[twi] Twilight VII: III The Dark Tower

[darkblade]

Team Dresden

"Be glad I don't call you more often. Would you rather fight mould demons or traverse the multiverse for me looking for tissue samples of different strains of the undead?" Morbius adds to Thomas's comment.

***

Dresden

"What about my friends? Even with this power boost I am not stupid enough to go out there alone. I saw Yog-Soth there the other day, I am not going back there alone." I shakes my head looking into the portal.

***

Darksied

"Yield unto Darksied." Darksied says glaring at the red beast on the other side of the corridor.

[Murkus]

Gordon Freeman

He feels... both happy, and kind of annoyed that the universe is providing for him once again. On one hand, the G-man's got the whole world moving exactly the way he wants it to. On the other, that way is probably best for Gordon's health.

The physicist stalks up behind the suit-wearing partygoer, raising his crowbar. He never liked politicians anyway. Gordon will give him a good knock on the head, not nearly enough to kill, but hopefully enough to put him out for a while.

He drags the body back and quickly pulls the tux off. Having not worn actual clothes for a while, putting the other man's suit on feels a little odd. He puts it on over the HEV armor, because he's a paranoid sumbitch.

With that, Gordon straightens his clothes, smiles at the new snazzy attire, and steps out into the party.

Wait... was that... Victor Von Doom? The Doctor Doom? Gordon blinks, only half-remembering that his work as a consultant had to do with superpowered people. Which meant... Doom... fancy party... probably Latveria.

The actual Latveria. Hm. He's not sure whether to be amazed or terrified. Of course, this could just be a big costume party, but the way things had been going lately, Gordon doubted it.

Oh yes, I forgot. Gordon stowed his crowbar in the compartment on his armor's back. Can't exactly be running around in a party like this threatening to bludgeon people. Come to think of it, the party would be more interesting... Nah. Probably shouldn't.

Anyway, the Freeman sets out into the party, watching Elijah and Doom talk. Elijah... Oh, yeah. Snow had been his hirer, back when he was a consultant. How long ago had that been? I wonder, thought Gordon, if Snow still remembers me.

Master Chief

"Say, Chief..." Cortana murmured.

"Yes?" The SPARTAN was busy watching the others. He wasn't sure whether to jump in and help fight or just wait for orders.

"I'm going to turn off your suit's sound-sensors now." And she did. Master Chief was suddenly deafened. He didn't like it.

"Why?"

"That guy over there." A nav-marker appeared over Black Bolt. "Is about to--"

Something happened. Chief saw the man's mouth move, saw the other man blow apart, saw dozens of monsters fall or disintegrate... And then felt the shockwave. The two ton armor is thrown backwards, hitting the ground with a loud metallic thump. His shield-bar drains to half, just from indirect damage. Sonic damage, by the looks of it. That was not a man to trifle with.

"Speak." Cortana finished.

That was also the last straw. He needed to know what was going on here. With a roar, he could hear again. But he was't sure he wanted to. "Cortana, I want a neural feed of everything you can find about this 'Authority'. These people, their work, the organization, and whatever is going on here. Every scrap of information you have."

"You got it, Chief. Looks like the Carrier's memory banks are mostly intact. I'd thought the whole system went down, turns out it was just the communications being knocked out. Lucky us, huh?"

Even while the information is being fed to his neural lace, Master Chief advances, aware of everything around him. His balance is barely thrown off, a slight awkwardness in his gait as a result of Black Bolt's attack. "Yes. Lucky us."

[The Shoveler]

Vash
Omit that last statement.
"Inhuman devils of purest evil, I shall destroy you with my gun!" he says, unloading unending bullet hell upon these creatures with both of his guns. He still pistol whips those that get to close with his inhuman speed and strength.

[darkblade]

Cortona

Oracle manifests next to you. "I wouldn't do that. I'm not very fond of the Authority either but one, there are bigger fish to fry, two, even if there weren't Master Chief as strong as his enhanced body and fancy armour are, is not match for even Shen their weakest member."

[AnimeKid]

Yoshimori

Good thing that as a Kekkaishi he didn't need hearing or much movement to fight. He continues making huge powered up imploding barriers that take huge chunks out of Dracula's army easily. Yoshimori was now in his element.

Fayt

Seeing as the man retreated Fayt pats imaginary dust off of his pants and sighs. "That was a close one. So everyones okay ,right?"

[Murkus]

Cortana

The AI scoffs a little contemptously at Oracle's notions. "Ma'am, do you think me or my boy here are stupid?" In cyberspace, she gestures towards the terminal inside Chief's suit. "We're not attacking the Authority. The UNSC said we're supposed to help. And that's what we're gonna do. We just want a little more to go on, that's all."

[doliest]

Dracula
Dracula's voice carries through the castle, the battlefield, to anything engaging his men or in the same hundred mile radius as a single one of his soldiers,
Mortals! Pitiful Mortals! You seek to fight us? We, who have mastered this plane, who have dominion over it?"

The monsters in the various areas begin attacking; many of the stronger undead seem to have been wiped out in the attacks coming from...well...at this point it's been a large number of people. Suffice to say, the army is largely grunts, with a few interesting beasties sprinkled throughout. On the one hand, zombies and skeletons aren't that frightening. On the other hand, it's a very large number of zombies and skeletons.

Death
Well then....does anyone have a suggestion?

Ash
Ash looks at Sanya, "Come to join the fight, eh?" He's grinning as he continues firing at any oncoming threats.

Light
"I'm just as glad to meet you." He knew that face from somewhere...if only he could remember.

Dr.Kovacs

Spoiler

Show

Eight Men.

Eight men gathered before Dr.Kovacs. They had taken his gifts, and now they stood with him. Ready to save the world.

Spoiler

Show

It's time to save this city, the only way we can.

Jason Todd. Prometheus.

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Show

We give no mercy.

Frank Castle. Venom.

Spoiler

Show

Heads you live. Tails? Tails you die.

Two Face:Master of Probability Magic.

Spoiler

Show

Your time is up.

Temple Fugate. Time Sense.

Spoiler

Show

.....

Killer Moth. Avatar of Mothra.

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We're going to ice ya'; right dummy? Yes Mr.Scarface.

Ventriloquist and Scarface-Telekinetics; Telepathic Connection.

Spoiler

Show

....

Mr.Freeze. Cryokinesis.

The Shadow.
Power Unknown. Identity unknown.


They were The Disciples.

[Colesign]

Sanya

Sanya sighs. "We've helped the Night Watch defend their Wall. Now please come with me and rejoin the main team, or I will feel, very, very sad!"

He takes a frag grenades and throws it a nearby group of Wildings.

"Besides, we haven't yet found out what is in main camp."

[doliest]

Ash
Ash sends yet more flames at the nearest cluster using his...SUPER-SAW! "Fine then; let's get going, then."

[Colesign]

Sanya

"Good! Very Good!" He takes some snow and smears it over Fayt and Ash's Winter clothes. "Do as I do, da? No one know how to sneak around in winter like Russian."

The creep away from the Battlefield, sneaking their way back to Taylor and Co. As they do so, Sanya decides to take a slight detour and observe the Wildling's campground: his intuition tells him he'll see something important there.

{The reason I'm doing this is that I'm hoping Sanya will catch a glimpse of Molly.}

[Gulping]

Naoki

"I've actually SLEPT in more dangerous places than this, kid. It'll take something a lot scarier than chaff like this to faze me." He looks at the hordes of shambling corpses, and sighs. "This is seriously the best they can send at me? *Pssh* that's just sad."
The Demi-Fiend smirks, and points a hand towards the sky, gathering magical energy in his palm.
"Megido." He closes his hand into a fist, and everything in a good 100-foot radius is vaporized in a spark of Almighty force.

Minato

"You're going a bit fast there, aren't you? Maybe you should slow down a little. Sukunda."
Sukunda is a rather insidious spell that hampers a target's motor skills. They have a hard time hitting with their attacks, and are equally impaired when dodging, or even when simply moving around.

To a being as fast as this one, the effect should be crippling.

Lea

"Not fans of ice then, are you? In that case, I see no reason not to keep it up. SHOTLOCK: DIAMOND DUST!" Pointing his Keyblades at the Tainted Coil, Lea starts firing a rapid barrage of icy bolts towards the bondage-obsessed demons.

Shotlock is considered a lost art among Keybladers. Good thing one of the people Lea's carrying on for was a master of the skill.

The Stig

Hmm, it looks like whatever presence That Thing has in Chicago is activating. The readings are rather familiar to you.

They're not exactly identical, but they're similar enough to Bydo for you to decided that the same rules apply.

You try to connect to Oracle, or whoever the hell's handling Communications for the Carrier right now.

*The Stig Reporting. Bydo-Like Signal Located. Point Of Origin Chicago. Requesting Permission To Purge. Repeating: Requesting Permission To Purge Chicago.*

'Purge.' Standard procedure for inhabited areas infected by Bydo. Usually involves orbital bombardment with Wave Cannons. The Photon-Belt line being the standard for such operations due to their discharge time and range. You change the configuration of the 'Last Dancer' in preparation for your upcoming attack.

LOADOUT CHANGED
Steady Photon-Belt Wave Cannon III
Anchor Force DX
Green Pod
6-Way Homing Missile

Wide-area destruction is the point of a Purge operation. Scorch the land down to the bedrock; leave no trace of the Bydo. It's brutal and savage, but it's the only thing that works.

[Cracklord]

Dracula
Alucard reforms next to you, still smiling. Something about the smile is terrifying. Something about the way it lacks anything to do with what should motivate pleasure, there was no warmth in it, no humanity, no kindness, no joy.
"It seems they have decided to make things hard for you." He notes, repairing the Cassul, unbending the slide, then reloading both the guns with fresh clips. "Perhaps it is time we concentrated more firepower."

Light Yagami
It hits you. He's a younger Ra's Ah Ghul. The name, if anything should have tipped you off...
No. The mouth is different, the structure less severe. He's one of Ra's sons. The heirs to his empire. He smiles at your recognition.
"Do you believe your the only one who Victor deigns to sponsor?" He asks. "Welcome to the Mankind Liberation Front."

Elijah Snow, Gordan Freeman
The suit fits over the armor, but looks a bit strange. Nonetheless, you don't care. This sort of thing infuriates you anyway. Give you a practical or theoretical problem, give you aliens or monsters, either of those were your style. This sort of thing is infuriating.
Doom stares at Elijah for a second, his expression a mystery, then replies "Doom's cabinet are chosen for their considerable abilities, Elijah. His competence is without saying."
Words fail to express how much he missed the point.
Seeing Gordon Freeman, he puts down his chalice (there is no wine in it anymore, so he must have drank at some point, yet his way of doing so remains, even at this time, a total confounding mystery) and leads the two of you to the storeroom Gordan just vacated. Ignoring the damaged door and the body, he gestures to the boxes.
"Doom will explain anything you find that is difficult to understand."

Sanya, Ash
The camp is massive, and poorly organized, a mass of tents, furs, animals and huddled figures. Which is no doubt why you haven't been noticed or challenged. Yet.
As you walk towards the back, a lean shadow of a man, with the looks associated with the white court, and a faintly repellent twist to his features that puts one in mind of arrogant disdain. Sanya nearly gags at the smell, worse then any Denariian. He's leaning on a cane, and looks bored.
"You shouldn't have made Farson angry. Now he'll take your time destroying you." Dorian Grey drawls, perfectly at ease.

Darksied
"Well you shan't have it." The thing replies, drifting closer. "Take what you have been given. Use your newfound power to crush world after world, but the tower has been given to the king's red hand, and he will not relinquish his property to you."

Dresden
Mab shakes her head. "This leads to your friends. At the stroke of midnight, I will move them the next step."

Team Dresden
"I'll concede that is true, but then since the only time we've met you tried to help Justine, you could make me do that if you wanted to, and I'd have to acquiesce. Believe me, friends are more trouble then they're worth."
He's looking mostly at Gilgamesh, however. In particularly his extra arms. "So, you're Shiva's nephew or something?"

Minato
"Cut! CUTCUTCUTCUTCUTCUTCUTCUT!!!" He yells, spinning towards you, and his cloak lifts like the wings of a bat, spreading and moving towards you in violent, slashing moves. The edges writhe and shift, edged in something red and vaguely organic and growing and shifting as though alive. Then he's apon you, trying to hack you apart with the edge of his cloak while still smiling that god-damn axe-crazy smile.
But, as you noted, he's not as well balanced or co-ordinated as before, and his swipes are at strange angles or the wrong height all together, as though he's having trouble focusing on you as a target, slashing apart the floor and aiming in the wrong direction completely as much as anything, and missing you most of the time. He shows no sign of stopping soon, or slowing down, but his motor skills are all over the place. That does not, however, make him any less dangerous.

Yoshimori
You continue to smash them, and they continue to die. You're beginning to think that this is far easier then it should be.
Then all of them within a hundred yard radius are disintegrated, and Naoki completes his trick.
There seem to be some real heavy weights on the scale here today.

Yukari
The blood moon shines down, and it unfolds. Feel free to get involved anytime you want.

The Stig
Chicago is vaporized completely, along with everyone within it, possessed or otherwise, along with the machines they were building. Similar readings are coming from Moscow and other cities, all around the globe. You can stop the spread quickly if you hurry, and maybe save some of this planet.

Cass, Lucy, Winter, KM
You are still in Chicago, looking for a way to deal with this, when the blast comes. Think fast.

Lea
The spell is interrupted buy a massive Hate Cage getting in your way, the gigantic, mindless legs stomping at you while the caged demon, barely anything more than a twisted lump of pure, undiluted hate screams and froths obscenities at you.
The Coil are all emerging behind the massive thing, preparing their vehicles and weapons and getting ready to fight back.

Hawksmoor
Strange steps into the observation deck, his face seeming more lined then usual, just a touch of gray in his hair seeming wider then before. For a moment, you fear the worst. But just a moment. "She's sleeping. She will need nutrition, and constant supervision in order to repair her body. But she'll make it."
he sits down, and Hsui the maid gives him a glass of tea, black with neither milk, cream or sugar, which he drinks gratefully. He takes his time, but you can't hurry a good cuppa. He then looks over it at you.
"The Doctor will not return to the Authority. The planet has decided the that it needs a different sort of treatment, and so it chose him as the ideal candidate. Interfering would be dangerous. For one thing, he will not let us."
He hands the china and saucer back to the maid, who curtsies and vanishes. They've only been here three months, and nobody is sure where they came from, but all of a sudden it would be unthinkable to imagine the place without a cleaning service.
Then Strange has your attention again. "But you will not be deterred, so allow me to be simple. He's in Gotham, and has just killed everyone in Arkham Assylum, except a few, which he has magically taken control of and turned into his own private army.

[The Shoveler]

Yukari
Apollo's punishment for killing Flandre was already deemed by the Death Note. She had no say over it, so she comes down to Earth in all her...
Wait, for someone who claims to be so powerful, why is she wearing pajamas and carrying a parasol like this was some lovely moonlight stroll in the Garden?
She's currently in Dracula's castle.
"Hello, Dracula. Remember me? It's Yukari! Good to see you again, after... how many years has it been? Oh well, I don't bother counting the years anymore. How's Death been?"
She assumes she was on good terms with Dracula. After all, she was ever the politician. She only dropped Yoshimori in here to show him that he wasn't nearly good enough, even powered up, to take on those his family was truly tasked to fight. He needed to realize that there are much, much bigger fish in the ocean and that he needed training.

Lucy
She looks up at the energy signal she sensed and sees the Stig's new ship. Her eyes widen. Action comes before words as she uses her Vectors to create a spherical bubble around the three of them.
"Winter, we need a Door back to the Carrier before the blast hits!"

[darkblade]

Morbius

"How did that turn out anyways? Are your complications still present?" The Doctor vampire asks the less Doctor-y one.

***

Dresden

I crosses through the portal and poofed into the hospital room where everyone was gathered. The room got noticably colder when I crossed back to Earth and Mouse doesn't seem to be looking directly at him at any point, prefering to stay behind the knight's legs. The curses of Sidhe Knighthood, not exactly my proudest moment. "What'd I miss?"

***

Darksied and Ivenzo

"I will not be threatened by obsolete second world beings." Darksied states before Ivenzo approaches the portal.

"We had a truce and mutal agreement that my forces would have access to the Tower. Backdown Crimson King." The Former Nobody adds.

***

Cass

"Door, Carrier." Cass says seconds after seeing the beam. The door opens beneath them and deposits them on the Carrier.

[AnimeKid]

KM

Her scanners pick up the beam and she heads over to the door to the carrier so that she can escape the blast, but tries her best to make sure her comrades get through first.

Yoshimori

He sees what his quasi-comrade did and a wide grin comes onto his face. "So you wanna play like that huh." The area that the barriers cover increases exponentially as he starts making a contest out of taking out the mooks. The huge chuncks that he was taking out before become even larger. Combine that with his ability to create multiple barriers at once and you've got a force to reckon with.

[Colesign]

Vin

"Nothing much. This Travis fellow has a 'Lightsaber', and Morbius attached a dead arm to the eight-armed guy. And you?"

Sanya

"Hey, that was Ash and Fayt. You planning on giving us away to Farson?" Sanya asks.

[darkblade]

Dresden

"That'd be why I sense we picked up another pair of pathetic life forms." I joked, only Billy seemed to get the joke and he groaned painfully.

"I made a deal. Queen Mab will be here at midnight to take us to the Tower. Are Travis and Arms coming?"

[Gulping]

Minato

The Wild Card leaves the hammer standing where it is, choosing to use his gauntlets to parry the cape blades' strikes. They're good weapons in their own right, and Minato is an excellent pugilist on top of that. Still, he is struggling to keep up against the embodied terror.

"Whoa! Good thing I slowed you down a little. Otherwise... Don't think about that. MARA!"

The mind-boggling terror that is the big green mass of tentacles and penis riding a little golden cart appears in a flash of blue sparks, slamming into the Fear of Dracula and forcing it away. "Let's see how well you do without that cape of yours. MARALAGIDYNE!"

Mara lets out a really unpleasant sounding roar, and in response, a putrid green flame erupts around Tepes. Hotter than any natural flame, it not only burns, but putrefies and corrodes anything that it touches. It's an exceedingly nasty spell, which means that it's perfect for Mara.

Getter Base

Hayato sits at his desk, an entire carton of burning cigarettes sitting in front of him. A fan pushes the smoke into his immaterial form. This is how Hayato has to get his nicotine fix under normal circumstances. It's crude, inefficient, and totally stupid.

It's also the only thing that's ever done anything for him, so he keeps doing it anyway.

"Ok, this is the current situation.

Galactus, acting on behalf of the Universe, has obliterated Apokolips and scattered everyone on it all across the cosmos. This is a setback, but not an insurmountable one.

It also confirms several suspicions I've had.

First, the local agent of Dis-Lev is completely and totally unreliable when it comes to dealing with Ruina. Darkseid's continued existence is proof enough of that, as is her apparent refusal to listen to my little briefing about the Crimson King.

Second, the blank spot in my perception is indeed the main base of the Heartless. There's a Boom Tube trail leading right for it, and the beings that appeared during the battle are confirmed members of the Organization. They have allied themselves with Darkseid, and there is no doubt that they are up to no good.

Finally, I just want to state that this current situation has proven to be nothing short of maddening. Our enemies are numerous, capable of moving faster than we can, and almost impossible to reach out and crush with Getter Emperor's hand. Those who should be our allies are of little help and less use, too engaged in their own minor problems to deal with what we know to be the bigger issues. Last but not least, our primary target is nigh-impossible to reach with our current resources. In order to launch an assault on the Crimson King's forces, we would need some route into the Tower.

The problem is that our only equitable option for obtaining such a route is to make one ourselves by BLOWING A HOLE IN THE SOURCE WALL."

Ryoma just raises an eyebrow. "That's a terrible idea, Hayato."

The Commander's expression grows more irritated, something that should have been impossible. "The other plans all involve asking one of the Dis-Lev agent's peers, and if they're anything like she is..."

"Whooooo. That bad?"

"She has taken the Ruina candidate Thanos as a lover. I am unable to articulate how poorly that reflects on her judgement."

"Eeeeeeh... That's a really bad sign, isn't it?"

"Yes. Yes it is. Which brings me to my next point: We have recovered Eva-02, and I have received a little 'gift' from Musashi." Hayato presses a button, bringing the restrained Evangelion down from the ceiling while the two hearts came up out of the desk. "One of these hearts should be very familiar to you; Ryoma, Simon."

Ryoma picks up the smaller heart, gazing into the swirling light within it. "F**k me, this is Kamina, isn't it? This is his heart? Geez, never seen one like this before."

"That's because his soul is still a part of it."

"You're s**ting me. That's supposed to be impossible without using Getter to meld them together by force! I should know, that's how we did it for me. Still, why is he like this instead of like how I am?"

"Probably because he reached this state naturally. The manner of his death may have also had something to do with it. Of course, there's always the 'he isn't you' explanation."

"Ha ha. But yeah, I guess that's true. So, what are we going to do with it, then? And what's with the weird-looking one?"

"We're going to build a body to put it in, and as for the other heart... We'll see. It's definitely an odd one. It appears to be one central heart with five distinct heart fragments grafted onto it."

"...This thing is six people?"

"No. It's one being, who happens to have a bunch of other people's hearts attached to him. Honestly, I can't really explain the thing. There are cases of two hearts being bound together, or a heart made of multiple components, but look closer."

"Wait. These pieces here, they're from the same heart. They're like, two-thirds of one whole, and they're stuck to this thing for some reason. And these two smaller ones... They're not grafted on. Did they GROW out of the main heart?! Who in the living hell WAS this guy!?"

"We'll never know. Without the soul, there's no way to recover the memories of whoever's heart this was. Still, they must have been exceedingly powerful."

Hayato picks up the large, multifold heart, and holds it up to the light. "They will make an excellent Soldier."

Travis and Gilgamesh

I am always ready! For as long as my debt to you remains unpaid, I, the mighty Gilgamesh, am at your disposal. The eight-armed swordsman stands and draws a sword, raising it into the air with a cheer as the majority of his arms fold themselves into his clothes. leaving only one pair exposed.

Travis grabs a couple aspirin, downs them with some water, and starts hooking his swords to his little belt-net thing. I don't have anything better to do. I might as well come with. Besides, Gil still owes me a debt for causing that accident.
Indeed! I always pay what I owe, no matter how long it takes!

[darkblade]

Oracle

"That doesn't sound like helping." She tells Cortonna but lets her send the various files to Master Chief in peace now.

She then turns to Sitg's signal. "Thats not good is it? Give me a sec to get the field team out and then burn it to the ground. Send me some files on these Bydo so I can justify the damage to the Authoritt later."

[Gulping]

The Stig

*Not Bydo. Very Similar, Though. Sending Relevant Files Now.*
With a press of a button, you send over all the information about the Bydo, as well as some logs of the data you collected in Chicago while following That Thing's signal, as well as what little info you managed to collect in your brief attack on it.

The video logs were totally corrupt, but one still image survived. It shows That Thing just before your attack struck, and it did... whatever the hell That Thing did to you. Everything else was ruined by whatever power That Thing commands.

You begin charging the Wave Cannon, and wait for Oracle's response.

[The Shoveler]

Flandre
She looks around.
"Yukari forgot about me? Oh well, I guess I'll have to up the power scale here for Dracula's army. Not that I'm supporting him or anything, I just like to see a good fight."
She raises her hands to the moon and the symbol of the Scarlet Devil appears. All the members of the Undead army grow in power, except for Flandre and anyone in the castle. How much power is up to certain lords of powdery-white substances.

[Cracklord]

Morbius
"The surge protector overloads if we do more then hold hands." Thomas replies, but without any real venom. That's a hell of a lot better then what he used to be dealing with, any contact is better then none at all.
He stares at Dresden then. "Well then, I suppose we'd better get packed then. Are we going somewhere nice, or should I go y experience and bring everything I can find?"

Sanya, Ash
"Alas, that would be a waste of my time." He replies, looking uncharacteristically furious for the merest hint of a second, before his usual composure reasserts itself. Heroically, he pulled his cane sword, slashing the thin silver blade in a menacing arc, and pointing it squarely at you.

Minato
He falls back, as the acid-like substance eats into his cape, almost completely dissolving it.
His grin doesn't go anywhere. More to the point, he starts giggling, a high pitched, unrestrained giggle that goes on and on and on.
That's just plain wrong.
A shadowy figure begins to form, the shape of Yoshimori, except his eyes alight with bloodlust and his features narrowed and cruel. The figure throws itself at you, hacking with it's bladed staff, already using it's powers to change the battlefield with shields. Worse, the Night of Wallachia begins to form another being, that already looks like Naoki. And who knows what else he might make given time?

Hayato
Latteral thinking. No real substitute for it.
Now all you need to do is figure out a way to do it. And you don't know if you have one.
The Source wall is in every universe, or at least every universe you have visited. More might conceivably exist, you suppose, but if they do, somehow you imagine the wall will be there as well.
The wall, as far as you know, is impenetrable, without breach or weakpoint, though it must have a gate because a little is known about what is on the other side. The current theory is that the creator put it there as a final frontier, the last step towards taking over creation. Alternatively, it might be the border that holds between heaven, or the pillar that holds creation together, and destroying it may destroy everything.
It is the last resting place of anyone who wanted to cross. And you're not sure how you're supposed to destroy it. Gods have been chipping at it for the life of stars and achieved not the slightest effect. The lensmen tossed antimatter galaxies at lightspeed through wormholes, and had less then no effect. If it can be destroyed, it's going to take something serious. Not Heroic willpower, not the entire Getter force, not using an entire universe as a club, and the power of rock is similarly outclassed. No big robot will be big enough, and monsters out of nowhere have it as their final resting place.

Darkseid
The universe was void. Nothing was. Nothing moved.
Nothing but darkness.
"Let there be light." The voice was not the voice of the Crimson King. It was gigantic, powerful, echoing, filling all space and the spaces between space.
But there was none. It was flat and cold and empty, darker then dark and blacker then black. Besides this, the darkest night of a soul was noonday, the ancient enduring darkness beneath the mountains a smudge on the sun.
You feel the universe shrinking around you, stars shrinking, nebulae drawing together to become mere smudges, all converging around you in a horrible point.
The darkness grew, and you could feel ultimate meaning rushing towards you, enlightenment that you knew would destroy you, leave you broken and destroyed. You wondered how the King had avoided such a fate, then realized he hadn't, that he was totally mad, and it did not comfort you.
"Renege. Cast away all thoughts of the tower, be on your way and go about taking the universe. Have it all, but you won't have the tower. Now leave."

Naoki
Suddenly things have become a lot harder. Looking up, you see Flandre, perched up amongst the gargoyles like the most adorable statue ever, barely more then a multi-colored dot. She's making them stronger. So much so a few of them almost hit you, and now they are taking effort to kill.

Flandre
The spirit of Vlad Teppes steps up behind you. He's silent. Your not sure how you're related to him, I mean theoretically he's your grandfather, only a portion of him, or the being he was before he gained the ability to be your grandfather.
Or something. Anyway, he's watching over you silently, here as a protector, and you're glad for his strong, brooding presence.

Cass, KM, Winter, Lucy
You step back aboard the Carrier, just in time to see four vaguely familiar individuals already on board, talking to Hawksmoor. Magnetto, Black Adam, and two others both of which look a lot less intimidating when compared to the first two.

Quenthal Baenre
It takes you a moment, but you find it. The scent is easy enough to find, after all. Neither you or Malus understand how to fly the machine, so you yell commands at the pilot, who gauges the throttle and takes the machine over the encampment.

Shotgun Suzy, Fayt
You hear a helicopter above you, the steady vibrations impossible to mistake for anything else.

Benkei
Smashing the mirrors seems to be having the desired effect, you can now discern where the corridors are. And the maze has lost most of it's power. No more Nobodies are emerging, and all in all you feel you're going to run into Lecter momentarily.
In fact, you can hear his voice up ahead.

King Mickey
Hannibal extends his arms. "Thundaga." he says, and a double forked bolt of lightning smashes into you, striking twice. It seems he's not quite the one trick pony you anticipated.
"You can't even help yourself. Here you are, fighting me, while your friends rush blindly ahead without their beloved king to protect them. Like lambs to the slaughter. If you hurry back, you might even hear them scream. I think you've done for them almost as well as you've done for your kingdom. Why did you leave it? Not to protect it, but to run from your responsibilities. You were afraid. Afraid to face the inevitable, and so you left your wife and friends alone."

Rorschach
You sense what happened in Chicago. Part of being one with the Earth, connected to every living thing and having forty extra senses.

[Gulping]

Naoki

"So that's your game? Well, two can play it cheapsies." The Demi-Fiend snaps his fingers, and Pixie appears next to him, along with what appears to be a mechanical angel and an extremely large fly.

Hey stud. What happened to you? You disappeared for like three days!
It is good to see you well. Your orders, milord?
What damned fool troubles you this time, Kashima?

"Just some minor annoyances. Metatron, Beelzebub, take care of the chaff. Pixie, go see if you can convince the little girl to leave. I'm going to handle Commander Aryan Greaseball there."

No problem, love.
Understood. Thy will be done.
Hah, is that all? You're losing your edge, Kashima.

With that, the three minions fly off in different directions, Metatron heading east, Beelzebub buzzing off to the west, and Pixie flitting up and planting herself right in front of Flandre.

Heeeeeey! How you doing? I'm Pixie. You wanna go get some ice cream or something? This place is a total drag. Just freaking darkness and zombies and blaaaaagh. the diminutive fae-like proceeds to do her best imitation of a zombie, shambling stiffly through the air in front of the younger Scarlet. So laaaaame. No fun at all.

Return to the embrace of the grave. Fires of Sinai!

Get back in your wretched holes and stay there! Death Flies!

The No.2 men of Heaven and Hell, respectively, busy themselves by flying around the battlefield, dropping devastating magics on top of the largest concentrations of monsters.

Naoki, his minions now giving him some breathing room, begins to focus his powers, preparing to launch an exceedingly powerful attack. The creepy-looking guy behind the little girl looks like he could use some more holes in him.

Minato

"Reinforcements? Seriously? And you're copying other fighters too? I only have one thing to say to that noise."

Minato raises one hand into the air, his coffins responding to his will and forming up around him in a six-point formation.

"Samsara!"

The caskets burst open, unleashing a torrent of glowing prayer slips and a shining, golden light. The ultimate 'expel' skill; Samsara is a perfected wide-area exorcism spell that purges all evil from anything it hits.

A fair number of the talismans slap against the fake Yoshinori's walls, dissolving them to nothingness. Others attach to the shadow itself, with similar results. The copy Naoki is terminated before it even has a chance to act.

But the majority of them don't stick to anything in particular. They fall to the ground and hit the walls of the room, adhering instantly as though they were covered in crazy glue or something. Minato smirks, and he grabs hold of the hammer as the light from the coffins begins to intensify, and the paper charms respond in kind.

As the light reaches its blinding zenith, the Wild Card leaps into the air, using one of the chests as a step to boost him up higher, hammer raised over his head as he descends towards his manic opponent.

And when the light goes out, the truth of Minato's attack is revealed: He wasn't aiming at the shadow warriors.

Samsara was meant to dispel Night of Wallachia itself!

Hayato

Hayato hurls another carton onto the miniature bonfire he's standing behind, basking in the smoke that the fans blow into him.

"Breaking through the wall itself is impossible. Nobody has managed to even so much as scratch the damned thing. Even if we could do it, the consequences could be disastrous. So that plan's out the window right there." The Commander is deep in thought, picking packs of unfiltered cigarettes out of a barrel filled with the things and tossing them one by one into his blazing monument to lung cancer.

"Can't get a guide, can't break through it... Have to go around. Under or over the wall, circumventing it entirely. Get through to another layer of Existence, one where the wall doesn't exist? Just teleport to the other side of the thing somehow? Go beat up someone who knows a way through and get the information out of their broken mouths?" Every sentence is punctuated by another sacrifice to the dark God of Nicotine, as Hayato continues to think.

Ryoma, by this point, has decided to just take the hearts down to the Soldier Lab, where the immensely powerful foot soldiers of the Getter Army are created from the hearts of lost heroes. He's dragged Simon along with him, since the Getter Pilot figured he'd want to be there to greet his revived brother.

"You have anything you want to say before we do this thing?"

The phrase 'are you sure you know what you're doing' springs to mind as Ryoma says this. This happens to everyone within earshot whenever Ryoma says that sentence. It's a law of reality or something.

[Cracklord]

Dracula
Fascinating. That's Beelzebub, number three man of the fallen (Lucifer the Satan is the much disputed but unchallenged ruler, but he only wakes up to eat universes. He does stir and thrash in his sleep, which makes the infinite reaches of hell shake, and has become de facto ruler. Mephisto is the number two, and runs hell in Lucifer's place.) You're not sure where that puts him on the actual pecking order of hell, Lord Shax and Astaroth predate the fallen and might rank higher. Still, it's an impressive feat nonetheless.
Perhaps this one merits your attention.

Black Bolt, Midnighter, Shen
"That's it? At least give us a good chorus of he's a Jolly Good Fellow, or some alternative folk music, or something to that effect. Come on, you owe it to us to deliver a bit more, and that was fairly anti-climactic. It didn't even knock down a building. Also, Cracklord? Don't mean to rush you, but can I appear a bit more? I mean, this is really..."
You are all profoundly thankful for the deafness, as all you hear is ". . ." However, the fact remains, Deadpool has pulled himself together, and is getting ready to move again, and possibly fight as well.
Alucard is nowhere to be seen, and the gate in is empty. Now is your chance to push in, and kill the king.

Naoki
Vlad Teppes the third, called Son of the Dragon and Son of Satan, but most commonly called Vlad the Impaler stared levelly at you. He's not Aryan in the slightest, he's more Slavic, with brown skin, slightly turned eyes, and midnight hair streaked with grey, a powerful chest and broad shoulders, but what do you know?
He unfolded his arms, and withdrew a stake from beside him. It was nearly ten feet long, and sharpened to a wicked, crude point. The lack of elegance only made it worse, because some weapons are beautiful and fit to be admired. While this serves one, single purpose. It is for causing horrible harm, and there is no mistaking it.
Not for nothing is he called Vlad the Impaler.
As powerful as you might be, you can't help but feel a little flutter in your belly as you think of what it would be like to have that thing rammed into you, and die slowly of massive internal bleeding and exposure to the elements, choking on bile and gore and filth as you long for death. It's not a pleasant thing to consider. Not at all.
Then he slams it into the ground, a foot deep into the soil, and plants both his hands on it. In a gruff, deep voice he speaks, his eyes shining with conviction, and so intently do you focus on him that you don't even feel yourself being sucked into his Reality Marble.

"God will not help those who beg for help. He will not save those who beg for mercy. That is not a prayer. That is just an appeal to God. There is no devotion, no sacrifice in begging. God is not kind, or merciful. He watched his son die, and will do the same thing to you. All you do is demean yourself, show yourself to be unworthy of his favor, by allowing weakness into yourself. Dear God, I have never begged for your mercy, nor will I ever."

His hands tighten so hard on the wood it creaks and groans with pain, threatening to crack and splinter into hundreds of pieces beneath his monstrous grip. His voice is deeper now, sounding rapturous and ascendant. You feel a shield of power taking form around him. Faith, magnified by the power of the magic that binds him to the world, forming his defense. It's enough of one to make even you start, as it's greater then most divine shields. He's more then a fanatic, he's something else, and perhaps worse.

"Then, even if my small world burns and collapses, if my end comes, I will meet it with my head high, for in the end, before my wretched self, I know that at the end of tearing and breaking and cleaving and scattering prayers, there will be an ending, and you shall learn the truth as it sets me free. That, in the end, you will have heard and juged my entreaty and merit."

He raises the massive stake, and points it at you, a challenge, a demand for a fight that you were only too keen to accept.

"You have heard my words. Now fear the anger of a king, and learn the pain of his displeasure."

"KAZIKILI BEY!"

A forest of pikes erupts from the ground in every direction, each one scything at you lethally, each one enough to skewer you and spill your guts on the floor. There is nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, for they erupt in every direction, as far as the eye can see, glimmering in the sunlight. Most of them already have corpses skewered upon them, contorted and shriveled in agony as they scream in pain, each of them by all rights long dead, but still driven to feel pain. And he means for you to wind up like them, held forever in a state worse than death in this place.

Minato
He holds out his arms, and is surrounded by a golden glow that was somehow sickening and repellent, threaded with tendrils of deepest crimson that seem to pump foulness through the aura. Whenever Wallachia moves, it leaves an afterimage that takes a minute to fade, a golden trail.
He stares at you for a moment, then lowers into a crouch. He holds that position, as though guarding against your attack, then springs up at you as you descend, the golden light making him impossible to focus on, a trail behind. He is, in effect, berserk, moving far faster and his attacks far deadlier and more dammaging, but sacrificing all pretenses of defense.
If he was strategically minded, you'd assume he was using his greater speed to attack you so fast you never have a chance to touch him with your relatively cumbersome weapon. But from what you've seen so far, he might be doing it for any reason whatsoever. He's still smiling, and still giggling.
You bring the hammer down, and in the second before contact he's simply... gone in a swirl of his cape, leaving only the golden trail and no resistance.
You stare around anxiously for a moment, before you realize...

...Behind me.

Cold hands, sharp beyond sharpness, sink into the flesh of your back, cutting away all feeling, all sense, and laving massive chunks of dead, bloodless flesh. It lasts only a minute, but you almost scream at the horrible, defiling feeling. You feel corrupt, sick, like you'll never be well again, you'll never escape the clutch of the Night of Wallachia.
You land, the magic already fading, having missed. You feel alright. He didn't hit any major nerves, veins, or anything, so it won't impede your movements too much, and it's not even painful. It's not even bleeding, though that's because he didn't leave any blood to ooze out. You think he was going for your spine, but the effects of your previous spell threw off his aim sufficiently for a crippling blow to be a glancing one.
But any feeling you might have had that this is anything less then a deadly threat have evaporated. It's still giggling, smiling that goddamn smile, and is spinning again.
"Spinspinspinspinspinspinspinspinspin!!!"

Beelzebub
You find yourself in a very, very unfortunate position. A conflict of loyalties. Dracula was chosen by Lucifer the Morningstar as his champion, the knight of hell, and the immortal representative of Sheol. He's also a very close, personal friend of Death (Not Dislev, but Death herself).
This is not good. Not good at all. It's worse then the time you, Mephisto and Lord Astaroth all bought John Constantine's soul at the same time, and therefore had to give him eternal life to avoid a civil war in hell.

Hawksmoor
"Don't worry about that." Says a powerful, rich, deep voice that, while pleasant, makes the floor vibrate slightly. "It's time for heroes who don't just patrol the world... they change it. That's why The Authority just gained five more members."
Black Adam strides in, looking almost ridiculously top heavy, his shoulders three times the width of his waist. When he flexes, it takes his muscles a few minutes to do anything about it while his other muscles move out of the way, and looks like a couple of four-wheel drives parking. He is a member of the Marvel family, the worlds mightiest mortals. And even without magic, he looks like he could be used as a support for a bridge.
His face is carelessly handsome and strong, his eyes just a tad to close together, with a powerful jaw and a cleft chin. His clothes are black and gold, with a lightning bolt shimmering on his chest, and his beefy arms folded.
Beside him stands Senator Isenhart, positively tiny and frail in comparison, though even at his age he's in better shape then you are, so that's hardly a strike against him. He's dressed in severe black, with a cape that gives him a faintly operatic appearance. He's not wearing his bronze helmet at the moment, it's nestled in the crock of his arm, and he's smiling faintly, a knowing, slightly patronizing, but warm smile.
"Good morning Hawksmoor. Adam proposed it, but I've always found myself unable to simply let things unfold. I need to be a part of them, and your offer seemed a good way to do just that." He gives Strange a polite nod.
"Besides, the world is changing. No one talks about it. They pretend things are still the same. And go on with your lives, ignoring the signs all around them. Never again." He stares at you, intent, but his smile doesn't move.
They are both... dangerous, and have histories. Very dangerous. But Argumentum Ad Baculum.

[Gulping]

Naoki

"Oh F**K a BUNCH of YOU! GAEA RAGE!"

The ground that the pikes are sprouting out of groans and cracks, a massive flood of terrifying power coming up from below. Gaea Rage is one of the most powerful attacks in Naoki's entire arsenal, capable of obliterating entire armies of demons.

When amplified by Power Charge...

Wellllllllllllll... Let's just say that there have been less powerful supervolcanoes.

Kazikili Bey's forest of pikes is annihilated, torn to pieces and consumed by the savage earth. The Demi-Fiend stands in the middle of the devastation, his face set into a determined scowl.

"DEBILITATE!" Naoki doesn't bother with any posturing, simply throwing out the enfeebling spell before breathing out an enormous cloud of fog, which covers the area like a great heavy blanket. He's fallen into serious mode now.

Serious Naoki is bad news for anything.

Minato

"So that's your game, prick? Fine. Sukukaja, Rakukaja, Tarukaja, Tetrakarn." The Wild Card throws out the enhancement spells in rapid succession, a rather draining move, but one that could pay off. Raku.Suku/Tarukaja enhance his speed, defense, and strength by a rather significant amount, and Tetrakarn is an excellent, if costly, support spell. Minato would be in excellent shape for whatever attack he was going to try next.

That is, if he had decided to actually attack the Night again. Instead, he's just standing there, resting the hammer on his shoulder.

"Well, come on then. Go for it. Hit me already!" Yeah. He's just waiting there, daring the Night to stop screwing around and attack him again. This is his plan.

[darkblade]

Dresden

"Alright then. Everyone try to get some rest." I said. "We might not get another chance for quite a while."

Morbius ponder's Thomas's comment. "There might be another way but it's something you'll want to think over, I might be able to cure your vampirism. I have next to no experience with the White Court but Bob looked over my notes and assured me the theory was sound."

***

Oracle

"Field team out. Fire at will." Oracle tells the Stig.

***

Cass

"Chicacgo, Failure." Cass says approaching Hawksmoor.

Oracle's icon appears on a nearby moniter. "Not quite, based on reports by the Stig those parasites were similar to the Bydo. Normal policy is to glass a planet they are seen on, this was the best case senario."

***

Darksied

Darksied glares but submits. Stepping away from the portal and closing it behind him.

"Entwine the Equation in every Heartless. Spread Anti-Life through their darkness." Darksied demands.

Ivenzo complies and changes the Heartless producing machines.

[nanobot_swarm]

Akuma
After killing Killer Croc in single combat, and leaving his corpse resembling chili, he now finds himself in a hoard of zombies somewhere in Kansas, and some vampires. He makes his way through the unliving, seeking another worthy opponent.

Godzilla
Big G will now start tearing **** up in Thunderclap.

[Colesign]

Vin

"Wait, wait." Vin says, a perplexed expression on her face. "Thomas is a Vampire?"

Solomon Kane

"A cure for White Court Vampirism?" Solomon says with a skeptical tone.

Sanya

"Da, time for a one-on-one duel." Sanya intones. He sweeps back his cloak to draw Esperacchius: for the moment, he suppresses it's holy light to avoid attention. He swings the Sword of Hope at Dorian's neck: Dorian Grey counters.

The two men bind their swords, each pushing against the other: then Sanya throws a thick snowball at Dorian's eyes, blinding the man. With a flourish, Sanya tries to rip Dorian's sword from his hands.

"Quick, dogpile him!" he shouts to his compatriots.

[industrious]

Winter

"Magneto?"

10 years ago, the now-Senator for California was a far more radical figure. Less mutants rights, more mutant superiority. The death of Charles Xavier had done much to mellow him.

"Hands up!"

Jack Hawksmoor

"Winter. Put the gun down. We're on the same side now. He's changed. Xavier's dead."

Jack thinks for a moment, knowing that he won't leave the Carrier. Not until Angie was better.

"Get Black Bolt, the Midnighter, and Shen to the med bay. Black Adam, Winter, and Spawn to Kansas. Constantine, Moon Knight, and Magneto to Arkham."

Nicodemus

Making sure that Molly was comfortable on her steed, Nicodemus graps his reins, and sets spur to flank-lightly. The Tower awaited.

Team Nightside

I shake my head free of the fuzzies, and nod at the rest of our group.

"We can't get bogged down here. The Tower's the key. Come on."

[The Shoveler]

Lucy
She looks at the assembly of people. She knows absolutely nothing about these people. As far as she knew, they were probably survivors of the Cthulhu attack on her world.
"..." She stands there for a while, contemplating what to say to these people or to Hawksmoor. He'd seemingly forgotten about her. She'd need to make herself known and useful if she wanted to prove that she was in fact a good person. She didn't want to become like the very people that created her. However, that being said, she is an inch away from snapping and following her nature to its original purpose: the Slaughter and destruction of all humans.
"I'm useful." Her head is hanging down. "How can I prove this to you? I don't care if you trust me or not, but at least acknowledge that I have uses. My Vectors can be controlled with the precision of a surgeon's knife and I can blanket a planet with them. I could be a field operative or a clean-up team. Please, give me something to do..."