Takahara was pissed, and with good reason. A week, at least- the last attack the monsters made on his base camp left the stone with his tally marks in rubble, and he remembered there being at least seven- without help from Shadow Eternity. Without a "hey, how's it going, did you unleash something you shouldn't have" or a search party or any form of support. They'd been abandoned. They'd died slowly and terribly. This was horseshit of the highest degree. But there was one plus about this world. Even if the soil was barren, the ashes created by the dying monsters were more hospitable to the fruits he was carrying. Even better, the ashes were highly magical- which is why there was a ripe purple fruit, glowing with mana. Hopefully, this would get him a way out. He reached forward, the fruit glowing brightly for a moment. This was it. The moment of truth. He inhaled, not daring to open his eyes... but when he finally looked at the object in his hands, he could have wept with joy.

A lockseed depicting a man in golden armor designed to resemble an ancient magician's regalia. He was finally going to get out of here. He was going to leave this dump behind for good. He pushed one of the buttons on the side... and the lock called out "[i]SORCERER![/i]" With a deep satisfied breath, the salaryman unlocked the Poseidon seed on his belt and replaced it, bringing down the knife.

[b]SORCERER ARMS! THE ARCANE PATH- DOMINATION![/b]

THAT was promising. But for now, it was time to eat food that wasn't preserved, and drink something that wasn't rainwater. He held out his hand, and a golden magical array appeared before him (CONNECT... NOW.) uniting two points across the multiverse. Takahara stepped through, and...

[h2]Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria[/h2]
...as always, the portal to this place, regardless of its point of origin or the rules by which it functioned, opened into the men's bathroom's handicap stall. From outside, he could hear the jaunty tones of the animatronic band. Which meant, now, he was safe. Nothing chasing him. Nothing trying to kill him. Nothing trying to stuff him in some horrible dark hole in its chest. He broke his transformation and walked over to the mirror, looking over the damage his week of roughing it had done. He'd lost even more hair for a start. He was sporting some wicked 5 o'clock shadow. Oh, and his suit was torn to shit and his shoes pretty much ruined. He sighed, pulling open the mirror like a medicine cabinet. He and his friends came here so often that they had little stashes like this all over the restaurant. This one in particular had a spare communicator and a change of clothes. He put on the old Shocker Combatman's gear, glad to get fresh clothes after a week, and put on the spare shoes he had in the stash. Washing his hands and face, he headed to the usual booth where he hung out with his friends and sat down, waiting for the pizza to start coming in. He typed out a text, sending it to a select few contacts. The "Hench List," the others on the bottom rungs of Shadow Eternity who didn't quite meet the level of power that would make many interpretations of the Judeo-Christian God flee in terror that seemed to float around here far too often. No officers. Nobody with the authority to fire him. Just friends like Cliff and the rest. Just people he could vent to.

[i]Guys, it's Takahara from the accounting department. We need to discuss something. Meet me at that pizza place with the smelly animatronics and free skeeball.[/i]

Across the room, a number of mooks from across the multiverse enjoyed their break. Two soldiers from the Red Ribbon army were playing Street Fighter. AIM and HYDRA agents gathered around the DDR machine, cheering on members of their respective factions as they played. Some Zeon soldiers were hogging the pinball machine.

[i]Attention, Freddy Fazbear's guests, would the owner of the green Zaku, license number SE-005...[/i]

Numerous ninja stood around, either waiting in line for various machines or getting pictures with the band. Two combine Metrocops sat, eating pizza and complaining about some guy who didn't help pick up litter. There were even a few Iron Masks milling about in the corner. And, thanks to Takahara's recommendations, there were some Shocker grunts singing at a karaoke machine. Yes, Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria had become a hotspot for the faceless henchmen of the multiverse. After all, the reason the robots had gone berserk was botched facial recognition software. So masked henchmen could pass unnoticed, but those who came to try to get them to actually work? Well, they'd have to contend with the absurdly strong animatronics. They didn't stand much of a chance, but the ever-mounting cost of replacing them lead most villains to leave minions at Freddy Fazbear's alone.