Why are they fighting each other? This is a new development. The Apocrean slipped into the shadows and watched the two humans duke it out.

The Swarm was not aware that the Apocrean was still visible...

"Lass, I'm nearly three centries old, i'm missing my jaw, arm, most of my teeth, and they're sending me to fight a war. Do ye really think it matters if I object any more?"

He said, focusing on a pressure gauge on his left arm and making a few adjustments. He looked over at Gwen

"but if ye really wanna come, there are three things I wanna know"

He said, readjusting his footing.

"First, do you have anything in that satchel o' yers fer joint pain?"
He said inquisitively

"Second, are you hungry"
He asked quietly, and quickly added

"Third what happened to yer hair? They have ya testin' bleach bombs?"

Jurak chuckled, trying to cover up his concern for the girl and his second question with a mild insult.

Gwen covered her mouth and giggled again. "I'm not particularly hungry, and no, my hair wasn't bleached, silly! It's a rare genetic trait, from what I've gathered. And as for your first question..." She fished around in her satchel until she found a tiny pill. "Here. Try this."

((It's a remedy capsule.))

"Trust your Madness kid, because down there, sane people die."

After being dropped to the ground, Matthew's katana fell from his grip. His pupils were visible again, but the whites of his eyes were yellow, and bloodshot.

"I've been feeling pretty dead ever since I went crazy."

Saying that, Matthew laughed without humor in his tone. His muscles ached. Full recovery took five minutes. He had had a friend test that. Friends...

Matthew looked down to the ground. He hadn't thought about his friends at all since the start of this. He... forgot to say goodbye. He took a deep breath, before closing his eyes, and standing up.

"Insanity's all we have down there. Right."

Matthew sheathed his katana. His eyes took their usual shape, tired and sore.

All we have.

Alexander came to, finidng a large hulk of robot pinned against his body. Wondering how this transpired, he coughed roughly from some of the damage and winding caused from the impact. He turned his head up, to see a conflict breaking out, with an array of undead swarming up the halls. The Ranger sighed, as he loaded a round into his rifle.

"You want cover? Fine by me".

The Ranger looked down the sights of his rifle, breathing in slightly as much as he could with a heap of scrap on his back. He lined up a shot down the hallway, on level with as many monsters as possible. As he was about to pull the trigger, delivering judgement to the undead horde, a brief cloud of toxic emission rolled into his face at the ground level. Squinting and distracted, his line of fire wavered, yet the trigger was still pulled. The round seperated a few slags from their bodies, their nimble frames crumbling. A couple of Kats, including the one the slime was engaged with wailed as they died from the holy bullet. But a large entrance & exit wound could be seen gaping through the top left of the Slime that had travelled down with them.

As Alexander cleared his eyes, and re-focussed on where his shot had landed, all he could do was utter a short phrase used by the Rangers when things didn't go to plan as much as they had wanted.

"...Aww Voltails...".

As the elevator stopped at thier first floor, Jurak looked around, and immediatly began to rub his temples from the headache.

[DEPTH 19 TREASURE VAULT]

"Just what I needed, conffeti all over my gear"

He said angrily

"Look around, see if there's anything of use we can take before we advance, but please hurry, I hate this place"

Jurak said to Gwen as he began to shuffle of the lift

Nappy stood up from his tent and regained his spot at elevator two, eyes red from lack of (good) sleep. looking over to the other platforms, he still saw the spiral talkin' to deadman.

"Hey Deadman! Last one to the randezvous point buys!"

He shouted, stepping onto his platform, accompanied by two cobalt knights and a guardian. Time to get this nightmare over with

Gradus finished the last of his improvised chanting. A tremendous effect occurred:

The earth seemed to bubble, like a volcano peeking its head out before the mayhem has begun. In the center of the group, a spike in the ground appeared, and began to steadily climb. A Kat dashed into it and slowly flew away, stunned. The top of the spike split, as a wave of soft golden light washed over the entire group and climbed out another few feet. Almost instantly, the light changed to a dusky red hue, and the Gremlin symbol changed to that of a distorted eye, red and black. The air seemed to darken a bit, then the circle reverted to golden, the symbol switching back.

Interesting.

Gradus's sore joints and aches began to fade in small clusters. The bruise on his elbow, the ringing in his ear from the bombardment, the splinters in his legs, all ceased to scream out pain.

"This circle should last fer a few minutes, and I c'n move it, but slow like a Lumber. It should last til we get to the elevator. Me map here says it's that ways." The restorative rune began to slowly slide towards where the terminal was located, a few dozen feet around the corner. Gradus swapped his wand for his Iron Slug, and fired as fast as he could, missing most of the time.

"Didja really haf to shoot the Slime too?" It was slowly being rejuvenated by the healing rune, but it would take quite some time to regain consciousness. Wait, are slimes even conscious?

Getting distracted again.

Gradus knew that they couldn't very well abandon the Toxilargo after it had saved their hides. He thus immediately proceeded to push against it in the direction of the rune's path while shooting at any monsters that came too close. Undignified, and slime was a pain to get out of clothing.

"We're almost there! Jus' around the corner, and a few more steps!"

He had no idea about what was hiding there for them. ((The Slag Deadnaught.))

Gwen smiled warmly and handed him his hammer. Considering his great age and his gremlin race, she figured that he might know a great deal about the Clockworks. No harm in trying to uncomplicate the mechanical monster they live on, eh?

"You seem like you've worked with the Clockworks an awfully long time. Is the whole thing linked together? Like, are spike traps somehow linked to the rotation of the habitation domes?" She knelt beside him and rested an arm on one knee, looking at him expectantly.

"I just wish people would take the trouble to understand each other," Gwen mused. "Because when nobody tries, all we're left with is the ignorant hate. We fight and fight and fight and never really know why. And until they do, we don't care, either. All we know or care is that someone's shooting at us, so we have to shoot back. That's how creatures justify massacring each other without batting an eyelid - it's all in self-defense, you see. It's disgusting."

She wrapped her arms around her knees and continued. "It's even worse if the others are different. Like the Swarm. The Swarm is so different from the Knights that nobody has bothered to try and understand it. They don't try to understand why it infects and corrupts people; they don't try to understand why it fights back against our attacks; they don't try to understand how it thinks. They just see the infection and think, 'oh, it's an attack! I need to defend myself.' They don't stop to consider anything else."

She knew she was taking a risk defending the Swarm, but it was certainly relevant.

Gwen nodded and stepped onto the elevator platform. Was he even listening to me?
We thought he was.
I didn't think so.

Next stop: Danger

Robo N8 started to crackle electricity for the arms being off and his blue eye turned to yellow with a caution warning on it. "Crack, crack, crackle"

Gradus muttered a curse word that would put the most angry of Gremlins to blushing. He fired his Iron Slug at the creature, it being so large even he could not miss. It predictably was completely unproductive. Even so, firing the gun felt like he was actually trying to actively stop his fast-approaching demise, so he continued firing. As he shot rapidly without bothering to steady himself, pausing only to reload, his shots became more and more off-target, until one shot completely missed the Grimalkin. It instead skittered off the wall and rebounded right in front of the Grimalkin's path, reappearing in its vision. It lodged within the body of the ghost, looking like a mini metal arm. There was no visible damage whatsoever or indication of pain, but...

Wait, maybe if I launch a projectile...

The Grimalkin gave a little moan of anger and continued approaching. The gap between them was steadily diminishing. Gradus swung his Iron Slug around and shot at the solid walls, hoping that it might rebound in front of the massive Kat and trick it into reflexively biting it or retreating. With a final shot, his store of ammunition ran out, though, All the mender could now do was watch his last ricocheting shots bounce back and forth, praying that one might trigger the Grimalkin's reflexive bite.

Nappy sat at his elevator, waiting for the rest of his squad to ready up, when he looked up and saw it, clear as day. A tall, slender body entirely black, it's purple visages eminating slightly from the darkness. This creature was the same that haunted his nightmares. Never had he thought them to be real, nor do he ever want them to be, but here it was, watching over the camp like a vigil of horror. What could he say? Nightmares at the gate? abomanation at our doorstep? the words escaped him. raising his arm, he pointed to the creature.

"Deadman! We have movement, 11 O Clock! What is that thing?!"

He said in a panic, aiming the attention at the creature. Never would he forget what he saw, what happened when the creature turned and looked him in the eyes. He saw the abyss, a world of endless nightmares, dreams of endless sorrow, he saw death.

As Jurak made his way down the halls, the Stepping quietly behind the shadowed monster, it became quite apparent what it was that it was after, the survivors light had been spirited away. (gotta save that joke for later)

"Gwen, grab that ember, we're gonna need 'em."

Looking down, he saw Gwen, trembling and covering her head.

"Whats' wrong with you?!"

He said in an angry whisper

"it's not like it can see us anywa-"

-PLINK!-

Gears and sparks went flying, as Jurak held together his shattered metal jaw. A richocheting bullet had bounced off, and nearly killed him. A one-in-a-million shot that would've killed anyone who hadn't had all the cyborganic replacements Jurak had.

"PthaNITH! $%^&* eece uh git! i'muh ill ou!"

He yelled in his broken words.

"Wab de membuh!"

He said, pointing to the lone ember, if this grimalkin didn't kill the survivors, they were going to wish they were dead

" Urghh... Am i in heaven ? " ark said while slowly regaining conscious. " Do we win ? or do we lose ? " ark said like he was on drugs or something like that. His eye starts to regain focus he then see a pepperkat banging on his forcefeild. He quickly blasted the cat off , and saw a towering shadow figure. " Dang , not this guy again ! quick someone tell me where the candle is ! " ark said angrily.

He then saw another grimalkins and another one and.. another one. " Oh gosh... looks like i am in hell right now." he said. He looked at the rune gradus made , then he smiles breifly for a seccond. " Hey there gremlin ! guess youre not that bad of a guy at all , in fact you are the most good guy i ever met. " he said while stomping the ground creating barbs all around grimalkins. " for that i am going to stick with you and help you as much as i can. you save my life anyway.." ark said

"The voices, the whispers, they're drowning everything out."

Nappy said to himself, his entire frame shaking with his hands over his ears. To no avail, the shadows' voices peirced through his padded mitts.

"demak udoka, ihk jaka vur tiselaiw. erekess marfedelom yth fehlim wux tobor"

Songs of death danced in his ears, the ceasless words flowing into his head like gasoline onto a pyre.

"Shutp up, shut up, shut up! Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!!

His voice resonated within him, beinging forth unholy volume, alien to the usually dreary man. His mask slammed down over his face as he reached for his sword. The hilt, splintering upon being clutched in his furious hands. holding the sword in both hands, he brought the heavy blade down upon a stalker, shattering through it's defensive stance. Again and again. smashing the blade upon the single entities form, forgetting entirely about the other forces.

"YOU. WILL. DIE."

Nappy screammed at the small puddle that was once an opponent. Withdrawing the blade, Nappy readied a nitronome in his left hand, still brandishing the sword in his left

"DEATH TO THE DARKNESS AH HAHAHA!"

He roared, before continuing his frenzied rampage

((Stahp starting fight scenes when I'm napping D:<))

Matthew looked up. The sounds of moving feet were audible. Standing up, Matthew listened closer.

Are those Darkwatch fighting each other?

Screams of pain and large explosions could be heard now. He came to a horrible realization.

The enemy is here? Why in the- OH SHOOT

Stumbling backwards to dodge, Matthew had slammed into a wall, narrowly avoiding a buzzsaw. Matthew whipped out his Valiance, and activated his Striker Booster. Aiming with two hands, Matthew frantically looked around. Void Stalkers.

Why is the Swarm here...

An attack from the left side. Ducking it, the infected Gremlin cloaked, to be replaced by another from the opposite side. Dashing away, Matthew turned to shoot. Immidiately after cloaking, the bullets flew through the space the Gremlin had just been. A sound to his back. Matthew was tripped backwards. Midfall, he activated his Booster, to flip back to his feet.

"You wanna do that? I can move fast too!"

Holstering his Gun, Matthew pulled out his Thorn Blade. Boosting towards the Gremlin afterimages, Matthew continuing turning and attacking, only being milliseconds too late. He was certainly fast, but the Gremlin remained faster. Frustrated, Matthew lunged at the Stalker. The Rapier piecred the Gremlin easily.

Contact!

Directly after being skewered, the Gremlin cloaked. Appearing next to Matthew, it destroyed his Striker Booster. Following up with a kick to the face, Matthew was thrown to the ground. The Stalker jumped forwards, intending to finish him. Matthew raised his sword, only barely blocking. They both pushed, even though only one of them was fighting for their life.

"demak udoka, ihk jaka vur tiselaiw. erekess marfedelom yth fehlim wux tobor"

"Die already!"

Matthew threw his fist at the Gremlin, who cloaked away. He unholstered his Valiance again. Looking towards the Gremlin, Matthew spun and threw his sword. The Gremlin easily dodged, and cloaked behind the Knight. Blocking the attack with the bayonet, Matthew grinned as he stared the Gremlin in the eyes.

"I win."

Quickly ducking, Matthew laughed in delight as his Rapier boomeranged back, only to strike the Gremlin. He yanked the sword out of the Stalker, and took a battle stance.

"demak udoka, ihk jaka vur tiselaiw. erekess marfedelom yth fehlim wux tobor"

"That doesn't do anything!"

Slashing at the Gremlin, Matthew was satisfied to see that he could, if anything, hit his target. Perhaps he attacked more than what was necessary. It didn't matter at that point. Spinning once more, Matthew beheaded the Stalker. The corpse dissolved into a black goop. Pausing for a moment, Matthew breathed heavily. He wiped sweat from his forehead.

"One Void enemy, huh?"

Matthew sprinted into the actual battle. Power in numbers.

((I felt like taking what was in Bombardier's post. Seemed like a good chant for the Swarm.))

Alex had managed to free himself of the robot that had been pinning him down, though he was now tired after the effort given in doing so. He wiped his brow, as he rested the rifle on his shoulder. Surveying the area, he saw a dark figure hanging back above the conflict. Wondering how to neutralise it, before it became an addition to the growling list of issues, the Ranger began to notice the candles around them start to flicker. Were they going out?

He quickly started to look for a way to reignite them, and saw a way. A cinder all the way up the hall, past the wave of Grimalkinks slowly advancing. He had an idea of how to get past...but it was risky.

"Hey, these are Ghost's right? Passing through objects like air. How about we just run through them? If we can get through fast enough, we could avoid their bite before they could close down in time. Ofcourse if we cant run through like I think, we'll end up kat-chow. Anyone agree, or should we confine ourselves to an early grave here & now?".

Alexander readied his rifle, and aimed it shakily at the Black figure looming over-head the group further down the hall. As he inhaled a breath, he looked down the scopes per usual to his routine. He marked out the rough outline of the beast, as he exhaled, and fired a round from Penance. The shot streaked through the air, landing a hit onto the Black Kat. As it recoiled from the hit, it revealed its omnious, purple eyes to the Ranger, who shouted out what he saw.

"Black Kat above us, watch yourselves!".

Jurak grabbed Gwen by her arm, she seemed to be distant or in a daze, like her mind was elsewhere. Dragging her through the halls, they reached a cinder and planned to throw it to the survivors when a toxigel appeared and picked up the cinder! Weither it was trying to steal it, or use it himself became irrelevant, as Jurak picked up the creature, cinder and all, and through it towards the candle...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nappy had seen the shadow images falter, if only for a minute, with the detonation of his bomb. A familiar, blood-stained smile appeared underneath the thick plate mask of the armored titan. Readying a more nasty surprise, Nappy felt immense pain from his back.

-VZZT-

"GAAAH!!"

Nappy screamed ouf of pain, falling forward as the buzzsaw slashed at his back. He turned around, holding the sword overhead, and brought it down faster than the creature could react. The blade smashed through the form, leaving a small crater in the ground, and fracturing the blade at the fringes. the sword was left behind, as Nappy resumed his project; the Voltaic Tempest misting bomb. Whipping the three readied bombs in various locations, and placed another at his feet. Though more shadowed creatures materialized, it appeared as though they were hesitant to attack him. Perhaps they were wondering how he was still standing. The wound had been sealed, thanks to the suit, but the blood had began to seep through the front of his suit, leaving him, a giant bloody skeleton.

"I WILL NEVER DIE!!!"

He said, before being ripped from the frontlines by a guardian. As he was being dragged away, he squeezed the detonator with a smile. The high pitch confirmation lasted all of one second before the shocking surprise would be delivered.

Ark flies Soar through the grimalkins wall ,like a cutter on mineral.Than he landed on the candel , lighting both the slime and the enchanted candle. " Well , i guess there is always a way around stuff." Ark said . " Hey , i ' have ' lit the candel ! and my currently burning with enchanted cinder body probably will lit the other too " ark said while litting the other candles. " Oh By the way we have got company on the entrance ! a gremlin and a girl if i am not wrong ... "