[center][h2][color=CFD3C6]Rurik Alexeev[/color][/h2][/center]
[center][@Hammerman][/center]
[hr]

Rurik let out a small sigh, resigning to being dragged along by his overexcited girlfriend. It seemed she was prepared to drag him through every room on the floor. That said, in the distance he could hear the tell-tale sounds of Bak's clomping, metal feet. She was moving on it seemed. If neither her nor Gilliam thought this floor was the right one, there probably wasn't a reason for them to stick around. They'd just end up alone, surrounded by demon-spawn.

[color=CFD3C6]"This splitting up thing isn't doing us much good, we should-"[/color] He began to speak, suggesting they find a stairwell to the next floor. There was probably at least two sets of stairs, so even if they didn't go the exact same way, they'd at least end up on the same floor and thus not totally separated in case of emergency. Thing was, he didn't get to finish speaking.

As he urged Christine to drag him toward the stairs, rather than the next room, a door burst open as they were passing it. A small-ish, red creature with claws flew from the room, and Rurik had to dig his heels in to bring both of them to a halt. The good news was after a year of trying [i]not[/i] to get blown to kingdom come by Bak, he had pretty decent reflexes. He tugged Christine back and threw up his hand, projecting his shield.

The imp, mid-leap, face-planted against it. The only thing missing was the stereotypical squeegee noise as it slowly slid down before plopping onto the ground, stunned. He saw the glowing eyes of another imp, but put his shield away and blasted it flying with a bolt of kinetic energy. With silence momentarily restored, he could hear something else. Bak's steps had gotten louder and more... echoey? It seemed she'd found the stairs.

[color=CFD3C6]"We should-"[/color] Follow the sound and go up those stairs, but it seemed he wasn't allowed to get a word in edgewise at the moment. Another door farther down burst open and a whole team of five or so imps scurried out. Rurik began wracking his brain, trying to remember what he knew about imps, but suddenly the hallway lit up. The group of imps had banded together, and suddenly he remembered what he'd been taught. 'Fairly harmless to a power-wielding individual, but dangerous in groups.' They were all channeling their fireballs at once, creating one, much bigger, scarier fireball.

Rurik just blinked, [color=CFD3C6]"Oh no. Whatever shall I do,"[/color] he spoke robotically. They launched the blast and he just lifted his hand again, projecting another shield. The fireball bounced back and, with screeches of alarm, the imps scattered like roaches after someone hit the light switch, their fireball scorching naught but the patch of floor they'd fled from.

By then the first imp was back on its feet and leapt again. Rurik caught it, his hand wrapping around its face. However, rather than try to claw its way free or bite, its body began to twitch and spasm, [color=CFD3C6]"Hm, yeah, you don't count do you?"[/color] Rurik smirked, a slightly darker side of him coming out. Imps didn't count as living people, at least not as far as his powers were concerned. The other imps were regrouping, but that was their mistake. Rurik let go of the imp in his hand, launching it like a living projectile at the small group.

The imp then exploded, splattering across the hall and blasting the other imps against the walls to crumple to the ground and lay still, their small bodies shattered.

[color=CFD3C6]"Imps can go boom, good to know."[/color] Rurik shrugged. [i]BANG! CRASH! BOOM! DING! BANG! CLATTER-CLATTER![/i] It suddenly sounded like someone had dropped a whole kitchen's worth of pots and pans. Rurik raised an eyebrow, but soon remembered something, quickly identifying what had happened.

Bak sucked at stairs.

But there was another problem. He soon heard dozens of claws scrabbling across the wooden floors. He realized that the imps hadn't necessarily been attacking them, so much as running from Bak. And now it probably sounded like she was coming back for them, and quickly. Door after door began to fly open down the hall and the cacophony of claws and screeches began to grow louder... and closer.

His head whipped around to Christine, eyes wide with panic, [color=CFD3C6]"Ice wall, ICE WALL, [i]ICE WALL![/i]"[/color] He hoped she could make one big enough... and more importantly fast enough.