[center][h3]Joker[/h3] [b]Location:[/b] Great Ton Pu Inn, Lumbridge, Land of Adventure [@Zoey Boey][/center] The three sat in a rough circle in one corner of the foyer, their positions and postures clearly agitated despite their best attempts to relax. In their brief careers as the Phantom Thieves they had participated in countless meetings like this, whether for the purpose of discussing targets or planning infiltrations or just for getting together. It had been a long time since such a meeting constituted just these three though, a membership hearkening back to the early days of their cooperation. Even then, though, they never found themselves without a fourth member, whose earnestness formed the very basis of their organization. It was a sobering thought, and for a little while, none of them broke the heavy silence. Eventually, however, Skull sighed and sprawled out over the sofa. The metallic spine on the back of his jacket propped him up a little, but he didn't seem to mind. “Man, this friggin' sucks. Everything got pulled right out from under us, right when things finally seemed to be going our way. It really pisses me off.” Panther wrung her hands in frustration. “Right? We're totally adrift. This place is gigantic, there's no obvious way out, and who knows where everyone else is. We've got no clue what's going on or what to do.” She looked at the floor. “Never thought I'd miss Mona so much.” Joker nodded, his expression dour. “I miss him too.” “Yeah, I bet that furball would know what's up,” Skull admitted, shaking his head. After a moment he leaned forward, his face serious. “But seriously, I can't just sit around doin' nothin'. We've got to figure somethin' out.” Straightening up, Joker put his hands on his knees. “Let's start with what we know.” “Sure,” Panther said. “Let's see...the first thing I remember was the three of us appearing in that awful city. Seemed like something straight out of a zombie flick, so we holed up inside this art gallery.” “Then that freaky camera monster came at us!” Skull growled. “It kept trying to freeze us, but we managed to keep saving each other until...it got both me and Panther at the same time. You ran to find help then, right?” A couple seconds passed while Joker thought. “We had our Metaverse outfits from the start.” Panther's eyebrows rose a touch. “That's right. At first we thought this place was Mementos, what with all the distortion, but the monsters and people we've seen aren't shadows.” “Well, are we sure it ain't Mementos?” Skull asked. “It looks way different from the stuff we've gone through before, but it kinda feels the same. If this is the collector's conscience thing Mona talks about sometimes, it'd explain all the stuff from games.” “Collective unconsciousness,” Joker corrected. Scratching her head, Panther considered that. “I guess that would make sense. After all, Mementos is given form by society's thoughts, right? Maybe this is some kind of really deep level made from the thoughts of gamers. Or a gigantic palace...?” Skull exhaled deeply. “Man, that'd be crazy. Super cool, but still crazy. Doesn't help our situation, though. What're we going to do about it?” A pause reigned for a few seconds before Joker made his decision. “We need to reunite the Phantom Thieves.” To that, his friends voice unanimous agreement. “Of course,” said Panther. “Given how big this place is, it'll be tough, but I'm sure we can think of something.” “Uh huh. Man, if only this crappy village had phone service,” Skull complained. “We could just call 'em.” He held his phone in his hand, but the connection signal in the upper-right corner displayed no bars. The sight of it sparked an idea, simple but nonetheless solid. “Let's go somewhere that does,” Joker suggested. “Chasing smartphone signals? Sounds like a plan!” Panther laughed. “I was worried for a while there, but I guess no matter what happens to us, we're still the Phantom Thieves. We can solve this mystery together.” At some point the door to the inn had opened, and it admitted a young woman with a face Skull just now recognized. Cheerful, with short brown hair, a too-small school uniform, and fighting gloves...he'd seen her before. He reached over and pushed Joker's shoulder repeatedly. “Hey, hey! She's from Street Fighter!” he whispered urgently. “She was on one of the machines at Gigolo Arcade. We ought to ask her.” Panther's eyebrows furrowed. “What makes you think she'll be any help, Skull? Are you sure you don't just wanna chat up a girl?” Waving a hand dismissively, the blond leaned back. “Pssh, no way! I just figured she wasn't from this town, is all.” “Plus, you'd either fumble it, or give away our identities or something.” “H-hey, what's that for?” Joker glanced over at Sakura, who'd by now reached the reception counter and started talking to the burly, red-haired innkeep about accommodations. He didn't remember seeing her in the group that came back from the Dead Zone, and anyone who lived in Lumbridge wouldn't need lodging at an inn. As Skull and Panther continued to bicker, he rose from his seat and approached the girl from behind. As best he could guess, they shared about the same age, and though his outfit screamed 'thief' and he wore a mask, his natural charm should make it easy to approach her. He waited until they finished conversing about currency -trying to figure out the approximate value of yen compared to that of zenny, the town's main currency, it seemed like- before the thief made his move. “Excuse me,” he said. “I'm Joker. You're from out of town, right? If you don't mind me asking, where did you come from? I'm trying to find some friends, and to do that I need to find an area with phone service, you see.” [center][h3]Dead Zone[/h3] [@EvilEdd1984][/center] For a moment the trio watched as the Doom Slayer approached the draconian demoness to exact her punishment, but when he got to work they found themselves losing interest quickly. Nero averted his gaze when he started to pull, not exactly thrilled by his grisly torture of Echidna, even if she was a vicious little devil. When the screams came to a height, and he noticed Nadia looking profoundly uncomfortable, he reached up and laid a hand on the hilt of the Red Queen. “Okay guy, let's move this along, huh?” He swung in a clean arc, slicing through the remainder of Echidna's exposed neck and silencing her agonized wailing for good. Her body began to disintegrate, her skin and scales turning to ash, and in a few moments the head clutched in the Slayer's hands like a trophy followed suit. With the general energetic mood thoroughly soured by the Slayer's excessive and disquieting enjoyment, the three didn't need to confirm with one another the idea of moving out. Before they could, however, the man rumbled out a question, and Nero shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me. Saw her the same time you did. Could've been here since the giant disco ball made this joint.” Even in the perennial night and oppressive cloud cover of the Dead Zone, Galeem's radiance could be seen somewhere in the sky, a single glowing constant amid this nightmare realm. His attention returned to the Slayer, however, when an electronic voice pointed out a demonic presence in him. [i]Shit.[/i] Was that brutal bastard going to fight him? For a moment it looked like he would, and Nero inhaled sharply as his muscles tensed up. He recalled the slaughter the day before, the sight of the Slayer single-handedly destroying the horde that followed the survivors from the Police Station to Argent Tower. However, the Slayer did not attack. Nero remained on guard a moment longer, then relaxes as well. V watched the entire situation from a young distance with Nadia beside him, whose worry did not abate so easily. So glanced between the two, anticipating a clash any moment, until V piped up. “It is good that your obvious hatred of demons didn't propel you down a foolish path. 'To generalize is to be an idiot'...not the most poetic of Blake's insights, but poignant nonetheless.” Nero glances at the mysterious one. “Easy for you to say. You've got literal demons with you, while I'm just one-fourth, and he's clenching his fist at [i]me.[/i]” He shook his head with a resigned sigh. “I'm never gonna get used to this.” A short distance away, the man who Echidna had been pursuing approached the group gingerly. From this distance, his appearance could be made out more clearly. He wore a strange, one-hundred-percent artificial pale blue hazard suit, covered in various harnesses and equipment. On his chest was a dark capsule, and strapped in on his back was a shape that could only by an occupied body bag. Beneath all that, however, he appeared to be a normal guy. Between forty to fifty years old but in great shape, he had brown hair tied up in a short knot, a goatee, and a tired face. His expression said that he didn't want to be here, clear as day, but he came anyway. His eyes flitted between the devil hunter, the tattooed man, the blood-drenched marine, and the cat girl. “Uh...hey. You people seem, uh, kind of okay. Any chance you know where the center of this hell is?” V pointed his cane toward the Qliphoth. “There. It stands at the center of this dead place.” The stranger received an incredulous look from Nero. “What're you doing here, man? This is no place for ordinary people.” Shifting uncomfortably, Sam looked at the Qliphoth. “I'm making a delivery.” “A delivery?” Nadia laughed in disbelief. “What could you possibly be delivering that's worth clawing your way through this?” Sam said nothing, but he didn't need to. Everyone could tell what lay inside that bag on his back. After a bit he said. Nadia put her hands on her hips. “Cat got your tongue? Why are you delivering a body?” “This place is dangerous,” Sam said, an edge to his voice. “It's been condemned. Gonna put this body right in the middle, and when it goes necro, it'll come back as a BT. Then it'll grab a zombie or something and...poof. City's one big crater.” Nero's eyebrows raised. He didn't get the details, but the ultimate meaning seemed clear. “Huh. Well, that's interesting. I agree the Dead Zone should basically be nuked, but there could be more survivors around.” “If the pestilence is allowed to spread beyond the city, the death toll will continue to rise. The number of survivors remaining here surely pales in comparison,” V reasoned, a little too pragmatically. Nadia said nothing, instead trying to wrap her head around both something capable of annihilating an entire city, and the consequences of doing so with living people still inside. After some more thinking, Nero said, “Well, even by itself the Qliphoth and its harvesters are brutally efficient. They won't leave any survivors. That plus plagues, and the Flood...well, this place needs to go.” He looked at Sam questioningly. “How long until that stiff rots?” Without so much as checking, he replied, “Twenty-three hours.” Nero nodded. “Alright. We know some people who can evacuate survivors and stuff before this place goes away. Meanwhile, we'll take care of those Qliphoth roots and clear the way for 'em.” “Ugh, it sucks that I need you guys,” Nadia complained. “Good luck, pal,” Nero said, reaching to clap the guy on the shoulder. Sam shied away from his touch, however, and Nero smoothly gave it up. He glanced at the Doom Slayer. “Overenthusiastic or not, we could use your help. Up for more demon hunting? We're headed over there.” He pointed to the Qliphoth root that towered, tree-like, over a mall to the north.