'd seen. People they met, fought, befriended, but more importantly...It was the time between themselves that Darius treasured. Now he knew what L'Ombra wanted to do to his light if he didn't turn himself in. Darius backed himself against the tunnel wall, looking at Tsumiko with his face full of wretch. "They...took her..."

[Tsumiko]

Sharp eyes gazed over the robot as the songstress neared the pair. The machine was in quite the sorry state, and would need a massive amount of repairs before she’d be operable again. Suddenly, the mecha tipped towards the songstress, and Tsumiko watched it fall over with a raised brow. Her expression was quickly replaced with a look of concern and she stepped over to it. “There, there, Tsubot. Take it easy, and let mommy take care of everything.” She’d say in a soft tone as she pat the cold metal with a hand.

Perhaps, instead of repairs, it would have been easier to just build Tsubot a new body and frame altogether. Using Darkson resources, it shouldn’t have been too difficult, after all. Perhaps she could ask Mari-chan a favor when she returned to their residence on the world. If they were even here at the moment. Who knew?

Her attention was then drawn away to the boy that was collapsed on the floor. He stammered a bit, arms removed entirely. That definitely struck the songstress by surprise, and she got up to near him. Kneeling beside his damaged frame, Tsumiko listened to his words, which primarily consisted of Ellis’ name over and over. Reaching out a hand, the woman gazed down at him and brushed aside a lock of hair that rested on his face, covered in blood, sweat, and tears. It was indeed a sad sight that she feasted her eyes on. Opposed to the worried face she wore, Tsumiko was soaking in the sight, delighted by it. He looked so adorable, broken and in tears. She wanted to gaze upon that sad, sorry Darius for a moment longer as he cried out in anguish. It was a delicious sight to watch. The songstress remained where he was as he pushed himself up against a wall and looked at her.

Readjusting herself so that he leaned a shoulder against the wall, facing the young pyro as she crouched to his level. Raising out her hands, she offered a soft smile in an attempt to comfort him, and began to heal his severely damaged shoulders to a point where the bleeding would at least stop. They were seared closed, yes, but still needed some attention. Again, the light that immersed her hands was greyed ever so slightly with wisps of what would appear to be faint smoke.

“Then once I get you all fixed up, we can go look for her.” She said in a soft tone, looking at Darius for a moment with upturned eyes and a small smile. Her voice and humming would echo throughout the tunnel, bouncing against them over and over. “Where they hide, exactly, I’m not sure. But I’m sure a bit of snooping and asking favors, and I can find out. Not all is lost, Darius. Have hope, for I am on your side. So buck up, hm? Crying won’t solve the current problem. I would think that you’d at least know that much.” She said with a small chuckle.

Her eyes turned back to the wound that was his shoulder. My, how wanted to just dig her nails into that sensitive, tender flesh and hear him scream. Those melodic sounds of pain and displeasure would have sounded so very sweet in her ears. But, there was a time and place for everything. For now, Tsumiko had to resist her more darker urges and assist this sad excuse for a human being. It was, after all, a vow she had made to herself, long ago.

[Seeker of Carnage]

Darius stopped speaking and kept silent after his whispers slowly died off. His whimpers, staring into Tsumiko's eyes, eventually faded as did his consciousness despite her healing. Meanwhile, back at the headquarters in the infirmary, L'Ombra held the capsule Sparrow had given him containing a comatose fairy. His face filled with darkness and desire, and the scene fills with purple shading half of L'Ombra's body. Viewing from the left, a man of contemplating was seen. But the twisted, angered, vengeance-seeking basic nature of man grew from the purple right. This right faced away from those who could see, prompting him to turn his head so that Sparrow could see the look his leader usually had. A look of intent, that same look someone gives when their pettiness has driven them to extremely unnecessary choices.

Sparrow felt uneasy at L'Ombra's look, especially knowing what L'Ombra wanted him to do. Simply his eyes sent the words the man said whenever he had a bone to pick. That wicked stare was why he concealed his face. If someone caught that stare, they'd know how evil this man was. How the Hyde inside him was a demon to all. Darkness exuded from L'Ombra's free hand, whirling and shaping into a mask. Placing his mechanical mask on his face, L'Ombra stood and collected his items. Slowly striding to the exit, he turned to Sparrow. "Clean up the mess, see that someone replaces her so Havelock is attended to...I'll be at our spot." L'Ombra exitted the building. Sparrow, before seeing his leader disappear, caught a glance at something odd trailing off L'Ombra. He dismissed it, and did as asked.

It would be at that point that the assassino would appear in his torture room. Ellis would be free, but trapped in the capsule over a box of water. With his hands crossed behind his back, L'Ombra stared at the fiery fairy, his eyes intense with imposing anger. "And...you must be the wonderful Ellis. The enigmatic angel on a devil's shoulder. Darius is a monster, you know." Ellis, unable to fly so only able to bang on the walls, worriedly threw her head around with fearful eyes. "Where...Where am I? Darius? Where...No I know. Don't. Don't you dare talk about it-I-I-know all about it." Her words stuttered with uncertainty and she began to panic. Any attempt at teleportation failed, causing the panic to rise. "You can't-who-damn you! You...You're..." L'Ombra lightly chuckled, pulling a lever. The capsule began filling with water, drop by drop. Slowly, ever so slowly, the water would sting at Ellis' feet.

No words, the assassino would simply chuckle and await for Tsumiko to bring Darius into the hands of Sparrow, who would intercept her on her way back to the headquarters. With the words, "Marigold requires us to ask Darius a few questions privately about who might have been a part of the bombings." All the while L'Ombra tortured Ellis lightly to prepare her for what was to come. She'd scream with her soft, high-pitched voice scratching like a record forcefully. Water stung her flames and extinguished them before they came back. "Oh, Ellis. Aren't you lovely...A lovely fireflower being dipped and water and crushed. But before that, pruning for the grand show I'll be putting on for that little brat." Ellis shook her head, gulping as she tried pushing back her aches. "No..L'Ombra..You..You can't do that to him!" L'Ombra let out a standard evil man laugh, the scene focusing on his exact front, facing him.

His face was split between a lightened and shadowed split, showing L'Ombra fiddling with the lever to slowly drain water into Ellis' capsule. "What? Take everything like he did from me? Oh...No...This is only fair. The fires of the Sun will be extinguished...and then he'll be ready for Lady Marigold." The scene then zoomed out, showing a split from the bottom left corner to the upper right, showing L'Ombra's masked face as a transparent piece that showed his gritted teeth smiling maniacally and Ellis' worried face of panic and tears of fire. L'Ombra's side was tinted purple and Ellis' tinted an orange-ish-red. Don't harm this child....

[Tsumiko]

The sound of a soft humming echoed off the stone walls of the tunnels as Tsumiko finished her task. It was just a few minutes, but once she was finished, the shadowed light that surrounded her hands flickering away, and the songstress got to her feet. The boy had drifted off as he watched her heal him. His unconscious, slumbering face was rather adorable. Should he always have that expression for the rest of eternity, the woman could be happy with that.

Smiling sweetly to herself, Tsumiko pat the top of his head. “Oh silly Darius, what have you gotten yourself into..?~” She asked him, though wasn’t expecting a response in the state that he was currently in. A quick side glance to the mecha that was still lying helpless some ways off, and the songstress was skipping over to it and patting it as well. “And don’t you worry either, Tsubot. Mommy’s just gonna help daddy real quick, and then I’ll be back to help you, too! So just sit tight until I come back. Kay?~” She said to the heap of metal before turning on her heel and returning to the pyro’s side.

“Upsy-daisy!~” Tsumiko called out as she hoisted the boy on to her back. A bit of readjusting, and he was like a kid being given a piggyback ride. But… he was one big kid, and a big bunch of dead weight at that. What had he eaten? No matter. It didn’t change the plan. Yes, she had healed him, but he still needed attention from means that she had no control over. Like his lack of arms. Beginning her trek through the tunnels towards the Darkson’s HQ (couldn’t risk walking around above ground with a wanted kid, after all), Tsumiko giggled a little. She had imagined a conscious, peppy Darius walking around with no arms. He’d be so helpless to being toppled over with a simple shove. But, as funny as that would be, it was no good. The boy needed his arms. Well, just appendages in general… Maybe the good Sir Zulu and sweet little Lily had something that she could swindle for a while. Or not. Only one way to find out!~

At any rate, she wanted to get there at a decent time, so Tsumiko didn’t allow any further distractions to get her off track. Going this way and that, it took a handful of minutes to get to a close location to pop out of the tunnels. Oh how fresh air and sunlight, however little it was, were much appreciated. Sighing happily, the woman turned her head to address the young man on her back. “Almost there. Then you'll be a real boy! Hang in just a liiittle while longer~” Tsumiko said with a light giggle and approached the Darkson’s main building.

[Seeker of Carnage]

Sparrow awaited to see if Tsumiko would bring Darius into the public at any point, hidden within the ground and having his sniper at ready. When she emerged from the sewers, the brown-haired, armless outlaw over her shoulders he himself had popped up. It was like he was there the whole time, posing with his sniper held against his back, a hand outstretched. Sparrow had to retrieve the package for L'Ombra. He had to bring the boy to the moment that would break him down for his rebuilding process. L'Ombra was going to break Darius. "Madam, I will need to take Darius off your hands. I am under strict orders, nor can I tell you why, I just need the boy." The masked man had a hidden path towards the...re-education room. Once Tsumiko handed over her friend, he would take him on over to L'Ombra, who had been pricking at Ellis, dealing pain and tendering her up for what was to come.

[Tsumiko]

Being that the facility that Tsumiko was inviting herself into only had the front door (a smart move on the Darkson’s part, if she did say so herself), Tsumiko had of course placed herself out in the open. And that, of course, allowed the pests that lingered in the shadows to show themselves. Or in this case, himself. Sparrow made his presence known to the burdened songstress, and she faced him with a pleasant smile. Her feet stopped, as the man stood in her way.

“Ah, Sparrow. Just the man I wanted to-” She addressed him, only to be cut off. She only half listened to his words, dismissively nodding her head. “Yes, yes. That’s nice, hun. But before that, I’d like you to help me. You see, Mister L’Ombra has taken something very precious to sweet Darius here.” She started, nodding towards and shifting the dead weight that was on her back. “Of what, I’m sure you already know. It would save us all a great deal of strife if you just returned what you have stolen. And if you don’t want to help, which I will admit is very rude indeed, then you will force my hand into becoming a little… rough…”

Tsumiko, after having spoke her last sentence, sucked in a breath through her teeth, grinning at the sharpshooter. Thought she still had that overall pleasantness about her, the glint in her eye almost dared him to challenge her. She was itching to put a dog in their place, at any rate. Because if Sparrow believed that she was going to just hand Darius over without a fight, then he was sorely mistaken.

[Seeker of Carnage]

Sparrow nodded clasping his hands together as he kept his masked face staring at the lady and his prize. He had thought about how he could go about this, between disabling the poor girl or trying his hand at diplomacy. He thought first to try and convince her to relinquish Darius, because as they both know, the trio had what she wanted. "I am a very loyal person. You should know that." Pacing, he signaled with his hands that he would explain. "I also am a professional...in many fields. I've dealt with the worst tortures and pains. I have the knowledge you seek, so let's not play around. You hurt me, you'll never find out what you need and she will die. You harm me..." Getting closer while keeping a distance, Sparrow pointed at himself repeatedly to solidify his point. "And you work against the Darksons, against our mission. Hand over Darius, and by the end of the day you'll have both."

Sparrow stepped backwards, holding his hands down below his waist and awaited an answer. "I have what you want, what Darius wants, but you're not in a position to coerce me to give it up. In fact, I don't actually have her. Now if you're working to help Darius, help the criminal who set Twilight Town ablaze...then I guess you're an accessory to the crime. What's to stop Marigold from finding out? The public? I'll do what it takes for L'Ombra...Darius took something of his and now he has something of Darius'. It is only fair." Sparrow usually wasn't supposed to talk, but after collecting himself in such a way that he did right there, L'Ombra might have been proud. Only if, however, Sparrow hadn't likely provoked the mistress of Gwain. "Now before you strike at me, I really do want you to consider all things present, and the fact that Marigold needs information from him." Sparrow was ready to react to any slight movement from Tsumiko.

On reflex he'd be ready to disable her, so he kept a careful eye on her, and kept his distance.

[Tsumiko]

Tsumiko eyed the man that attempted to perform an act of diplomacy. It was a noble attempt, valiant only in the fact that it avoided needless bloodshed. But one thing that he should have taken into account was the songstress’ stubborn nature and loyalty to her own friends. This was a fact that wouldn’t change, regardless of her mental state. “I never once doubted your loyalty, Swallow, was it? Forgive me, my memory fails me. Hmhmm... You are but a dog on a short leash, trained to follow your master’s orders without questioning.” She countered his statement with a calm, pleasant smile. She found it amusing how he kept such a distance between them, but it was “I’ve no wish to cause you harm, though. Not yet, at least, as you’ve given me no real cause to. I would wish to… reach a compromise, if you will, rather than this whole thing be so very one sided.”

Shifting the heavy young man on her back, Tsumiko’s overall demeanor didn’t change. “But of course I wouldn’t expect you to have it. Why would the lacky have such a key item? That would be a poor move, indeed. Though I should inform you, that I care not what the citizenry think of me. An opinion tis but a superficial thing to begin with, no? So wont to shift at the drop of a hat. And I wouldn’t put it past Mari-chan’s all-seeing eye to make note of my actions. She is a very thorough lady who does her job well, after all. But. Have you ever stopped to even ask poor Darius to return what it is that he’s taken? I’m not clear on specifics, but doesn’t torturing the boy seem a bit much for a mere act of thievery? Then again, I suppose men have been killed for less…” Tsumiko turned a thoughtful eye off to the side, letting out a nonchalant sigh. Looking back to Sparrow, the songstress had a wide smile spread across her lips.

She had no reason to assault him, and so would make no move to do so. Her eyes just followed him wherever he strolled. “Now why would I do that, Stork? Granted, I don’t quite think this treatment of this broken child very fair, but I am willing to work with you. The only way I’ll willingly let you have him, is if I can accompany him to wherever you with to take him. And only after I have your promise that the sprite keeps her life. Do that for me, and I’ll happily walk him right to your base. Spare you from having to carry him and all. That’s reasonable, no? If you can’t do that for a simple lady such as myself, well… then I might have to act in self-defense. Lord knows that Gwain would be very displeased should someone raise a hand against me for helping a friend.”

Tsumiko’s silver-blue eyes gleamed with a dangerous amusement. It was true that she had been missing for some time, and that the Darksons would be quick to question her whereabouts, but the songstress had priorities to tend to. This being one. Once they were finished, then she would gladly sit down for a cup of their unnecessarily expensive tea and chat the day away. But that would come later.

[Seeker of Carnage]

Sparrow noticed how disrespectful the lady was being of his name, almost triggering him to draw his gun on her. He stood, unsure what to do without L'Ombra's influence. He'd know what to do with the situation, such an articulate and influential man. But there was one thing the lady didn't account for when it came to torturing the boy, "We did ask. We pleaded. Well, my leader did." Sparrow recalled the dreadful day, the day Darius took something from L'Ombra but as to why he wouldn't return it was between those two. Sparrow didn't know why, but something happened between the two he assume was unrelated to the bounty on Darius' head. The boy already had mercenaries hunting him for the sake of vetting him so L'Ombra could learn about him. Gripping his fists, Sparrow knew he had to make an escape. He couldn't just reveal the only bit of secrecy L'Ombra had from those who weren't his superiors. This was why.

"This is why you don't operate with us, we have a job and you are interfering. I'm sorry but-" Sparrow could hear his transmitter going off, likely a masked frequency so that L'Ombra could communicate with him without being discovered. Holding a finger to Tsumiko to signal for her to wait, he put a hand to his masks' ear piece. From underneath there was a communication device. "Longbow, this is Kingslayer. I just wanted to know the ETA on the package. It's taking you a damn minute."  Sparrow, hesitant, could hear L'Ombra ready to yell into the comms so he decided to respond quickly. "We have an issue, sir. One of the Darkson toys won't relieve Darius into my hands without me agreeing to lead her to the Room." L'Ombra inhaled deeply, and from the other end he was standing at a control panel, contemplating with his arms crossed.

"Huh, well...Longbow, I know how to deal with this. I want you to very clearly tell her..." A vicious, angry tremble rung throughout L'Ombra's voice as he spoke into Sparrow's ear. "I want her to take very good care of Darius because I will extinguish the fire burning in his heart. I will snuff out the light and fill his heart with the blackest dark and make his days into the most eternal nights." Sparrow still hesitated, refusing to speak the words L'Ombra was transmitting to him. "Sir, he's unconscious. He won't be much use if he isn't awake." L'Ombra banged on the control panel, and screams actually piercing the muffling of Sparrow's mask, allowing Tsumiko to hear whatever L'Ombra was doing to Ellis. "I want him awake, NOW. I want him awake or the first thing he wakes up to is the very love of his life being already torn away from him. Now don't refuse my orders, Longbow."

Sparrow looked back at Tsumiko, trembling a little as the only person he was afraid of was an angry L'Ombra. He did terrible, unnecessary things in those moments. "Ma'am, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. You and I have something in common and that is our loyalty. Now, my superior has requested you awaken Darius. Or else he will kill Ellis right now. Despite what you might do to me, he already has what you want in his hands and unlike your friendship with Darius, he will not hesitate to follow through even if you refuse and run away. If something were to happent o me, he'll not let that force him to back down and he will just let his vendetta grow." L'Ombra laughed from behind the communication device, pacing as he kept tapping a button and making Ellis scream.

"I hope she knows what the power of magic and technology can do to a living being. To someone with a heart, with a soul. I'll break Ellis before I'm done with her. She's already so incapable of any response other than OOH and AAH. Heh, she's probably no longer capable of anything intelligent. Now...she's just a husk. But let's save that detail for when the time comes.". Sparrow's face underneath his mask was grim, but he did not let his composure drop. He was completely unaware of what the lady was capable of, but unlike Havelock he was not one to underestimate his opponents.

[Tsumiko]

It was a struggle to contain her giggles. Tsumiko could see faint hints that her misspeaking his name irritated him. Raising a brow at the man, she let her head loll to the side a little as she smiled at him. “Ever think that maybe you didn’t ask the right way? Though in his teens as he may be, Darius is still but a boy. Mayhap being asked by someone he trusts will get you what you want. Or not. Who knows...” For one reason or another, the songstress couldn’t picture the rouge-like L’Ombra begging. Though that didn't stop her from entertaining the thought of the short-tempered man on his hands and knees, pleading with tears in his eyes and snot oozing from his nose. The daydreaming woman couldn’t help help but chuckle.

Hearing the assassin before her speak again, Tsumiko returned her focus to him. She was interfering, was she? Well that was just too damn bad. She had a promise to keep and some time to kill. Sparrow was going to say more, but cut himself short and held up a finger to the songstress. Shifting her weight to one leg, she stared impatiently at him and shifted Darius once again on her back. The woman could make out faint sound waves emanating from the device in the man’s ear, though what was being said evaded her for the moment. But Tsumiko could hear what Sparrow was saying.

When called a ‘Darkson toy’, she coughed loud enough for him to hear and would flash him a displeased look. Tsumiko was her own woman, and would be no one’s toy or pawn. But she did wonder what this ‘Room’ was. Common sense told her that it was their secretive HQ that she was attempting to convince Sparrow to lead her to. More faint waves, and the assassin commented on Darius’ state of being. Not a moment after and the songstress was looking at the assassin in mild amusement, grinning slightly. Seemed as though the short-fused bomb was running out of patience. No surprise there.

Chuckling at the sight of a trembling Sparrow, Tsumiko stood up straight and listened to the man’s plight. She let out a light sigh after he had finished and gave her head a slow, gentle shake. “Tut tut. Let me get one thing straight, Sir. I care not what you do to the pixie. The only reason I am invested in her fate is for the simple fact that it causes poor Darius so much distress.” Being that as it was, just letting her die wasn’t the correct solution. As easy a solution as that solution was… “And still going on about me causing you harm, I see… If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you want me to. But alas, this is not the time nor the place, so I’ll have to politely decline for the time being.” Tsumiko said to him with a flirtatious wink and grin.

Though she didn’t hear L’Ombra’s words on the matter, Tsumiko did know. She did know what magic and technology was capable of. It wasn’t all that long ago that she was made very familiar with their workings. The thought of that alone caused her skin to crawl, and whenever she did think on it, she’d always shutter and brush it off with a light chuckle. A bit of pain was nothing after that experience.

Being that her arms grew tired of holding him against her body, the songstress sighed and lay Darius along the stone ground. Of course, she kept a vigilant watch on the assassin as she went about waking the young man. There was no guarantee that he was even going to wake, what with all the trauma to his body. So much for a quick visit to the facility. Sorry Tsubot.

Hovering a hand over his chest, a healing shimmer shone, the misty smoke faint within that light as it made to further heal the boy. The other hand was used in stroking his cheeks and petting Darius’ darkened locks, as physical contact was typically a good way in waking others. Further reflection had her mentally commenting on how she preferred the ginger color with he seemed to have ditched. “Come now, Darius. The time for sleep is over. There is someone who wishes to speak with you.” Tsumiko said to him in a soft tone.

[Drake Pathos]

His eyes fluttered, the armless boy shaking as Tsumiko applied her magicks to his body. She healed him just enough so his vitals wouldn't fail from such a forceful awakening. Slowly, his eyes opened. The colors of the world, which had grayed at the moment of losing Ellis and Tsubot within a small window of time due to the terrible sniper, Sparrow. Barely able to keep his eyes open, he saw Tsumiko's innocent face, smiling slightly but remaining inert for the time being. As the healing spread throughout his body, he was able to move more and more, but only enough to rise. Lifting himself up, he looked to his sides, a face of grim emotion washing over as he realized he was in fact...armless. Turning his head as his peripherals did see a figure, he noticed it was the sniper that had snatched Ellis from him. His eyes filled with fire, and in a more literal sense his body radiated with it. It was almost as if he was going to burst into flames.

"I'm going to rip your fucking throat out." Sparrow flinched, seeing what the boy had done to those he got a hold of. L'Ombra even sits with a hand-print on his torso made purely from the flames that radiated off Darius. But then he chuckled when he took another look at the boy. He had forgotten that the fiery pyro had indeed lost his arms. He was useless. "Shit...What the hell are you doing here? Tsumiko? What's going on?" Sparrow clasped his hands together, chuckling more deeply. "Well, kid. I guess you're in no position to burn me today. As the bomber of Twilight Town, one word, one breath that you're hear and you'll be crucified without so much as a whimper of logic to help you. No princess or prince can change that. No one can be healed from the sight of burning children and infants. So just keep calm, the both of you, while I contact the man you stole from." Darius jerked, but fell down, grunting in pain. His medallion glowed powerfully, sparks flying off it.

"I won't give it back! Not while you threaten my existence. Especially not while Ellis-" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The screams of a female boomed from the communication device Sparrow had, which he had adjusted to have a more outward stereo rather than the condensed range it kept most of the time. Darius' eyes widened. He went from the vengeful Darius to the teary-eyed beggar that the sounds of pain had rendered him into. "I think you might want to hand the boy over, dear. We wouldn't want poor Ellis to scream anymore would we?" Darius switched between anger and weakness continuously. Almost instantly balling as he knew her voice. Turning to Tsumiko, his eyes had a dog-like whimper to them. "Tsumi...I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I already lost the sally-ticklers, n-no need to worry all wishy-washy about me. Just get that goosy-V, Sally D, and...and let me go." Darius tried to use his silly tone, akin to when they first met, but his sadness had easily broken his character.

"I'll be alright. I'll be...alright." Sparrow smiled, looking at Tsumiko. "It's the one thing dear in his heart. Or a piece of it, wasn't it?" Darius knew what Sparrow had meant, but his mind still blocked out that detail. Little did Tsumiko know, Ellis was actually a chunk out of Darius' heart, leaving a gap that lead him to make many mistakes. But it had just started to heal, though it wouldn't be surprising if the situation had soiled the light in Darius. "Please, just stop-" "AAAAH!" "-hurting her!" Sparrow turned the speaker off, replacing his communication device back into his ear. "I think that's enough for now, Kingslayer. Oh? You want to speak to him?" Sparrow resumed the speaker function on his communication device so that L'Ombra could speak.

"Listen here, you orphan bastard. If things don't go my way, I will execute her. I'll record her screams and with every chance I get, I'll remind you of the day you failed your love." It terrified Darius. It truly did. He was in a moment of ultimate weakness, and it just despaired him. He hated it. He hated being so weak, but he couldn't help it. No matter if he succeeds or fails. I will kill him.

[Tsumiko]

“Hey there, champ.” Tsumiko said with a honeyed warmth as the pyro opened her eyes. He appeared so weak, so frail at that moment, the songstress wished to freeze time to preserve it. Lord knew that it was going to get messy here real quick. As the healing magicks did their job, Darius found the strength to sit up, which Tsumiko helped him do with a hand at his back. Yet another picture perfect moment as he gazed at his limbless torso. The woman inwardly sighed as that also ended too soon.

Darius had spotted Sparrow, and his rage roared into emotions so strong, they took on a more physical form. Radiating with flame, Tsumiko removed her hand from his back, eyeing him with mild interest. Causally getting to her feet, she raised a brow at the cursing young man. “Darius…” The songstress began in a warning tone. If things were going to work out at all, he needed to keep a leveled head. His emotions were completely understandable, but it gave L’Ombra and his crew the upper hand as they were able to think things through clearly and meticulously. Sparrow’s growing cockiness wasn’t doing anything to add to that point, however. “After you blacked out, I brought you here in hopes of… getting you a new set of arms, but our travels were rudely interrupted.” She explained to him, casting Sparrow a side-long glance. The man then took it upon himself to speak, something the songstress didn’t much appreciate in the least.

Those words caused Darius to trip himself, and he fell over with a thud. “Why don’t you cut it with the guilt trip, Swallow.” Tsumiko said, and reached out to the pyro once again and helped him to his feet, should he have accepted her offer. As she did so, the medallion at his chest caught her eye. It flickered brightly, and sparks jumped off it. How very curious… Intuition had her assuming that it was tied to Darius current state of being. How, was the question.

Darius spoke again, and in the meantime, confirmed that he was indeed in possession of whatever it was that L’ was seeking. He stopped short when Ellis’ pained cries echoed throughout the area. Tsumiko turned an admonishing gaze towards the assassin, brow raised. That one, simple sound seemed to have broken Darius’ fighting will. It was pathetic. And adorable. His green eyes glistened with tears, and the once tenacious pyro was reduced to a frail child. Rolling her eyes at Sparrows directive, the songstress looked to the babbling boy as he spoke to her.

She smiled softly at the words he spoke. “You speak strong words, Dar, but I can see right through you.” Tsumiko whispered softly to him. Ready to continue, the third-wheel continued with his droning. Rolling her eyes over to him, that gaze telling him to shut his cakehole. She was was sort of glad he didn’t. A piece of his heart, was she? Ellis was turning out to be quite the character, if what Sparrow was saying was true. What sort of effect that had on the young man was still unclear, but she was curious to find out, should the opportunity present itself. After a little more screaming, Sparrow had the decency to stop the mindfuckery and put his little device back in his ear where it belonged. Surprise, surprise! They weren’t done there!~ The Big Bad Wolf wanted a turn to prod at the already broken pyro. Didn’t his mother ever tell him one of the golden rules? ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it.’ Apparently not...

Glaring at the assassin, Tsumiko turned her silver-blue eyes back to Darius, and would take his face in her hands to have him look at her, and hopefully focus long enough to soak in her words. “Darius. I am your friend. If you wish me away, then so be it. But I am here to help you. I possess no flame, but I will be your strength when you have none. I am no Ellis, but I will be the light in your darkness. Bid me do your will, and I will see it done. But I must ask you this one thing. Is Ellis worth whatever you took? Are you willing to let her go to keep it hidden?” Tsumiko spoke clearly, but in a hushed tone. She looked him right in the eye, and would demand his attention. She was hoping that he'd ask her to wreck some havoc, but there was a good chance that wasn't going to happen. Unfortunately...

[Seeker of Carnage]

Darius, in his despair, recalled the object he stole from L'Ombra. It was so precious, so dear and so important to the lead assassin that he opted to break the boy. Looking at Sparrow, a fire within began burning and spreading through Darius. His veins began to radiate, same with his eyes. His brown hair had faded back to a radiant orange and the boy had come back into his radiant form. Darius couldn't resist but fluctuate between despair and anger as the Sparrow smiled sadistically underneath his mask. The ginger could feel warmth around the stubs of his arms, and slowly he thought he could feel the presence of arms again. "I don't know....I-I can't just give up on Ellis. But don't worry about me." Standing with Tsumiko's assistance, he leaned in to whisper to her. "I'll make sure to take care of them." He winked before walking towards the Sparrow, his head down in shame.

He couldn't help but feel awful for what he was doing to the poor girl, and what he would've not done for Ellis. He loved her deeply, no matter if she was a creation of his own or not. It was destined to be, and now that L'Ombra ruined what he had, he would be sure to re-enact the Twilight Town bombing. The boy would make the man pay for what he did to Ellis. Sparrow clapped his hands, signalling Darius to follow him. "Just look for the big bright star in the sky." Darius said before waddling over to L'Ombra's Henchmen. Darius had been anticipating this moment for a long time. When he fought L'Ombra before, he could feel how much stronger the man was. As soon as Sparrow turned his back, Darius summoned a grenade of sorts, hacky-sacking it into his mouth before he dropped it into a pouch on his shirt. "Oh my! My, what a big bright star in the sky! Twinkle, twinkle, in the ire of the sun's eye. For the sun sees, and the sun spies and burns the takers of the pleasure the sun is denied."

Sparrow shook his head, just thinking the boy was crazy as the ginger stared deep into Sparrow's back. His fiery spirit was being absorbed by the grenade as they walked away. "Hey, Swallow. How did it feel to rip someone's heart out?" Sparrow chuckled, unable to take the armless boy seriously. "Like plucking an apple from a tree. A healthy and full one, at that." Darius huffed, gritting his teeth. "Did it feel good taking down my daughter?" Sparrow, turned his head slightly, not looking at Darius but still raising a brow. "Hm? You mean that robot? It was just a slave for you to order around. It was nothing but a damn abomination." Darius kept using the banter as fuel for his anger, pumping out more fire. "Well I hope you remember Ellis and Tsubot. I hope you remember them as I burn their names into your chest." Sparrow sighed, shaking his head as they moved away from Tsumiko. Darius summoned a few more bombs into his pouch and kept fueling them.

"Boy, you have some issues you need sorted out." Sparrow kept a pistol in his hand,in case Darius tried anything. In fact, even though Sparrow didn't notice the grenades, he still could see Darius with his complete 360-degree vision. "Burn victim's need their issues sorted out, so I hope you have some cream on hand." Sparrow was starting to get frustrated at the fiery pyro, ignoring him for the rest of the way.

[Drake Pathos]

As the duo neared the forest, Sparrow had stopped for a moment to make sure Tsumiko had not been following them. Darius still glared at the assassin, heat emanating off of his nubs. Flashes of his adventures with Tsubot over the past few months, and Ellis over the past year had flown through his head. Each step made him feel like he was gripping the air, except he had no hands. Deep within him, his heart was nothing but fire instead of the light that is supposed to shine happiness. Only anger and rage, the angst of a young child having his precious things torn away. You can't do that to the young, especially one so unstable such as Darius. They made their way into the woods, taking a twisting path as smoldering steps were left in the pyro's wake. Sparrow had started to take note, tightening the grip on his pistol. "I recommend calming your fire, Darius. You know what's at stake." Darius smiled, albeit a shaky one as he trembled to resist lighting the bird's wings on fire.

"Kind of hard with, you know, and uncontrollable feeling such as this. You know, looking at the man who killed a piece of my heart and threatening to kill another." Sparrow knew Darius couldn't control his emotions, which terrified him but fueled L'Ombra's pleasure in the matter. After a while of walking, a pulse rang throughout Darius' body. It was like everything stopped momentarily and the focus on Sparrow intensified. Darius stopped walking, sparks forming around his body. Sparrow immediately snapped and aimed his pistol at Darius. Falling to his knees he looked down as he gasped for breath. The assassin put a finger on the trigger, taking a single step forward. "Darius! Stand down! I will-" The ginger snapped his head back, his hair bursting on fire and his body being consumed in wildfire. His armor had formed around him, manipulating its arms with his mind somehow.

Immediately he burst forward, which prompted Sparrow to sidestep the charge. Swiping his arm down and under himself, Darius, summoned Wildheart and stabbed it into Sparrow's chest. Spinning away from the assassin, he used the blade to thrust the enemy into the air, bringing Sparrow up. Holding him up, Darius looked at Sparrow with a heroic pose. "I know what's at stake. But that doesn't mean I won't fight." Slamming Sparrow down, Darius brought the sword up once more before slamming it back down on Sparrow, impaling the midsection and trapping the two in a cylinder of fire. Sparrow could feel the wildfire crackling along his skin, shriveling it with its heat and tearing away the moisture hydrating his body-casing. Removing Wildheart, Darius tossed the sword into the distance, numerous clanks being heard as it ricocheted endlessly within the forest. Searching for the communication device, Darius took it and crushed it while grabbing Sparrow by his mask.

Summoning a Nitro Charger, fire swirling around his armor and the grenade. A radiant glow shined through Darius' mouth as he breathed fire onto Sparrow's stomach, burning away the cloth that remained. Letting go of Sparrow, Darius jammed the grenade into his chest, sending him tumbling into the ground and up against a tree with an audible slamming sound rattling the tree. Sidestepping, Darius walked towards the cottage he could see in the distance. Wildheart zoomed past him, impaling Sparrow. Approaching the door, swirling Wildfire replaced Wildheart into his left hand. Swiping his hand, he destroyed the front of the cottage with a wave of Wildfire, lighting it on fire. Searching the now wide-open cottage, he came upon a staircase leading to an underground floor. Descending, Darius came upon an elevator, feeling the door to it. It was the only way, so he entered and pressed the button for going down. As soon as the doors closed, Darius took a deep breath in.

When he finally reached the bottom floor, and the doors had opened, he stared at a masked man wielding an orb. Within that glowing orb was Ellis, and the masked man was none other than L'Ombra. From the readied yet relaxed pose of villainy he had, the main assassin switched to a much more alarmed and hostile position. Darius was going to the man but he held out a hand, holding Ellis away from the ginger. "Woah! I imagine Sparrow didn't just let you down here on your own. Where is he?" Darius held up his sword without making any other movements, pointing out the evaporating blood and bits of dried up blood. "Stuck against a wall like he left Tsubot." L'Ombra tensed up, shaking his head before walking away. "Take off your armor and walk forward. Drop your sword. She's in my hands, it won't be an empty threat like the ones Sparrow likely spoke of." Darius knew that L'Ombra was much more serious.

It was hard fighting against L'Ombra's tactics. He was a superior fighter, strategist,  leader. He was always one step ahead of Darius and lacked the morals Darius had. He lacked the good the ginger had in him, but sacrificed the light within for nearly pure darkness. Wildfire trailed away from Darius, tearing away his equipment. He was once again armless, looking down in shame as he was beaten yet again. The first step reminded him that he was too weak to save Ellis. The second step told him he was a monster for killing those innocents for such a small cause. The third step told him - SNAP "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The floor had shifted to his step, unveiling a bear trap that immediately clasped onto Darius' right leg. He fell, accidentally putting more weight on his leg as it bled profusely. He looked down at  it, switching from wide-eyed stares and hard eye-shuts. He screamed and breathed heavily, looking over to L'Ombra.

"You know, you asked for this. You asked to come marching into MY HOUSE. Darius, look at me..." L'Ombra set Ellis down, walking over to the paralyzed Darius, kneeling down. Removing his mechanical mask, L'Ombra showed his rather young face to the boy smiled innocently. His face was then washed in grim pleasure, as Havelock walked up behind L'Ombra, handing him Ellis. "Hm? Where's Sparrow? Fucker got the blueberry following you guys here?" Havelock knew Darius was in pain, but didn't pay attention to the bear trap clamped around the boy's leg. "Havelock, go check on Sparrow. He's outside." Havelock rose a brow, looking down before being taken aback by one of L'Ombra's traps. "O-okay. Will be back baus." Havelock took the elevator upwards, L'Ombra disengaging the trap before dragging Darius into the torture chamber down the hall. Flinging him on the ground, the ginger yelped in pain.

[Seeker of Carnage]

Setting Ellis on a specially made pedestal, he circled around his nemesis, roughly handling Darius and forcing him into a chair. Strapping the boy down, he retrieved some salve to close up the massive wound. Wheeling in a table of different bottles and syringes, he looked over to Darius. "Have you ever felt the pain of happiness being truly and permanently torn away? That is what I felt for years. Darius, you are an adult now. Adults don't play games. They don't forgive and let things be. Bygones will never be bygones. Darius, pay attention now." Retrieving a bottle full of a translucent, faded velvet purple, he filled a syringe full of it. "See, I'm simply carving out the meaning of love from you. But there is oh-so much more. There's trust. Confidence. Self-Esteem. Happiness. Hope. Hope is the big one, same with Happiness. I have the right type of claws, however. Just know that I expect no sympathy for I am a devil."

Darius struggled to stay awake, steering his wavering vision over to the man preparing his chemicals. He had formed a cocktail within the syringe of the purple fluid and a blackened, ink-like fluid. "I love this. So much pain you can't speak. So much fear that fire is snuffed out for just the right amount of time. Normally, a victim would be too far-gone. Normally they die from having their arms torn off and their leg nearly severed. I mean, can you even feel this?" Revealing an unsilenced pistol, L'Ombra shot Darius in his uninjured leg. He squirmed, but he felt too much for the threshold to torture him this time. "Let's reignite that." Sticking Darius in his neck, L'Ombra got intimately close to the boy with wide-eyes. Staring into the angry ginger's, he smiled, then squeezed down on the pump of the syringe. Slowly, he injected the anti-Brompton Cocktail, and in the following moments Darius could only scream and squirm and wail on and on, pointlessly.

L'Ombra let it set in, before preparing yet another syringe to give him more control over the pain. Darius couldn't help but alternate between an unconscious state and a very painful awakened state. Injecting a green fluid into the boy, it woke him up and numbed ongoing sensations, leaving it to a much more controllable duration of agony. Short, sustainable bursts as long as he didn't go over the time threshold. That's when he wheeled in yet another cart. "Now, let's see....The basics. Nail-slash-finger-clippers. Nails and screws and hammers and chisels. Pencil-length cattle-prods. Hm...Oh, Havelock left his pizza cutter here! So mundane, oh well. He needs to learn not to leave his shit laying around..." After complaining about a sauce-covered pizza cutter from his careless companion, he lifted up the cutter, observing it with curiosity. L'Ombra turned his eyes to the boy and flicked them back to the pizza cutter. It was a wheel-based cutter, which he promptly cleaned before walking away. After a few steps, he interrupted himself and turned.

He stared at Darius. Stared at the cutter, and smiled back towards his captive. Suddenly, the cutter flew into Darius' shoulder and the assassin was already upon him. Darius screamed as the cutter planted itself into what remains of his shoulder. Leaning down and gripping the cutter, L'Ombra dragged it downward, channeling his anger. "You know what's the best part of my role? I don't care. I calculate and control my anger. I don't limit myself like you do. I'm a devil and the demons I control comes from the articulate darkness within me." Ripping the cutter out, he tossed it aside, looking at the gouge in Darius' torso. "WHY!? AAAH!" L'Ombra leaned back in maniacal laughter. "Because! I'm the villain with no rhyme or reason. I'm only the result of angsty creation, dark alchemic transmutation. I am the villain and I am the crusher of heroes. Don't take from a villain like me, because I will do everything...EVERYTHING in my power to take EVERYTHING away from you."

There was silence for a time, which allowed the pain torturing Darius to subside as another salve was applied. Crouching to meet with Darius' face, L'Ombra kept his eyes away until Darius tried catching a deep breath, struggling from the pain of sudden movement and effort. "So. Where's the diary Darius? Hm? Where is it?" Darius' lips quivered, L'Ombra jabbing him hard. "SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO!" L'Ombra stepped away, pacing so he could calm himself down. Scratching his head, he stopped at the sound of Darius' voice. "N....Never,,," L'Ombra got closer, leaning and pointing his ear at the boy, signalling him to speak louder. "I'll never tell you." L'Ombra just chuckled, crossing his arms. With his erratic movements, he went from humored to frustrated to completely nuts-o-crazy. "You know how important that diary is to me. And yet...yet you protect it even with a literal piece of your hart sitting in an orb in a vegetative state! I don't get it. Maybe...Maybe hurting you isn't the key. Maybe..." Preparing a syringe with a pink fluid in it, he immediately and harshly injected it into Darius.

Rushing over to Ellis, he opened up the orb and shook Ellis out of it, holding her in his palm. Stomping on back to Darius, he showed him the broken wisp. "Do you know how easy it is to kill her? How easy it is to just...close my hand. She is useless, but in a few seconds here, the use of her quasi-life will come back in a snap. Darius. I just need to slowly close....and squeeze...and clench....and CRUSH." L'Ombra looked at the ginger, shaking his head as Darius tried mustering the strength to answer. Suddenly, something akin to adrenaline made Darius jolt and ignore the physical pain placed on his body, his eyes locking onto the frail state of the sprite. "No...N-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-no! It's...I can't...I know what you'll do!" Crunch. "I don't bluff, Darius. I don't lie. I don't give empty threats. The promises I make, I keep and I fulfill. You've failed on every promise you've made." Opening his hand, looking at the fading Ellis. The flames making up her body began to unwind, and that piece of Darius' heart faded away, drawn back into him. However, in the wake of the fading sprite, a heart that sprouted from the piece Darius had lost had drawn into his body. Hopeless for that moment, his eyes blanks, Darius was frozen.

No pain in the world, despite the chemicals injected, could equal the pain he just felt. The pain of failure. The pain of love. The ultimate cocktail of the two stabbing Darius.

That was the moment.

That was the moment L'Ombra broke him.

The bombs in his shirt were destroyed by the flames consuming Darius that tore away his clothes. L'Ombra clapped his hands, laughing as he grabbed Darius by his burning hair. He didn't care, staring into the boy's eyes. "Where?" "....Neverland..." L'Ombra just laughed at the boy, summoning roots from the nooks and cranies of the room to entangle the boy, leaving enough areas of exposure to torture. He injected him with another cocktail, re-initiating the physical pain dominating his senses. Picking up a nail, he circled around Darius, resting himself on the back of Darius' chair, toying with the nail on Darius' skin. He twirled it and tapped it, casually relaxed as the boy couldn't help but cry. He didn't scream, he just cried. "You know, I've had to interrogate A LOT of people because of you. Information on you, on where they've seen you. I remember this one man in particular, held you in such high regard. Didn't know you were a terrorist. Man, that reminds me, where did that sword come from?" there was silence aside from Darius' sobs.

Slamming his fist down on the nail, it implanted itself into Darius, which did actually force out a yell. "I remember now! The same man these nails dug into as he so disappointingly reaffirmed his earlier claims of ignorance. A sad case. Oh well, at least I took care of some bandits on your tail. That pays off the debt, right? I'm sure of it." Chuckling softly, L'Ombra picked up a screw, circling once again in a sort of duck-duck-goose fashion. Crouching in front of Darius, he dug the screw into the bullet wound casually, swirling it around in the whole before removing it. "I did say I was the villain of no rhyme or reason. See, I have what I need. But for all that work, all that fun, I need a satisfying ending. I need that conclusion, that climax that just leaves me spent for the rest of the night. You know what I mean? Oh wait...you don't. Because you loved a fairy, or wannabe fairy. Can't fuck that now can you?" Patting Darius on the shoulder with one hand, he punched the nail into the bullet with the other, driving it through the salve and worsening the wound.

Moving back to the table, L'Ombra acted like a kid in a candy shop as he marveled at the other tools he gave no mind to. "It's so fun, sad that you wouldn't be able to truly let me appreciate the more advanced kits. Oh well, here...a consolation prize." L'Ombra made Darius swallow something, he smiled as he patted the ginger on the head, walking towards the exit. Havelock came rushing in with Sparrow's near-death body. L'Ombra was too ecstatic and caught up in his prize-winning torture to care. Havelock knew the look too, that horrifying sociopathy of his. The narcissistic anger that contradicted it too. Havelock took Sparrow into one of the side rooms, walking out as L'Ombra ordered him to prepare transport.

Not long after, L'Ombra walked up to Darius and yanked out the wire he swallowed, the pain being the final straw as the chemical wore off, causing him to faint. Using their own hidden passages, Havelock would transport Darius to the medical wing of the Headquarters. He didn't just need medical attention, he needed major, long-term healing. L'Ombra stood outside of his destroyed cottage, bringing up his communication device. "Queen Bee, this is Kingslayer. Reporting that the target is in captivity, subdued and prepped. A bit well-done, I know you probably would have preferred medium-rare. I'm going to need to request medical attention for Longbow, as well. We've already transported the Target. Quite a story, feisty and fiery and all that. Will be in contact, I think I'm going to visit my favorite morning spot." After cleaning himself, L'Ombra made his way towards the spot which Marigold had first met him.

Alone, he sat and enjoyed his wine and bagel. Maybe he'd have some company, maybe he'd continue looking so fly in his crispy-fresh suit. He winked towards the women he caught glancing at him, knowing they mistook him for just another suave nobleman. Marry him and be rich, be happy, have insured status. Or marry him, find out he is a sociopathic killer, handles the dirty work for a empirical queen, and die once he realized your fear. A beast within, a devil at that. He signaled the server, who nervously approached. "I'm celebrating. I'll get everyone present on their bills. Also, bring me some gellato. Strawberry. I feel like having some Sunday, sweet, sweet candy. " He smiled warmly at the server, who scurried away to retrieve everything. Everyone rose a glass to him as he simply enjoyed the view, especially as it was no longer obstructed by a massive tower.

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