Teams 1, 2, 3: From the Hook in the Egalgina

[_monsters_]

You find yourselves in a strange, impossible dome. Enormous, with red ribbed peeling walls and a harsh red light streaming down from a hole at the very top of the thing. Your voices echo, though your footsteps do not, and there is the loud and distracting sound of a heartbeat coming from what seems to be all sides of you. On the wall ahead of

Comments

[derek_bliss]

This is what it would be like if the vampirism had sent me mad, is Derek's thought as he emerges into the dome. The heartbeat echoes loudly in his ears without the plugs to counter-act the sound. The smell of blood and meat alternately makes him ill and want to drool. His stomach growls loudly as the rest of him cries for fuel he can't have in this place.

He shakes as he makes his way into the center of the room, looking to see who else has emerged into this odd hell.

[htownshend]

He takes in the environment, but doesn't really process the differences. His immediate concern is Eileen. If she didn't end up going through with him, he'll never forgive himself...but his hand is still closed around hers. He breathes a sigh of relief.

It's not till then that he sees that someone else is here. "...Derek?" He stands up, helping Eileen up as well.

[thefireofasaint]

John's eyes are wide and he looks more on edge, compensating for his weariness with a skittishness bordering on paranoid. He clenches the remaining lighter tightly, reading the message on the doors, and then glances behind to him make sure Henry, Liz, and Roger have come through as well.

[derek_bliss]

Derek looks over, able to hear Henry despite the loud incessant heart-beat.

"Henry. Eileen," he greets them, making his way over. The left arm of his jacket is ragged woth tears and burns; the rest is not much better off, little more than shreds in some places. The t-shirt underneath is likewise mangled and blood stains most of it's surface. Derek's skin beneath os smooth and unmarred, but painted lavishly in gore.

He looks about thirty pounds lighter than he had when they'd started this.

"You guys all right?"

[venus_afflicted]

Hero genes. When he got back to the nexus, first thing first, he was having the motherfuckers removed. What the fuck was he thinking, stepping through some random hole beneath some satantic altar? All he could hear was Jean-Paul's voice in his head, asking him what the fuck he thought he was doing

[thefireofasaint]

John snaps to attention, moving forward quickly to look for the source of that voice.

"Warren." He's using the careful-being-quiet-so-I-don't-yell-at-people voice. It's one thing to see Derek, no offense meant, but this is quite another.

To his eyes, Warren looks in worse shape than how he feels, and that makes him determined to not fuck up the ritual. "You're okay." It's a mixture of relief and question and, really, demand.

[venus_afflicted]

Yeah, he might look bad. Bullet hole in his shoulder, hand rubbed raw but hey, FAMILY! Warren grins.

"Holy crap, fancy meeting you here. Of all the gin joints, in all the world..." Ah, bonding.

"Ready to do this shit and go home? Cause, you know, I'm starting to like the decor."

[thefireofasaint]

"Jesus fucking christ, I thought we were gonna be in this together." John bites back the ridiculous desire to spill about being maybe almost sort of kind of feeling like he's tapped out. He told Liz so there wouldn't be any accidents, but telling Warren will pressure him.

"Remind me to thank whoever kept you alive."

[lina_inverse]

Lina has seen better days, herself. She lost her cloak somewhere along the way, and other than her face - she's coated in reddish brown gore. Her hair is limp and matted against her back and her head, and there are several spots on her pants that look like large chunks have been taken out. The skin itself is gore-coated there, but that could just be the same gore that she's been in lately.

Could be.

"Guh. Gla... Glad to see you're all okay."

[derek_bliss]

"Lina," yes, that's undisguised relief there.

[lina_inverse]

"Not out of here yet, huh, Derek...? More toying around with us..?"

[derek_bliss]

"Not quite. But I do think this is end game."

[dreams_of_fish]

Another jump... Merely a second one, but Abe's already sick of them. Sick of darkness, falling with no end and never having any idea where he'll emerge. He wishes they'd already find Liz, reunite with the rest of the team and leave this accursed place. In the back of his mind, though, he realizes - it can't be that easy. Walter won't let it be so.

Finally, the darkness around him fades like from opening his eyes - and Abe finds himself in a large grotesque dome, surrounded by dull red light. He likes red... It reminds him of Hellboy and Liz, the two people who always kept him going. This red, however, is alien and sinister. It makes him wish they'd go back to the stale darkness and faint electric lights of the previous area.

"Derek? Lina? Mr.Johnson?" Abe starts slowly walking forward, tightening his grip on the axe in his hand. He first calls for the names of those who were by his side through this entire journey, but then decides to call for another person... The one who he tried to find here, in the first place. "Liz?"

[domina_igne]

Seeing Abe is a welcome change from talking--again--about the ritual, which is the last thing she wants to be thinking right now.

"Abe!" Liz can't exactly run anymore, not that she was ever that good at it anyway, but she limps to him and loops her arms around his neck. "Abe, you idiot, I can't believe--no, of course I believe you came here. You always come for me." She manages a smile for him. "That doesn't mean I'm not thinking about punching you when we get out of here."

When, please when. Not if.

[dreams_of_fish]

Oh, ouch, crippling pain from gills being touched! But it's Liz hugging him, so Abe doesn't bother worrying about that. The main thing is that his friend is safe. So he smiles as widely as someone who looks like an amphibian scratching post can manage and hugs Liz back.

"Liz! Holy mackerel, Liz, I'm so glad you're safe." He sounds much better than back in the forest, this being the first really good thing that happened to him in a while. "Don't worry, you can punch me all you want when we get back. I deserved it."

Yes, there's an emphasis on 'when'... If only to cheer her up.

"Just not in the gills, please." His smile turns a little awkward. "The water in this place isn't very clean."

[domina_igne]

Somewhere a different Liz has a daughter who is wincing at that.

"Ugh. I'm so sorry, Abe." She frowns, pulling away so she doesn't, you know, crush his trachea or anything. "I get the feeling I'm going to need to tell a lot of people that. When we're home."

'When' is a really nice word.

[lobsters_claw]

Like the ghost that he is, Lobster Johnson fades in from nothingness. For someone who's fairly "physically" unscathed, he nonetheless looks like he's seen better days. The blue claw emblem on his chest has been stained almost entirely red by blood from combat, and there's no "almost" about the ordinarily orange lenses of his goggles. His face is also stained with blood from combat... except for where it looks like his eyes have been bleeding from under the goggles.

He looks around, trying to get his bearings after his transport from Wish House.

[derek_bliss]

"Lobster!" Derek greets him, the smile of relief obvious. All of his team made it...all of them. Thank god.

...That left only four missing now.

[lobsters_claw]

"We all made it here. Good."

[derek_bliss]

"Yeah, I think so. Haven't seen Hellboy or Kate yet, but I have a feeling they'll show."