ic Deeper Underground

[GranspearZX]

"Ow!" As the man grabbed him and leaned in, he pressed against Marcus's arm. Marcus reacted, shoving the man hard against the wall with his left hand. The Beast Rune reacted in kind and Marcus snarled at the poor, panicked soul, enlarged canines bared. It took a second before he realized what he was doing. "...sorry. Watc the arm."

 

For several moments, Marcus  didn't say a word, letting him explain. He was certain that the man wasn't infectious, at least not in the way that the others were worried about. It reminded him more of poison ivy than anything else, and while that was annoying, it certainly wasn't fatal. He was starting to get angry. He still had no idea what had caused the accident, but he had his suspicions... there was something he was missing, but he couldn't figure out what.

 

Giant ants and mutant fungi. What are the odds.

 

"Wait here."

 

Marcus really wasn't sure how to deal with this. He had to check for more survivors, but this fungus... this metal-eating fungus... how was he supposed to handle that? There was only one safe way he could think of, but he hated doing it in cramped spaces. Civilians seeing his animagus powers wasn't going to be pleasant. So far, he'd avoided a panic, but it seemed that avoiding that was going to be even more difficult. He sighed and started forward, the way the man came from, faint embers dancing at his fingertips in anticipation of what he might have to do next.

[Supercape]

GM

 

And so Marcus stole forward, the smell of damp mushrooms becoming stronger. He passed several wounded and shocked people, but the threat was further on. 

 

Three carriages down, picking through the dim lights and the crushed metal, he found the source of the problem. 

 

A young man in his twenties was unconscious, lying on the floor, dressed in what looked like a sewer workers overalls judging by his uniform. Around him, and with gloopy tendrils all around him, was a purple grey fungus, about ten feet across in every direction and growing by the second. Tendrils leeched on to the metal of the carriage, slowly dissolving it. 

 

As Marcus watched, a stringy new tendril shot across the carriage, ten feet long, and attached itself to the ceiling. 

 

The carriage lurched again. It was now at least twenty degrees tilt...

[Supercape]

GM

 

And meanwhile.. directly above....

 

Lobisomem could actually hear the rumblings under his feet. The grumbling and onimous sounds seem to come from the open manhole cover, which lead down to the sewers of Freedom City, and possibly all sorts of subterran architecture. 

 

But he had far more pressing concerns, as the Giant ant lurched forward and seized him with its mandibles, raking the across his chest in a bloodthirsty frenzy. Whatever strength the Ant had was no magnified and multiplied with blood lust..and it was strong to begin with. 

 

It seemed to click its legs together in happy joy at its ferocity. 

 

And now, the truck was fully alight...would it be much longer before it exploded? In any case, the flames, growing hire, caressed the ant which gave a huge high pitched squeal, thrashing around in the fire and twitching. One could almost smell the cooking ant-flesh...

Edited January 22, 2018 by Supercape

[Drakka]

Well, she was prepared, but that didn't mean the bite didn't hurt like hell. She leaned to the side as the crunching sensation rippled through her body, shielding the human before a terrible roar shook the air. The mandiles cut right through her scales with a terrible screech, as if through metal, and her mind went white with pain. As if from a distance, she saw herself, still. Too close. The truck would kill her and the human. Too close.

 

And then the human screamed.

 

She snapped back into the reality of it all, the fire near licking her, and lurched away from the burning ant. Another spark of pain laced through her side, not helped at all by the human she was holding, but she was running, away from the truck, and then suddenly halted, whirling around. Taking care not to let it hit her unwitting rescuee, she arched her head back and forth, a clear burst of liquid zipping toward the ant. It had to stay still, it had to, the truck would hopefully finish the thing off...

[Supercape]

GM

 

The caustic liquid squirted straight at the Ant, who again emitted that most awful high pitched scream, the chemicals creating a horrible acrid smoke as they interacted with the chitin. It looked like it was having a seizure, the way it skittle around. One leg fell into the burning crack of the radiator grill, and smoke started pouring out of the truck., 

 

It was only a matter of time, and the time was now. 

 

The Front of the Truck exploded, and the Ant went with it, various unpleasant appendages flying around the street. A nicely preserved Antanea landed at the feet of the driver, who screamed and fainted from shock and concussion. 

 

Crazies Charlies Crazy Cream, somewhat caramalised, also rained down from above. Lobisomem got covered in a particularly generous amount, the bright green artificial kiddies concoction of 99% sugar, 1% creme, and an impossible extra dose of artificial chemicals coating her. 

 

It didn't taste too bad, actually. 

[GranspearZX]

Marcus instructed everyone he passed to get back to safety and to help the wounded. He paused when he saw the sewer worker. This was bad. Certainly worse than he thought. His first move had to e a calculated one, and he wasn't at all ready to unleash the Beast and Fire runes together at their most potent.

 

Yeah, that would have to be a VERY last resort.

 

"Soul of the Beast, spirit of savagery and stability..." Marcus clasped both his hands together; the Earth Rune on the back of his right hand and the Beast Rune burning through what was left of his hooded sweatshirt. Dust and an ominous rumbling rose from where he stood as his obscured form grew within the burst of magical energy. When it subsided, Arcturus stood--his right arm still broken. He winced, immediately regretting transforming with a broken arm. That, for now, didn't matter.

 

The great bear leapt out of the subway car and raised his right foot, slamming it as hard as he could into the ground. The earth beneath him shuddered and a pillar of solid rock fell from the ceiling; Arcturus struck it as it fell, reshaping it as impact and sending a giant stone first hurtling at the fungus.

 

He hoped that would get its attention. He wasn't entirely sure what was going to come after that.

[Drakka]

A different emotion dribbled into Lobisomem as she watched the giant insect stumble about, an emotion that forced her teeth into view and her eyes to narrow into slits. Satisfaction. She didn't need to feel sorry for this thing, no doubt it was the dangerous creature...and it did not come from the subway, were there more?

 

Boom!

 

She startled as the truck inevitably exploded, front claws shooting out to catch the concussed human as he finally passed out. Her ears were already ringing, the strange Cream coating her just felt like an extra slap to the face. She shook out her body, tongue instinctively flicking out to clean her face. Sweet, but not in an entirely unpleasant way, thank goodness, she had enough of horrible sweetness for today. Not that she'd be done anytime soon if this encounter was any indication.

 

She snatched up the antenna in her jaws as she carried the human to the entrance of the subway, it'd be useful for scent purposes and, if not, it was a meal. At the same time, her horns glowed toward any humans nearby. "Keep this human safe, it is a head wound. Also, he is scared. Keep eyes on the manhole. I am going in to find the rest, and reduce them to nothing." Confidence flooded her voice, and she desended into the subway, unknowingly ready to help the other hero helping in the depths...

[Supercape]

GM

 

Lobisomem crawled down the manhole and into the sewers. The stench was, predictably, awful. 

 

It was obvious however, that something was up architecturally. Massive cracks in the sewers, and rubble and dust. Exploring further, following the sound, and the flow of raw sewage (that would mix would the Crazy Creme....it was hard to say which was more unhealthy), Lobisomem crawled down the cracks to the rooftop of a subway line. 

 

Here, he had an excellent view of the Subway carriage wreck, slowly, with screeches and groans, falling down an even bigger crack to...well....one could not see. A dark crack with something below. It would surely not be long before the subway train fell...

 

The metal was being eaten away by the strange Fungus Arcturus was investigating. Lobisomen could see it all...and saw how, as Arcturus through the earth, the fungus exploded into a cloud of spores and gloop. 

 

The infected man, a good two thirds of his body covered by the fungus, gave an awful groan, but he could hardly be bothered by the cloud of spores. He was infected enough already....

 

 

[Drakka]

Lobisomem lowered her head to her chest as she desended into the sewer, the stench felt like a wall and she desperately avoided the floor, she'd rather be bitten again than ever getting whatever she thought she smelled on her feet. 

 

A different smell somehow caught her attention, and she reluctantly allowed herself to drop down toward the crack, head squeezing through just in time to hear another pained screech from the nearly fallen train. Her sight wasn't the best down here, not that she needed it too much. Heat peppered the dark world, and a great beast sprung toward a growing shape...the fungus, it smelled funny. It smelled even funnier once it was in the air, and she chocked on a cough as a burst managed to snake its way into her face. Instead she gurgled and spat before narrowing her eyes at the situation at hand. 

 

"Beast!" She directed toward the earth throwing beast, "If you harm a human, I will hunt you too. Help me, now." Was this rude? Yes. She did not have a choice though, all these humans were going to die if they were not saved from falling. Clearly she could do it, but help was appreciated. She crawled down, clinging to the walls to avoid that funny smelling fungus, and ended up next to the train about to fall.

 

And she started to push. Help me!

[GranspearZX]

Arcturus cursed inwardly; only after the fact did he realize how stupid what he had done was. The pain in his arm was still stubbornly refusing to heal, and it was beginning to drive him a little crazy. He wasn't sure what he expected to happen... but it certainly wasn't THAT. 

 

It could have been avoided. Spores and goo notwithstanding, he felt sick.

 

He wasn't sure what to make of the creature when he saw it. He immediately tensed up, covered in fungal grossnes. For that matter, he almost didn't notice the falling subway car because of it and his own distraction. The threat it leveled at him actually didn't seem to register.

 

...oh crap.

 

The huge bear immediately moved, trying to help as best he could.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Subway cars were pretty heavy. Especially a few of them linked together. But between them, Arcturus (one handed) and Lobisomen together started hauling the car down from the crack. 

 

Alas, fates conspired against many today. 

 

With a horrible rumble of earth, the crack widened and the railways started crumbling. The whole subway tunnel was sinking, sliding...

 

On a stream of fresh water and raw sewage from broken pipes, to the tune of clanking broken metal and screams, the who tunnel collapsed, and the train with it, complete with Arcturus and Lobisomen. It was fortunate that it was more of a slide than a fall, for the casualities would have been horrible if the latter. 

 

Still after a few sickly seconds, there were certainly bruised and broken bones, and possibly worse. There must have been a good few dozen people on the train, and as Arcturus had seen, some were already busted up. 

 

Where were they?

 

Some ancient disused and forgotten cavern. Possibly the old sewer system. It was caked in filth and pitch dark. The smell was now of musty dust, sewage and that faint aroma of damp mushrooms....

[Drakka]

So the beast was a helper, good, she wasn't sure what to do if the thing had started conspiring against her. She didn't notice the fact that her new ally was using one arm, too focused on the current task to bother paying attention. Besides, it was working, even with one arm on her ally's side.

 

And then she felt, rather than heard, the tunnel crumbling. 

 

In a bid for safety, for she did not want to discover what fell even further than here, she dropped her back legs to the floor and attempted to shove the car faster. All she did was ensure that when the car fell, so did she, and a terrible roar broke her lips as the floor vanished from underneath. She scrambled at the train, sparks screeching from her claws as they tore at the metal, and just managed to avoid being crushed, tumbling over and up the car. Somewhere along the way, she noted light was gone, but the danger of falling kept her legs firmly braced on the train, before that too was wrenched out from under her.

 

She moved instinctively, twisting in midair and flattening her wings and ears tightly against her body. She hit tail first, feeling the shock of landing ripple through her frame, worse than falling out of a tree. But she was alright, a little soaked from the broken pipes, and she could feel where her scales shattered on her tail, but anybody could tell such a landing could have easily been worse. 

 

She stood cautiously, curiously looking around and seeing nothing...oh, right, no light. Her eyes narrowed till they were near closed, being near useless in this lighting, instead, heat flickered to life and her nose twitched as she searched the area. "Beast, if you are alive. How do we save these humans, quickly now, I do not like this place. Smells...odd, very...odd."

[Supercape]

GM

 

There was indeed little or no light in the long forgotten ancient tunnel. Who could say exactly how long it had festered here, unknown and unseen?

 

The smell of damp mushrooms and raw sewage was strong here, strong enough for all to smell. But Lobisomem, with the most magnificent of noses, could smell more, underneath. 

 

A sickly sweet smell, like that of infected wounds. A rotting smell, like that of decaying corpses. 

 

But something was alive down here. 

 

Lobisomem could smell rats. The smell of rat was strong. 

 

And of course she could smell the bear in the carriage....

 

"Help...help...." cried the man with the fungus all over his body. He reached out to Arcturus, his flesh becoming welted and inflamed. His skin was become puffy, and his breathing ragged. The mutant fungus was still there, but inert. 

 

 

[GranspearZX]

For a couple of seconds, Arcturus blacked out.

 

The sudden shift in the ground combined with the sharp pain persisting in his arm weren't exactly kind to him, and he didn't remember when exactly he faded out of consciousness. Somewhere mid-fall, there was a sound like shattering glass as his bear form wore off, leaving him lying off the floor.

 

'Floor' was relative. Evverything hurt. His arm had gone numb and he could hear what was going on around him. This was his fault. He hesitated and this was where he'd ended up. It seemed he hadn't learned a thing from Johannesburg. Marcus rolled over. Nothing seemed broken. His arm was even starting to heal. It seemed that Animus was a little more active.. Marcus was sure that had something to with the temptation to unleash Ignis. The strange creature, though, didn't seem to get a reaction from the Beast Rune; it normally made him a little paranoid, but this time... nothing.

 

Marcus forced himself upright. He was furious--at himself, at this situation, at these fungi and at the universe at large.  What will you burn? The elder's voice echoed in his head... it almost made him the creature speaking to him.

 

"...I'm thinking." Well, it wanted to save people. That was a good sign. Outside of waiting for rescue workers to show up, he wasn't sure what he could do without risking further harm and injury to anyone. And the fall guaranteed that it would take that much longer... there was no time. He reached into his pocket and palmed the coin he'd cobbled together earlier--he really needed to name it.  The fact that he was considering using it again was hardly his stupidest decision of the day. As the man reached out to him, Marcus took him by the wrist, kneeling down beside him.

 

"You're gonna be okay... just relax."

 

He thought of Teresa. He'd been thinking about her a lot today. This was what she was good at. She was amazing in a crisis. Now is NOT the time. Guiding the man to lie down, he looked out into the darkness. It was about time he stopped avoiding the form he was almost certain he was going to have to use now. Hesitation had caused this. He wasn't going to go through that again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he exhaled and opened his eyes, they had a distinct red glow and his pupils were more cat-like than human. He couldn't see color this way, but at least eh could see.

 

"I can probably figure something out. A way to get all these people to the surface... but it's gonna take a while. And I don't know if we have that kind of time..."

[Drakka]

Lobisomem cocked her head as the beast, which was now a human somehow, answered back. As if this world couldn't get stranger, now she had a man-beast to keep an eye on...she thought they only turned into wolves or something like that? As she crawled over, the smells washed over her. Unfortunately, she was more than used to the decaying scent, while not pleasant, it existed...but the other? 

 

Her heart pumped a little harder, seemed prey was here. She knew them, furry little things that barely qualified as a snack by themselves, but they were rarely alone. Mean things too, wounds hurt for days.

 

And the rat haze was everywhere.

 

"Do not let anybody come out." Her voice hissed and took a harsh tone, "Not only due to that...infection. Whatever it is." She pointed her snout toward the terrible fungus on the man, baring her teeth at the way smell, "Something dwells here, more alive that that living plant. I do not care what so ever what you do, follow me or don't, heal the human or not, I will meet this alive thing and stop it before it reaches our survivors." She knew they had fallen too, but making sure whatever had caused this did not kill them first was her priority, she wasn't sure if it was the man-beast's. Really, what the man-beast did was beyond her worry. She'd do this willingly even if she didn't have this ally, and she raised her head up and felt the scent waft around her, but where?

[Supercape]

GM

 

The infected man tried to get up. He half succeeded. With a pull from Arcturus he was free of the fungus. At least, sort of. It still was woven into his skin, and he looked red and grey in various blotches. Deeply infected. 

 

"Thanks, Mister...uh...bear-man?" he asked, weakly, leaning into Arcturus. "My names Salvador. Everyone calls me Santa..." he said, gurgling slightly. The froth in his mouth looked a strange colour. 

 

"I clean these sewers. Its a Sh$£"%tty job, I can tell you..haha..." he joked, faintly. 

 

The smell of sewage was pretty pervasive at this point. 

 

"I guess we fell into one of the old tunnels. Man, I wasn't sure if this was myth or legend. All sorts of stories about these places. Cults, conspiracies, murder...that kind of thing..." Santa added, weakly. 

 

Acturus could see, and Lobisomem could smell, a swarm of rats scuttling around the fallen subway carriage. And, a few dozen feet away, leaning against the old brick of the forgotten deep tunnel, a man. 

 

He was a punk, really, slightly short, but strong. A mohican, a leather jacket, a knife. He appeared to be talking to an oversized rat on his shoulder...

 

[GranspearZX]

Spending as much time as he had on War-Earth made him a little less skittish around strange creatures, but Lobisomem was weird on a level he wasn't entirely prepared for. Still, it wasn't actively eating people, which made him think 'weird but harmless'. So far, he hadn't had any reason to believe otherwise. He was quick to treat the creature like any other person--and he was stand-offish with pretty much everyone.

 

"Call me Marcus." Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at Lobisomem, the shapeshifting magic altering his vision making his eyes look like they were on fire. "...not 'beast'." He had to admit, "Beast" didn't have a terrible ring to it.

 

Whatever it was, it was awfully bossy. Another oddly reassuring affirmation of how 'human' it was. In any other situation, he might've found it funny. His main concern now was the stranger he saw in the distance.

 

He definitely wasn't there before.

 

Marcus was tired, sore, and frustrated, but he wasn't so much of any of those things that he would have missed someone. The huge rat on his shoulder didn't go unnoticed either; that wasn't something that simply happened every day. The paranoia of the Beast Rune instantly put him on edge. He strained a bit, trying to hear what they had to say... he was certain it wasn't anything good.

 

 

 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The rats scuttled around the subway car. There was more scuttling inside the walls and pipes of this long forgotten architecture. 

 

The Punk turned on a flashlight; a nice powerful old fashioned one. Large, clunky, resilient. The rat on his solider scuttled to the other side, keeping beady eyes on the the whole situation. 

 

"Well this ain't good" mumbled the Punk. "I didn't think nobody knew about down here" he said, almost sounding disappointed. "Looks like we...I mean I...got gatecrashed. Welcome to the party" he mumbled a little louder, although he did not sound particularly welcoming. 

 

He walked up to the subway car. He had a knife and a pistol in his belt but he made no indication that he would use them. He wasn't aggressive, even if he wasn't welcoming. 

 

"My names Filth. You on my turf" he explained, trying to look tough. It was no easy feat given the situation. 

 

"What the hell happened here?"

[Drakka]

Lobisomem's face was nigh impossible to read, though she snorted at the beast's answer. "Very well, Marcus. I will...try to remember that." Key word try, even now she could feel the name starting to decend into the recess of her memory, somewhere that would hopefully cultivate such a memory-a name. 

 

Though she doubted she could put in the effort to remember in such a situation, not with the hum of noise in her ears as she heard countless little feet just about everywhere. Somehow, despite their circumstances, she felt more threatened by this man with a rat than the fact they'd fallen who knew where. Thankfully, for her, this anxiety and fear manifested the way only she knew how. Aggression. 

 

She crawled next to Marcus, scales shifting to the brightest red she could manage and flicking her frill up, clearly a defensive display as she forced herself to stand up tall. "Greetings." Her voice rumbled, "We apologize for falling into this...hole of yours." There was some quality, a drop in volume, that clearly conveyed a sort of disrespect to this rat man. 

 

She snapped her teeth together upon hearing his name, smothering a laugh before it began. How appropriate...and now she was struggling not to transfere that thought, however tempting it was. However, as the man approached the subway car, her lips tightened around her teeth. "I suggest you don't approach our charges so flippantly." She snapped, stepping forward with an ominous growl, "We fell because of this foul, living, plant." She turned her head to the victim of the fungus, Santa or something like that, "Sir, please show...Filth, heh, your wounds. Not too close though, stand near me." As she spoke, she lowered her head in case he needed the support, though one of her eyes was always on Filth, clearly distrustful.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Filth tilted his head, looking like he was listening to the whispering rat. He didn't advance any closer, however. 

 

"Ill keep my distance. I ain't gonna get my head bit off by a 10 foot lizard" said Filth, quite clear on this matter. 

 

"What ya mean...not too close?" asked Santa. He looked at his infected fungal skin and screamed. "Help! Help! I'm infected! Oooh...." he swooned, slinking to the floor. 

 

He pointed weakly at the mutant fungus on the carriage roof (and the sticky strands of goop running this way and that). "Its that...it's horrible! Oh! Oh! Its some kind of alien bodysnatcher...right?"

 

Filth looked at Santa with an eye lifted and his head cocked listening to the rat on his shoulder. 

 

"That's some pretty messed up fungus, sure. What is it?" he asked Lobisomem and Arturus. "Is it an alien?"

[GranspearZX]

Clearly that wasn't this kid's real name. Marcus straightened up a bit, taking special note of the knife and pistol... and the rat that was entirely too comfortable riding shotgun on Filth's shoulder. Marcus could only assume that he lived down here. It wouldn't have been his first encounter with the city's more literal underground elements.

 

The Beast Rune burned against his shoulder blade as he gripped Santa's shoulder. even while the sewer worker was talking, Marcus whispered the words activating the Wound Transfer coin's magic. His own regenerative powers had nearly healed his arm, and while he couldn't figure out what the infection was, he was certain it couldn't be THAT bad if Santa could speak. It was going to suck. But this was his fault anyway.

 

the Eyes of the Dragon ensured that he wasn't missing anything--at least not visually. More than once he caught the rat staring right at him... and it was clear that Filth understood it. For now, his focus was on the magic he was already using.

 

"It's on top of the...? oh. Pretty sure that's not alien." Marcus looked at the fungus on top of the cars and instantly he'd decided how he was going to deal with it. It couldn't spread spores of the whole thing was on fire.

 

 

[Supercape]

GM
 

Filth listened to the rat, silent, once again. 

 

"Not alien? Huh...looked alien" he said. He took a half step forward but didn't push his luck any further. 

 

"Sure is spooky. I mean...strange" he mumbled, trying to concentrate and then shaking his head. "Things been pretty strange down here for the last month. I mean, stranger than normal" he added, trying to look cool. "Me and...well...my rat....he's called Vermin by the way"

 

It was possible that the Rat on his shoulder nodded. 

 

"We been seeing some really strange things, ya know? Like giant ants" he said. "Seriously, strange. And, you know. A bit scary" he added, scratching his head. 

 

"Do you know what's been going on down here?" he asked again, keen for answers. 

[Drakka]

"I do not think this is alien, hard to believe, coming from this creature." She snorted at the cringing Santa, shifting her front legs to keep him up, quite possibly the last thing she had to deal with at the moment was dead weight because of some health crisis. "He have stayed...relatively human, and I hope he stays this way, annoying as this is." She addressed the rat, Vermin, as well. Given how worlds generally worked, she was assuming the thing was intelligent, if only by the fact that she wasn't seeing a hint of fear in the rat.

 

Her ears flicked down at the mention of the ants, "Ants?" A hiss rang out as her scales rippled and crackled as they bristled, "Those ants. Big as me!? They took a bite out of me!" Her flank was clear evidence of this, torn scales torn up and simply gone, as did the fact she was covered in more than just sewer water. She curled her lips up at the fungus, nearly overcome by the desire to smash one of the strands, only just turning away with a low rumbling. "They were on the surface, I killed it, it came out of the sewer...hole to the subway though."  She had no real idea if the ants and fungus were coming out of the subway together, or even if they were connected, but she had a pretty honest opinion that she could tear them to pieces...especially with this beast and rat boy for assistance.

 

She lowered her head until she nearly touched the ground, "Filth, Vermin. Tell me where they showed up first. It is on my word that neither plant nor creature shall survive my wrath. Everyone here will be out of your hair shortly." Her voice didn't waver, and her fangs became exposed as her face conveyed a pure message. She intended for a successful hunt, and Lobisomem rarely failed.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Filth, and (it seemed) Vermin took a step back, surprised at the depth of Lobisomem's wrath. 

 

"Whoa, man...." he muttered putting his hands up. "Take it easy, take it easy. Sure. I mean, we...I....know these old tunnels 'bout better than anybody. I can help..."

 

The Rat whispered in his ear and he chewed his lip, a little smile coming on to his face. 

 

"I mean, I don't know exactly where this all comes from, but we...I...do know something. Some guy set up shop a few weeks back. Wanted a hideout or something. He paid us...me....good money. Also treated my fungus infection. Damn, that was some serious infection. You don't wanna know about that. Man, it's nice to be able to take a shi..."

 

Vermin dug his claws into Filth to get him back on track. 

 

"Owww! Yeah, well, anyway. So he set up shop down here. Doctor, I think he was. Big guy. Doing some research, he said. Hell, he pays us...me money and sorts out my backside, hell, I ain't saying no!" he grinned. 

 

"But I guess I'm betting he is causin' all of this. Causin' the rat problem. I mean. You'd be doin' us...me....a solid if the doctor wen't missin'...you know? I ain't going to be callin' the cops..." he added, drawing a line across his throat. 

 

"I'll take you there, if ya finish him!"

[GranspearZX]

Marcus grunted a bit; it was clear who was the dominant party between Vermin and Filth. Giant ants AND mutant fungi... clearly someone knew about what was going dodn here long enough to have written articles about it, but in the grand scheme of things, none of that mattered.

 

"We get them out of here first," he said, standing upright and looking at the fungus-covered subway cars, "THEN you'll take us to the good doctor. We can talk about your part in it some other time." Marcus looked squarely at Vermin. He didn't trust the rat at all. Possession of the Beast Rune made him understand that rats on the whole often got a bad rap, but the last several minutes made him wary.

 

He moved towards the cars, doing some quiet calculations in his head. The people didn't seem to be in immediate danger; it wan't melting the metal at the same rate as far as je cpi;d te;;/ Wait. If that's up there now... does the mean that was up there before? Was he overthinking this? Probably. He couldn't help it, though... Something had felt 'off' all day, and fighting his instincts often turned into disasters like this.

 

As he scoured the rubble for something to use as a medium, he bit back a cough, fighting the urge to scratch at his arm. His body was fighting the fungal mess he'd created, but nothing about the process was pleasant. Even his eyes felt a little scratchy. Stilll, as he picked up a bent steel rod nearby. he spotted a large chunk of concrete, just large enough to fit a few people on.

 

Marcus looked up. More magical calculation in his head. He couldn't exactly SEE the surface. Using Ventus as a traveling rune to teleport others was something he'd done before, but that was to an object with a fixed location before. He had no idea where they were and he shuddered at the thought of teleporting someone into a wall or into the air where they'd fall to their deaths."...this is gonna be harder than I thought." He looked at Lobisomem and, to a lesser extent, Filth. "Suggestions welsome."