Chapter 26 - Death Awaits

Meanwhile, back in the Hangar

"I thought it was you, Order of the Coin bastards," Caleb said in an unsurprised and stern voice.

"You're one to talk, Betrayer," one of the many henchman yelled back at him.

While Dan was fighting Claire, and the other two, Francis and Meda were occupied with Howard Cowell, Baulder and Caleb wasn't spared of action. A group of henchmen, wearing a unifrom, that resembled the outfit of the Mystery Man showed up in the seemingly 'secret' base. How come they found out about it, and could move such a number of troops was beyond the understanding of the two left there, but all they could do, was to fight them off.

Without much of a warning, they attack Baulder and Caleb, well, they would've attacked him, but the Big Man jumped in front, and took all of them on at the same time.

"If you have anything to say to Tentazione's assitant, then you'll have to defeat me, Karver first!" even to just a bystander, dropping that many villain names at the same time would be weird, but coming from a shy giant, that was all he could do. He did well.

Three of the eight attackers jumped at him at once, and he easily blocked each of their attacks, without even mocing his own hands. The branches attached to his back grew in length, forming a a shield of sorts in front of him. Without breaking any sweat, he pushed all of them back, separating his extra arms, and using them to hold three of them in the air. The five remaing, no matter how many fights and drills they've been through, almost soiled themselves, seeing a massive man just lifting all of their comrades at the same time.

Although it would have posed a threat to a normal person, to a giant tree-man, five opponents didn't really make it that much different from one. The rest launched an attack, waving their super high-tech looking vibro-blades at him. Seemingly out of the blue, a huge wooden wall appeared, blocking every single sword.

Even though it was made of wood, the extreme vibrations coming from five different places didn't cause it to combust into flames, rather, it seemed like he managed somehow to stop the blades from doing their jobs. Seeing this, the henchmen jumped back, to launch another attack, yet this time, from a different range.

Their next move was sort of underhanded. Each of them pulled out a rifle, but not any ordinary ones. This specific weapons were what society called 'plasma rifles,' and they broke probably at least three points from the geneva convention. Not like heroes didn't. If you think about, using acid is probably against it, same goes for nerve gas, yet both of those powers are weilded by a certain father and daughter - rather only the daughter at this time.

As they fired, a blast of green radiation went through the air. It was visible, yes, definitely visible, even with the naked eye. Concentrated radiation was a potent weapon, instantly causing everyone in it's range to vomit, nausea, and maybe even losing consciousness. It would be a lie to say, that Baulder was unaffected, but he pretty much stood his place.

This, however, cannot be said about Caleb. Right after the beams stopped, he grappled onto the side of the plane, and stream of unicorn flavoured rainbow ommitted from his mouth. This would continue for a little while, but he managed to get a hold of himself. Definitely weakend, he didn't really stood much of a chance in a fight. It was all up to Baulder from here on.

----

On the other side of the city, or rather, in some entirely other place, Francis as Meda were confronted by a man wearing a suit. As a Deacon of the Order of the Coin, Howard Cowell sounded just like a huge threat. If they followed the naming convention of the Church, the Deacon was supposed to be the lowest rank, yet this person seemed to be much stronger than just a lowly ranked officer.

The Order was a much elusive bunch. Not a single soul would know what you're talking about, but that's very much true for the Cult as well. They aren't an open religion, rather a secretive organization, of like-minded individuals. Leaving one of this groups was the same as saying, 'I don't care about your worldview.'

The situation was quite tense. With both sides representing different ideals, they were left no other choice, but to fight each other. Yet, for Francis and Meda this wasn't known as much. Sure, they had an inkling, probably down within their core, that this man was against them, in every way, but they couldn't quite as well pinpoint it.

And suddenly it started. A flurry of flashes, and the two of them launched towards their opponent, matching each other's speed perfectly. Yet at the impact, they couldn't land a single bow. In the span of a second, they lended about thrity blows each, yet none of them reached their opponent. Seeing this, they backed away, and waited for something to happen.

"May I remind you," Howard Cowell started, "This place is my realm. It works as I will it."

"So we just have to break your will, then," Meda replied, grinning with both happiness, that she could reply this well, and with the hope that she found a really strong opponent.

"Certainly," Howard Cowell replied.

Once again, they started with a flurry of strong blows, this time, they seemed to have upped their speed, by almost twofold. At around fifty blows a second, they continued to hammer away at their opponent for about five to ten seconds. When seeing that their opponent didn't even move, they once again stepped back, to reevaluate their situation.

"Let me tell you a story," he once again called out to them, "of a once great man, only known to us, as the Paladin," he paused, probably for dramatic effect, "He was a great warrior of our order, and one of our three Cardinals, along with two certain heroes. He, and his brother would utterly dominate any, and all heretics, in the name of the Holy Coin," he paused again, yet this time it was to stop himself from shaking, "Yet he - He betrayed us! He left us, he betrayed everything he once stood for! Only to appease THAT man! That Damned Demon!" he was overcame with rage, which reverberated through the entire dimension, "I have a similar [Power] to him, you know," he calmed himself down, "Have you heard of [Powers] that can control space, and time? This is one of them. [Space Realm], it is called. Quite fitting, isn't it? He has a [Power] quite similar. He can't enter it, though. He used to throw his victims in there, to his [Purgatory]. He used it to completely engulf all sinners. What a marvelous visage!" He rambled on.

"So?" Francis intervened, "Is that cool, or something?"

"How DARE you!" he screamed at the boy, "He was the Coolest! And STILL! Still, he left us! For that Man. That damned Malcolm Preecher!"

----

I could already see the Pearly Gates approaching, with Buddha standing there, wearing a kippah. That would have been way more fun, than reality though.

The thing I actually saw, was one Claire Russel's huge gaping mouth, as she was trying to scream, but couldn't, thanks to her having a pierced lung. Yeah, I did that. Like I'd give in this easy, in such a good opportunity.

"You thought I'd just wait for death?" I spit in her face.

"You should be dead! Instead of them, YOU should be DEAD!" she shouted at me, with tears coming out of her eyes.

I restrained her, more or less, I bound her arms to her legs, and covered up all of her pipes. She couldn't spit an ounce of that acid anymore, like this.

"I won't die. They did. Never underestimate [Tentazione] ever again, you alkaline bitch," I said while looking down on her mess of an appearance. Her tears mixing with some blood, coming out of her mouse, and all sorts of other bodily liquids just flowing out of her face. Her worn, and destroyed outfit didn't really help her case either, which goes for my part of the deal, having covered her in my purple goo. I should've phrased that better.

I felt a chill, on my back. It felt like something was quite off. Something, that I couldn't really put anywhere, but what was it? If I had to put it into words, I'd say it was - dissappointment? No, not quite. Something more sinister than that. Maybe my soul was finally dying, and I was just turning into a husk of my old self.

That would prove useful.

"Dan! Look out!" I suddenly heard a familiar female voice.

"Meda?!" I turned around, and shouted in her direction. I felt a sudden breeze, and when I turned around, I saw a weird looking man, wearing a suit, and a fedora.

"I'll be taking this lady along, if you don't mind, Mister Temptaion," with that the man disappeared.