[img]https://media.altchar.com/prod/images/940_530/gm-22fbe8d1-78f2-40f5-be91-d4777d8a33de-ssbujoker.jpeg[/img][hr][hr][color=red]Level:[/color] 2
[Color=red]EXP[/color] 3/20
[Color=red]Word Count:[/color] 2,219
[color=red]Current Location:[/color] Dead Zone >> Land of Adventure (Lumbridge)[hr][Center][sub]Collab between [@Majoras End] and [@Lugubrious][/sub][/center][hr]


 [Color=darkgray]"Excellent. Then we`ll go straightaway,"[/color] said the stranger. He half-turned away to start the trip, evidently in no mood to dilly-dally, but stopped himself and faced Joker once more. [Color=darkgray]"Oh, where are my manners? We can hardly act as teammates without even knowing one another`s names."[/color]

 He reached up and just a hint of slowness removed his hood. Joker found himself looking at a man in his thirties, with broad lips and an angular nose, with bluish-gray eyes and thin brows beneath a head of rich black hair styled to swoop down over his right eye. His sophisticated features bore an easy smile, as if he was eternally privy to some revelation lost to everyone else. Something vaguely familiar hung about his person, but his was a face Joker had never seen before.

 [Color=darkgray]"I am Santofex,"[/color] the black-coated savant declared.

 Though he tried to think of where he could have met Santofex before, the thief decided to just asked later. [color=red]"Call me Joker."[/color]

[hr]

 With just two stealth-minded humans versus a whole crowd of panicky civilians and heavy-footed heroes, traversing the dangerous and infested streets of the Dead Zone was a whole lot easier. The black-coated savant led his new acquaintance through streets, alleyways, and the husks of once-bustling buildings, navigating around zombie mobs and wandering demons on the way. To avoid detection they moved through the perennial night in silence, communicating through gestures, and in so doing managed to evade ambush. It also allowed them a good look at the general population, and the crowds they found exhibited a worrying preponderance of Flood.

 They arrived at the hotel Santofex spoke of. Clean, neat, and upscale, it provided a facade as elegant as it was austere, and once the two breezed through the locked door, they found its interior just as posh.

 Santofex gently closed the door. The shambling undead outside couldn"t disturb them now, barring some cacophony drawing them in. [Color=darkgray]"This place has no basement, so the captives are most likely higher-up,"[/color] he said. [Color=darkgray]"A central room, perhaps. Let us proceed carefully; there`s no telling what our friend has in store."[/color]

 The lobby was expansive, reaching up to the second floor. It was ringed on the second story by an overlooking corridor that ran around the edges. To the right was the main reception desk, and most of the floorspace was occupied by a maze of couches, tables, ferns, and even two fountains. A massive, stunning chandelier hung above. On the opposite side of the lobby from the entrance a great staircase extended upward and split left and right. To the left there appeared to be a few elevator.

 Not everything was top-dollary luxury, however. A few zombies occupied this place, too, and in front of the staircase lay a few piled corpses and a number of scattered chunks. Santofex looked over the whole place. [Color=darkgray]"So, where will we go?"[/color] he asked.

 [color=red]"Nowhere else to go but up, right?"[/color] As far as Joker knew, a hotel as out-of-place as such was bound to be somewhat of a deathtrap, if his experience in the Metaverse was something to go by. He walked over to the corpse pile, keeping an eye on the few zombies that resided in the lobby. [color=red]"Huh. Think our guy tried to barricade the stairs?"[/color] The thief looked back to Santofex, with a brow raised.

 [Color=darkgray]"I wouldn`t bet on it."[/color] The man pointed toward the stairs. As if in response to the pair`s arrival, the body parts had begun to coalesce. They were drawn in toward the pile, sticking and packing together. In the center of it all, the pale head of a woman with long, black hair, was looking at them. Her mouth moved in silent laughter, but as the pile started to rise, her voice grew louder and louder. Excess began to fall away, and from the heap stepped a horrific [url=https://gameranx.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/The-Evil-Within%C2%AE-2_20171013142326.jpg]monster[/url] of wired-together flesh and hair, its right forearm a huge sawblade. Laughing from its many mouths, the Guardian walked toward the intruders. A zombie in its path became mincemeat, decimated by its spinning saw, as it stomped closer.

 [color=red]"Oh, you've gotta be kidding..."[/color] The thief quickly started to back away from the monster, thinking of a way to get rid of it, or atleast distract it long enough for them to go around. He noticed that the arm the Guardian's sawblade was rather thin, so he summoned his persona to cleave through it.

 Arsene lashed out at the Guardian with his bladed limbs, but the monstrosity`s saw was made of sterner stuff than Joker`s split-second evaluation made it out to be. The persona dealt a little damage, mostly to the arm housing the blade, but its blow barely slowed the Guardian down as it lunged forward with a vicious swing. Joker got out of range swiftly, and Santofex ducked to the side. He didn`t seem to be armed, so it was up to the thief to try another attack.

 Joker clicked his tongue in annoyance. He didn't even lay a dent to the monster, so he was forced to switch back to his weapons. [color=red]"Might wanna take cover!"[/color] The thief said to his ally, noticing that Santofex had nothing to fend the Guardian off with, before firing his gun at it's center head.

 The bullets hit with a wet crunching noise and sent a spatter of blood into the air. Scowling, the Guardian snarled and reoriented itself toward Joker. It laughed as it approached, spinning up its blade.

 [Color=darkgray]"This creature is hardy. It`ll probably outlast us if we fight or run,"[/color] Santofex observed. Around his feet blossomed a swirling darkness that rose up to engulf him, and he disappeared. A moment later the man dropped from above, landing on the Guardian`s back. [Color=darkgray]"Go!"[/color] he shouted, as the abomination flailed around in an effort to knock him off. Its blade could not reach him. [Color=darkgray]"One of us must keep it busy!"[/color]

 The thief hesitated for a second, then hurried up the steps and to the elevator.

 Nothing else leaped out at Joker as he departed the grand foyer. Sticking to the shadows, he made his way through the corridors of the second floor, searching for some central area. It didn`t take him long to find it.

 The Gallery. Once Joker pushed through his doors he found himself in a spacious room with walls occupied floor-to-ceiling with pictures. Four minor exhibits occupied the four corners, and one special display stood in the room`s center. It was a breathtaking exhibition, not out of wonderment, but out of horror.

 For the subject matter in every painting and sculpture was nightmarish. Bodies carved up into pieces and run through like figurines with metal supports in a macabre facsimile of their former shapes, spurts of blood suspended in time, portraits of eyes and laughing mouths. At the center of it all, a dozen feet above the ground, an [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ff/ee/d6/ffeed6aa69043974e25cd61cb1c307e6.png]angel[/url] of crimson-streaked arms puppetting dissected cadavers with rose bushels for heads, all held still in a blue prism of frozen time.

 Laying against the pile beneath the angel were Joker`s friends, [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/66/fa/9f66fafc1d670cf5941344a9630e7423.jpg]Ryuji[/url] and [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/3/3c/P5RAnnTakamaki.png/revision/latest?cb=20190726142128]Ann[/url]. There were a few others as well, all women. [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/summonnight/images/5/53/SN5-Aty1.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20130307171011]one[/url] had long red hair and glasses, a somber-looking [url=https://img.favpng.com/4/2/15/dungeon-fighter-online-character-costume-design-illustration-png-favpng-r2AJ1RzUrWqPrwYFYVWc9K2Kr.jpg]priest[/url] in black, and a far more ordinary [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/yakuza/images/0/00/Makoto_Tateyama_%28Yakuza_0%29.png/revision/latest/top-crop/width/300/height/300?cb=20191029230828]woman[/url] in a red coat.

 A creaking sound interrupted the stunned silence. Something was being lowered from the ceiling. There was just enough time for Joker to hide before it dropped from its wires and hit the ground, landing on three sets of tip-toes. A camera swung hideously about on a long neck, searching for the intruder. After a few moments it moved, its feet tap-tap-tapping, moaning while it did. [url=https://live.staticflickr.com/1805/42603681304_3ca5165d7a_b.jpg]Obscura[/url] hunted for its target.

 The thief could feel his heart pounding at the sight of Obscura. That thing, it couldn't be the culprit, could it? It was too much of a risk to attack outright with the captives lives on the line, considering his current lucky streak being the only reason he was still alive. So Joker stuck to the shadows, slowly and quietly making his way to the weird angel statue(?), and those underneath it. One by one, he carefully pulled the captives out of the time-stop zone they were trapped in. Though he did have to retreat back into hiding every time Obscura was approaching.

 Each captive, once removed from the frozen field, `awoke` with a start, but Joker was ready. For all five he clamped a hand over their mouths, urgently whispering to them to sneak to safety lest Obscura find them out. It took meticulous movement and patience, but the thief saved them one by one. Ryuji and Ann recognized their friend on sight and caught on straightaway, leaving the rest of the rescue to their stealthy companion as they got out of dodge. On his way out Ryuji got spotted, but he managed to escape through the gallery doors before the freakish monster could get too close. The first two strangers Joker retrieved started to struggle once awoken, but the sight of Obscura and the murmured instructions of their rescuer convinced them to listen. They too got away, leaving just one woman left.

 When Joker got her out, however, she instantly screamed. Her eyes stared straight ahead without focusing on anything as she thrashed around in Joker`grasp--the woman was blind, so the sensation of being held captive was all she knew. She cried out in Japanese, calling for help, but it wasn`t help that was forthcoming.

 Obscura reacted instantly. With an ecstatic noise it rushed over from the corner of the room where it`d been searching and trained the gaze of its glassy lens on Joker and the civilian. It then lunged forward, lashing out with the spikes protruding from its elbows to cut them up.

 The gallery doors burst open. In the threshold stood the mage and the priest, and alongside them not Ryuji and Ann, but [url=https://www.gematsu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Persona-5-Scramble-The-Phantom-Strikers_2019_12-02-19_001.jpg]Skull[/url] and [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/b/b4/Panther_render.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20161022221412]Panther[/url]. Now that all hell had broken loose, they were ready to lend a hand, but first Joker needed to save himself and the terrified woman from Obscura.

 The thief quickly held onto the blind woman, dodging the Obscura's ambush to sprint over to the exit, guiding her and reassuring her that he was there to help. [color=red][i]"Someone hold it off, now!!"[/i][/color] He yelled to the others, in the case that the monster would pursue them.

 Already tense and alert, the four needed no further prompting. As Obscura hurtled after its prey the former captives all leaped to action. Skull and Panther called upon Captain Kidd and Carmen to unleash electric and fire attacks, respectively. Once they hit home the teenagers charged forward to make it personal. Skull slammed Obscura`s camera with a metal pipe, while Panther ensnared one of its three legs with her whip to trip it up. The priest came next with a mighty overhead mace swing, and after she got out of the way, the mage used a sword as a catalyst to send a volley of magic into the monster. 

 Obscura crumpled under the weight of the combined offensie. The four stepped back, watching warily. After a moment Obscura started to move again, but instead of giving up it just lolled its head the humans` way and flashed.

 A blinding light engulfed them, and when it faded they were trapped in another time-stop field, though this one seemed less stable than the other one. As if reveling in its victory, Obscura got to its feet slowly, then tapped into the field to start picking them off.

 At that point, Joker was starting to get pissed. The thief was so close to rescuing everyone, and he refused to let Obscura win. [Color=red]"Stay here. Wait on me, okay?"[/color] He said to the blind girl, pulling his handgun out, and running back into the room. Taking advantage of the monster letting it's guard down, he summoned Arsene and rushed up to it. In unison, the thief fired his gun, and his persona fired it's curse attack, both aiming for the Obscura's lens.

 The well-aimed projectiles hit the camera lens dead-on, and Obscura recoiled with a shriek. Its head flailed around like a dealership air dancer, and the zone in front of it faded out of existance. Time resumed for the captives, allowing them to take a few parting shots at the monster before fleeing. Together the six left the gallery behind, and after Ryuji stepped up to help carrying the blind woman, Joker led the way to the stairs.

 A few moments later the group reached the lobby. The Guardian was nowhere in sight, but a large amount of small chunks lay scattered around, and at the center of the mess stood Santofex. He hurriedly stashed something in his coat before waving the others over. [Color=darkgray]"Let`s go! Who knows what else is here?"[/color] As if perfectly timed, a tremor shook the building. The group wasted no time leaving the hotel behind.

 Joker lead the group back to Argent Tower, navigating around the undead as he and Santofex had done before. He explained to Ryuji and Ann what all had happened during his search for them, catching up with them after they were all separated. Once they had arrived, he bid farewell to the savant, and stepped onto the teleporter after everyone else.