The endless scintilla. The stranger in the sports gear had wandered that desolate land for days upon days, and now here he stood. Through a blizzard white mind he sees the ordinary people, simply Elsen with rounder faces and stranger clothes. The world is even further removed from its true state, and in that chaos they try to eke out an orderly pit, a place to call home. Watching through eyes wide shut, he sees them milling about, their souls contained and their needs so basic. They are impure, but less so than the Spectres. To purify the world one at a time would be a thankless and eternal task. No, what he needed was something more... permanent. More widespread. Something to turn the world OFF. But that something would be harder to find than before, of course. Then the announcement came through the loudspeakers. The would-be Guardian of this world, nothing more than an upstart Elsen himself. The Batter had seen him from a distance when he had arrived in this town before, the man with the false face. He remembered the salesman between Zones, the false faced Zacharie, and felt a similar sense of distaste... but at least Zacharie had helped him on his mission. At least Zacharie hadn't been infested with this strange and myriad range of... 'colour', was the word he seemed to hear most for it. But the world-be Guardian did seem to have a lot of authority in the fortress, so along the path the Batter went... ---- From his crouched position by the door, a single orange eye peering through a crack to see into the office, Abe trembled ever so slightly. This world was full of creatures and machines he'd never seen before, and it neither surprised him nor comforted him to know that [i]of course[/i] an intelligent machine and its inventor would be murderous and arrogant. It didn't matter that they looked kind of like Mudokons - or at least closer to a Mudokon than a Slig - they were industrialists and warriors. While 2Fort had seemed intimidating at first, he had mostly gotten used to it. Sure it wasn't Oddworld and the jungle still called to him, but until he could find a way back to his people, he was going to have to make do. The idea of helping with a scouting mission to improve life for the town had appealed to him, but now... [i]Would a bunch of weird giant guys even want to help?[/i] [b]"Move aside,"[/b] spoke a voice from behind him, [b]"I have business here."[/b] Abe gave a loud yelp as he turned around, the tall and well-built figure gazing down at him with total disinterest in his... eyes? Abe wasn't sure if they were or not, but honestly, all humans seemed to have weirdly small eyes to him. It was super unnerving, honestly. This guy in particular, though... Something didn't sit right with Abe, but he wasn't the sort of person to face things head on - and this guy seemed like the very opposite. So, slave routine kicking in, he just nodded and shuffled to the side. [color=0072bc]"Oh, uh... sure thing."[/color] As he stepped out of the way and the white-eyed stranger stepped into the office, he couldn't help but tremble, just a little bit. He was pretty sure their attentions would be focused on the weirdo, but he knew he'd stood out as a little bit of a sore thumb since he'd arrived, and he was pretty sure his neck wouldn't last as long as the lumpy purple thing had if the robot decided to take a lunge at him. ---- [b]"I offer my services,"[/b] echoed the Batter, his voice shimmering like a pebble dropped into a glassy smooth pond, [b]"So long as there are Spectres to purify. That's all that matters."[/b] The Harold Bat rested in his hands, lightly scuffing the ground, and he watched each of the assembled Elsen. His focus, of course, was clearly and visibly on the would-be with the false face, but the others were all visible to him as well. Everything was visible. It was an endless torrent, unwanted but unyielding. The degenerate queen. The outcast. The cowering blue. The war machine and its master. The silent soldier and the girl with the empty heart...