((Collab Post between RoflsMazoy, KillamriX88, Bartimaeus, and Letter Bee))

[b][i]Two Weeks after the Midnight Tournament[/i][/b]

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[b][i]The First Week after the Midnight Tournament[/i][/b]

The first week's draws of cards from Andras had been a failure, from an 'aquire ressurectives' sense. So William Ascot decided to pursue other agendas; he had the time now. And with that, he prepared a text message to the Vigilantes; first King, then Aram and Wolf. Said texts were invitations for a mission, a mission that Ascot needed to 'pitch' to the latter as the Knight had already made his displeasure with the boy's plan clear. The mission was an excursion outside of Rhea, to the demon-infested wildlands and the ruined secret lab that lay among them. Ascot promised an additional fee of 200 Rhean Dollars each for taking the job.

If they accepted, Ascot would be waiting in a diner close to Rhea's City gates; he had already acquired an 'adventurer's permit' to go outside. Note though that his mood was slightly off as the Diners were discussing Galbrek's recent video message, and also looking uglily at him...

Wolf was almost glad for the day off. His father's training was legendary both for it's effectiveness and it's brutality. It was perhaps no wonder Victor had become the monster he was. If Wolf could attain even a fraction of that, perhaps he'd stand a chance. Or he'd just die of a heart attack -- whichever came first.

That said, he wasn't exactly happy how he got this day off. Vera had warned him that she'd passed his number along to William a few days ago during one of his meetings with Andras, but he hadn't expected a call of this nature. Wolf couldn't even say this had anything to do with the plan he'd been hired for.

Just how many things did William have his hands in?

His first instinct had even been to refuse, saying that this was too much. Too far removed from the original job... but alas, he'd dragged Aram into it too. Just walking over to meet William had resulted in Andras almsot being kidnapped and Vera almost getting run over by a car. He'd be going if only to make sure some even greater catastrophe didn't claim his fellow Vigilante's life...

When he arrived at the diner, Wolf looked rather worse for wear and sort of out of it, but arrive he did.

Aram is not a busy guy, and despite his mannerisms, he's actually pretty smart. In turn, he doesn't see the need to focus on his education much. But all that doesn't mean he wants to waste his day poking around some abandoned laboratory in the middle of nowhere. This would probably in more way than one break the law...trespassing, breaking and entering...the works. Not that he hadn't done all this before, mind you...but he always had his reasons.

Still, he found himself walking down the street towards a diner near the outskirts of town anyways. He'd been paid to do a job, and he was gonna do it. He saw his fellow Vigilante, Wolf, only a few dozen feet ahead of him. 

'Good. we got some extra muscle', he thought

He continued to walk with a confident swagger until he reached the doors to the cafe, assumedly after Wolf did. He would push the doors to the cafe open wide to allow his passage.

William, clad in an orange T-Shirt, Vest, tough camoflague pants, and combat boots - he also had an ordinary sword strapped to his back, but the Diner's owner had insisted that he lock the scabbard so he couldn't draw it - would then say to Wolf and Aram, "Glad to see you two. Sorry for bothering you guys with my message, but I really need help for this cross-country trip."

He pointed to a bag of rations and survival supplies behind him; no tents as this was supposed to be short term, although there were umbrellas. "I'll explain on the way; let's just say that there's some unfinished business I have that might prove important to preperations against the 'Evil Greater than the Ancient Evil'."

Those last words were said without any note of sarcasm and irony.

Wolf blinked slowly. There was a Greater Evil now? No, of course there was. Why wouldn't there be? He pinched the bridge of his nose. What was it with this kid and trouble? He wasn't sure if trouble was drawn to him, or vice-verse. Either way hanging around him was proving ot be unpleasant.

"I'm not going to ask why you have unfinished business like that. Let's just get this over with I guess," Wolf said and let out an almost pained sigh.

Aram stopped for a moment. 'Cross country?' he thought. 'Since when was I escorting this guy across the damn country...?'
But something more pressing caught his attention.

"Greater evil, eh?" he said. "Yeah, I'm gonna need a full Smorgusborg of info after that claim. And despite Wolfie here's claim, I'm sure he'd like to know too."

He turned,  eyeing the bag near the table William was sitting at. Looked heavy. "Manual labor? Now, now...nobody warned me about that..." he said with a fake frown.

William said, "I'll be carrying the bag, actually. Anyway, yeah, once we're out of the city, I'll tell you...everything."

[b][i]Thirty Minutes Later[/i][/b]

Once they were well into the countryside, following a trail into the forest, Ascot would say, "Last month, when this chain of events began, I received an old diary from a...contact. This diary spoke of someone who made a contact with the Ancient Evil due to not liking what the Gods have already given him. Said person vanished into the Hells in the Ancient Era, after the Gods themselves banded together to defeat him. That guy was named Mephisto. I did some digging, and I found out from another contact in said contact's [i]Shrine[/i] that while [i]our[/i] Mephisto was born in this world, as an ordinary human, a connection cannot be ruled out between him and the traitor. What makes things more sinister is that Meph ran an illegal laboratory long ago and then destroyed it with some kind of curse despite being supposedly a Powerless person.

"We're going to that place now." Ascot then paused. "As for the Evil Greater than the Ancient Evil, let's just say that King's movements have been followed by the Rhean Government, and that they put more stock in his words than some of his followers do; no offense meant. My personal speculation is that Mephisto - our Mephisto - may be serving either the Ancient Evil or 'switched paymasters' to the Greater Evil; either way, discovering more about him will either help us neutralize his potential threat, or be used to force him to help in Rhea's defense."

Another pause. "And yes, I am aware that I sound like Andras. But, for all its worth, I think she's a good person and that there's a grain of truth in what she says."

To be fair to William, Wolf didn't think he sounded like Andras at all. Andras's little delusions were silly and mostly harmless. What William was saying was far from harmless, if still borderline delusional in their own way.  Well, so far William hadn't struck him as someone deranged, so it was possible he'd really stumbled onto something.

He supposed he'd be finding out soon enough.

"Great..." Wolf wasn't feeling all that talkative today it seemed. He was tired, cranky, and William was making him more cranky -- never mind the overload of information he was currently trying to process.

Aram stumbled for a moment as his foot met a branch on the side of the trail. 'Damnit...I just got these shoes shined...' he thought. He stooped to wipe the debris from his shoe as William told his story of some "Greater Evil". 

He had heard that name before...Mephisto. He was head of one of the schools they regularly faced in tournaments. He stood. "Sounds like some real beef." He commented from behind the two.

He glanced at Wolf, who seemed to be pretty out of the conversation at the moment. Hmm... 
"What's down, Wolfie?" Aram said, nudging him as he mathed the other's pace.

Wolf frowned for a moment. Wolfie... He had to remind himself that, aside from Vernon being a prick about it, it wasn't unusual for him to be called that. Funnily enough, it seemed Meredith and Aram had both come to that conclusion independantly. Meredith because, well, she was Meredith, and Aram because, as Vera would put it, "he talks funny." 

"What?" Wolf glanced at Aram, "Oh, uh, sorry. Just tired. Father's putting me through the wringer trying to train me. I'd been slacking lately..." It wasn't just the physical aspect of it either. His father was focusing heavily on trying to get Wolf's head straight. It wasn't a pleasant process. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Wiliam glanced backward, worried about Wolf and wondering whether it was his fault the latter was being overworked. "Sorry for being inconsiderate," he muttered, before the group approached the overgrown and sinister-looking abandoned building and said: "We're here. I'll try and set up some basic anti-demon protection to protect our fallback position."

And with that, Ascot brought out a plastic pack labeled 'Holy Water', a smaller pack labeled 'Blessed Oil', and two jars containing Salt and compressed Garlic oil. He also brought out several military-grade religious anti-demonic symbols; small 'Rs' made up of sandalwood sprinkled with silver and blessed by Priests of multiple Gods, and began stringing those up in the trees just outside the Laboratory, before taking out the Holy Water, Blessed Oil, Compressed Garlic Oil, and saying to Wolf and Aram: "We're going to use these to create safe lines of retreat should things go south; I know that's an unwelcome line of thought, but I want to assure you guys I've prepared for it. So, can you guys help me create multiple corridors protected by these materials outside the laboratory? After that, we can come in."

Aram watched as William drew a collection of odd objects and jars from his bag. 'Wait, wait, Demons??? What dunce forgot to warn me about this??' he thought. This was much more than he had expected he signed up for. On their usual crusades, the Vigilantes planned, calculated, and usually brought more force than they required to get the job done..

But now, it was just the three of them, heading into god knows what...but once again, Aram's ears perked up at William's next request. "Hahaha!" he laughed, finishing with a smirk, "That's easy work, William. You'll soon be glad you brought this guy along!" he boasted. 

He gestured at William to place the containers on the ground, before squaring the fedora on his head. He then suddenly flourished his right arm into the air, one of the jars busting open and the liquid within it spiraling into the air. He smiled at his display of ability and usefullness.

Soon the liquid was painted into a large Pentagram that engulfed the width of the path they had just traveled. In short order, the other jars were emptied in the same fashion.

Wiping away a fake sweatdrop, Aram stood with his hands on his hips, admiring his work. "See?" He smirked, apparently forgetting his previous objections.

"Don't worry about it too much. Real demons won't be around here," Wolf told him. A true demon wouldn't waste its time skulking aorund, never mind the fact that it just wasn't possible for them to enteir their world... usually. Their inhuman, mindless dogs could, but again, wasn't much reason for them to just be hanging about. Regardless, at least William was prepared. And in the worst case scenario, he'd just kill anything that showed its face.

William smiled and said, "Now, it's time to go in."

[b][i]End of Part One[/i][/b]
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