Double

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

Glory of France: Notre-Dame de Paris

The Nobody had switched gears and found himself in the Notre-Dame bell tower. It over looked it's portion of Paris, almost as if it were ordained by God himself. Or maybe that was just how the architects designed the building hundreds of years ago? The cathedral itself looked more or less like it does on many other Earths. No matter which way history swung on any given Earth, there were a few things that managed to stay relatively the same, a constant or consistency of sorts. This cathedral had appeared to prove itself to be one of those things. Its builders and architects could change, but the structure itself and what it often represented usually managed to stay the same. Not that Seth really thought that hard about such things. It was just a simple observation on his part.

Looking down onto the city square, he saw hustling and bustling. That was perfectly normal for a large city, but this seemed a bit different. There looked to be incomplete kiosks of varying sizes here and there. Perhaps they were setting up a festival, or cleaning up after one? Difficult to say from this distance. It didn't take Seth long to grow bored of watching people and instead started watching pigeons. They were all over the place, nests on just about every rooftop including Notre-Dame itself. In fact, the cathedral had a few extra nests, especially on and around the various gargoyles. Beyond them was a series of statues depicting individuals holding crosses and books, no doubt meant to be the patron saints of the cathedral, made of copper that had aged so long in the sun they looked green in color. As for the pigeons, there were some resting in the nests, while others were either leaving or arriving, perhaps for feeding purposes?

As for why the Nobody chose to come here instead staying on his little shore in the Realm of Darkness? Well, one could only relax on a beach for so long before they became tempted to fall asleep. Doing so in the Realm of Darkness, even for Seth that was a dangerous idea so he left the realm in favor of looking at one of the cities of this particular world. Thus, the Nobody found himself watching people and birds alike from his vantage point in the bell tower. He had also lost track of time by this point, so he wondered if he should meet back up with others or leave them be a little longer. Deciding that he was bored of the tower, Seth exited through one of the doors taking a staircase that lead down to the actual church itself.

Within were various nuns and deacons performing their duties. Sometimes that entailed collecting donations, other times it meant keeping the floors cleaned. There were also a few patrons, a few sitting in pews staring up at the central crucifix with their eyes and closed and hands pressed together. Others knelt at an alter closer to the crucifix, while others still appeared to waiting for a turn in the confessional. As for the Nobody, he was still in his black coat, in fact he had his up so he definitely didn't look like he belonged here. He looked around for a moment or two before turning toward the main doors with a shrug. He made a few steps before he heard a voice speak to him.

"Did you not have a prayer in need of hearing?" said a priest - or was he an arch-deacon? - his voice soft and his tone kindly. He also spoke French, assuming Seth was a native of this world. The Nobody turned his head to look at him. The man was around middle-aged, probably in his forties or fifties at the oldest. Seth shook his slightly, his grin never leaving his face.

"Not exactly. Doubt it would help me anyway." Seth replied, in the same French language. Though his wasn't exactly the same, it was close enough to get the job done. He tried to leave again but the priest spoke once more.

"No burden is too large or small for the Almighty. You just looked like you were carrying a heavy burden, but if you insist you are not, I won't stop you. These doors are always open if you ever change your mind. No matter where you are what you've done." with that the priest left to go about his duties, and Seth never saw him again.

"Right..." Seth muttered, no longer in French, and when he was sure he wasn't being watched he stretched out his hand and opened a Corridor of Darkness. He'd made everyone wait long enough, it was time to go back. He could find them easily enough by honing in on one of their Hearts. A strong enough Heart could radiate with enough Light to allow it to be tracked. It was one of the ways Heartless hunted their prey. In any case, all he had to do was hone in on either Mai or the Princess of Heart of this world. Either one would get him to the meeting place.

Conference Room

Right behind where Mai stood, not a few moments after she slapped Drake, a Corridor of Darkness opened up. Seth stepped through, his hood still up but his grin was familiar enough to count as his identification badge at this point. The Nobody didn't speak, instead he silently took a seat and crossed his arms and legs to get comfortable. His face, though not fully visible under his hood, remained unchanged, he was still grinning his trademark playful grin.

Legacy: The Fourth Reich [WWIII/Superhuman RP]

The robot detected the incoming hostile surprisingly early on. He didn't launch an assault immediately, however, otherwise he would have tackled the Amazon at Mach 1 right from the get go and dragged her up into the stratosphere. People didn't often take it into account, but in high enough altitudes the air becomes dangerously thin. There was a good reason why fighter pilots always had to wear oxygen masks when flying on missions. And no matter how strong, powerful, or well-trained a metahuman was, more often than not they needed to breathe oxygen in order to live. Atom, however, needed no such thing and so it could have been a simple task to drag the woman high up enough that she passed out from sheer oxygen deprivation. Unfortunately, two things prevented the Robot from initiating this attack strategy. First and foremost, the hostages. Secondly, when her face became visible he was ordered to standby until an identification could be confirmed.

"It's her alright..." came Trent's voice over Atom's communication, "...Baroness von Gunther. She's one of the Nazi leaders, and an Amazon to boot. She's practically on par with Master Man." Trent was sounding a bit stressed, and rightfully so. Between the appearance of Von Gunther and the sudden arrival of several others with metahuman powers, the mission had become exponentially more complicated. Complications were one of Trent's biggest pet peeves. After an exasperated sigh, he finally said, "Bring her in. General wants her alive."

"Command: confirmed." said the Robot who - to everyone else - appeared to have spoken to an unseen and unheard partner. With this, Atom launched into action... literally. He flew straight at the Amazon at full throttle, his jet boosters allowing him to quickly close the gap between himself and the two friendlies who moved first. However, he couldn't go for Von Gunther directly. The First Law required him to first ensure the survival of her hostages before he could start targeting her in earnest. So at the last possible second he diverted his flight path and flew past instead. However, he did grab the edge of the bus in his robotic hand during the pass... and proceeded to not slow down. Either he would tear the bus from the Amazon's grip or the two would have the mother-of-all tug 'o war matches. Either way, it would likely serve as a sufficient means to keep her attention squarely on Atom while one of the others perhaps tried to get the hostages out or - even better - directly attack her with the element of surprise.

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

Scene of the Battle - Aftermath

"So wait..." Seth pondered, chuckling in spite of this being no joking matter, "...he almost tried to kill us, but I'm the only one getting punished?" Seth just shrugged, his usual response to most things. And although it looked like Tocsax was about to have some words with Drake, the Nobody didn't actually stick around to hear everything. Instead he vanished into a Corridor of Darkness, deciding that he needed some alone time. They could surely keep themselves out of trouble for a little while without him, couldn't they?

Timeskip - Realm of Darkness

Well, one had to hand it to this place. As dark and horrible as it was for most folks, it made for a convenient private location for people like Seth. The Nobody found himself on a shore of some kind, not too unlike the previous place. He leaned against a rock and stared out at what he could only assume was an ocean of some kind. But whether the sea here worked like it did on the other side - or if that was even actual water out there - was another question entirely. He picked up a small stone and flicked it out to the water, watching it skip a few times before sinking to the depths.

A yawn, and then the Nobody closed his eyes a moment, as if dosing off. Suddenly, though, he let out a frustrated grumble as he slammed a glove fist into the rock he leaned against, leaving a small cracked impact on the spot his fist made contact, "How else were we supposed to deal with them?" Seth demanded aloud despite no one being around to here, "It was the logical move... even Tocsax can't argue with that. Yet..." Seth lowered his gaze, and began to focus it intently on his gloved hand that soon balled into another fist.

"Yet that was small potatoes compared to what he did! So why am I the one being punished here?" he angrily slammed his onto the ground next to him, "Who am I fooling? Drake has nothing to do with this," he leaned back and stared upward, "but what is this frustration all of a sudden?" couldn't be guilt. He'd have to have a Heart to feel that. Was he simply second guessing himself? Questioning his own logic? But why...? His logic was perfectly sound... wasn't it?

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

@Letter Bee No. Shit just happens sometimes. That's all there is to it.

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

I feel kind of... gypped. I tried to treat Seth's decision to threaten Nate as something that would become a big controversy among the party. But Drake's berserker episode kind of... completely overshadowed it. *shrug* Oh well, no biggie I guess.

Edit: Funny how Drake is the clrear MVP in that battle despite Seth literally being the only one who actually took out one of the enemies. xD

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

They all just... fled. Well, there was a lot more to it than just that, but still. Drake got free of his imprisonment, and then proceeded to attack anything and everything that moved. Mac, Cheese, Mai and a newcomer made it into the scene just before this, which of course only gave Drake's snakes more people to attack. Why did these things always have to get complicated? Whatever happened to the good old days when battles ended once the enemy was gone? Seth chuckled to himself, but sounded noticeably exasperated. This was becoming a very troublesome job, very quickly.

"What? No gratitude for sparing the husband?" this little quip was all Seth had to say when Nora chose not to protect any of the people who weren't already on her side. Well, fine, if she was going to be that way then perhaps Seth wouldn't bother showing any mercy next time around? Oh, who was he fooling? Of course he would. If he went around killing without mercy, the others would get angry with him. Sometimes he hated being one of the good guys. This was one of those times.

Drake's shadow attacks didn't seem to be all that bothered about Seth. Well, he was supposed to be part-Heartless, right? Guess that was true after all, the snakes were probably more interested in people with Hearts. Even so, a stray tendril or two did make their way toward Seth's general direction, and he dealt with them the only way one should deal with snakes. He literally stomped them to death, them dissipating from the impacts, "This... is going to become annoying later isn't it?" the Nobody muttered, already sensing this little distraction to be the first of many times that Drake's... nature caused him to become a liability. He might moved to put Drake down, it wouldn't have been hard, all he had to do was portal behind him and deliver a knockout blow to the back of his head or something. End of problem. Seth stopped, though, when Tocsax decided to try a more... flashy solution.

Seth shrugged at the display, "Eh, too flashy for my taste." he said with a grin followed by his trademark chuckle. He'd put his black gloves back on by this point, and was now stuffing those hands into his pockets as per usual. Battle seemed over for now... Drake notwithstanding.

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

The surprise attack failed. Nora managed to predict it and get Philippa out of the way. That was legitimately surprising, since very few people are ever able see such an attack coming. This husband-and-wife team was becoming more of a nuisance than Seth first pegged them for. It wasn't hard to avoid the incoming counterattack. All the Nobody had to do was toss open a Corridor at the ground below him and let his own momentum do the rest of the work. He stayed briefly on the Other Side, using the moment of respite to consider his options.

"The Princess and her gun-toting hubby needs to be taken out of this fight. The Princess's pure heart makes her a difficult target, but the husband...?" an idea formed in his head, one much more sensible and less evil than his first plan was. He didn't think he'd have to bust that out this soon, but that seemed to be only surefire way he could disarm and disable Nate from fighting any further.

"Sorry about breaking your one rule, old man..." Seth muttered to himself, clasping his hands together and letting the knuckles crack, "...but these guys aren't giving me much choice in the matter." before he went on the move again, Seth briefly remembered a time he spent with a certain monk. Well, he was a fallen monk actually, having rebuked his previous faith in light of a betrayal the man once suffered. By the time Seth knew him, he'd already left his world behind, and became the leader of an infamous crew of Space Pirates. Ganma, the man's name was. The memory Seth recalled was one filled with brutal training. Ganma had agreed to share the secret of his martial art technique with the Nobody, but only on the stipulation that he would kill Seth himself if the Nobody proved unable to learn it. Well, needless to say, Seth passed, and learned the basics of the man's technique.

In the present, Seth opened up another Corridor that would take him back to the battle, specifically giving him a position to lunge at Nate from behind. Better leave the gloves on for this. Don't wanna kill the guy. Indeed, Seth normally removed his black gloves in order to give the technique he was about to employ full power, but left them on for this instance so that the brunt of the damage would be blunted in order to spare Nate's life. The Nobody lunged forward, fists raised and - unlike previous physical strikes - had gone into an actual formal martial arts stance. On the other side of the portal, Nate found himself under attack from behind. It didn't matter if he raised his rifle to block the blow, Seth's right fist would punch right through it, snapping it like a twig and reducing the central parts to little more than harmless scrap metal. Without stopping his charge, Seth launched his left fist at Nate in a powerful uppercut. Like the rifle, Nate's armor wouldn't be able to stop the attack, instead the Nobody's fist left a gaping hole in the armor where it impacted, and the rest of the armor became cracked or reduced to dust in other places. The impact of the uppercut was enough to launch Nate up for a few feet before he came crashing back to the ground in a heap.

"Fist of Destruction..." Seth said softly, deciding to clue the others in on what he just did, "...Double Impact." he then chuckled, regaining his usual playful composure, "Picked it up from a... friend, a long time ago." The name of the martial art would not likely be familiar to anyone, except perhaps for Mai. The "friend" Seth learned it from never talked much about his home world, but there possibly existed a similar version of this martial art on her Earth, perhaps where the fallen monk Ganma originally learned the technique from.

"Your husband will probably be catching Z's for a while." Seth said to Nora, almost reassuring her that Nate was indeed alive and suffered no permanent damage, "Good thing I left my gloves on... or he might not have been so fortunate." at this, he actually removed the gloves, so that any further attack made by the Fist of Destruction would come at full power and with nothing held back. This was a threat directed entirely at Philippa, to make sure she had a good grasp of who her Nobody opponent was.

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

The sand moved as if it had a mind of its own. Nate apparently had the mind to shoot Seth before he was fully trapped. Fortunate for the Nobody, then, that his sand jutted up from his feet and formed a giant hand of sorts to literally catch the man's shot. That was about the last bit of control Seth had over his sand, though. Philippa, the enemy Nobody, used some kind severing technique to cut Seth off from the sand, and so all of it that he conjured fell harmlessly to the ground also releasing Nate in the process.

"Welp, that can't be good..." Seth said, silently chuckling to himself. The other Nobody then proceeded to encase herself and her allies in protective circles of Light, "...also not good." he quipped, thankfully unaffected by the metallic air. Fortunately for him, much of Philippa's countermeasures seemed to focus on Cheese and Drake more than anyone else. That left the Nobody himself relatively free to continue the assault on his own terms. And thankfully, he may have had just the trick up his sleeve.

"Uncontrolled projectiles, eh?" Seth mused, remembering Toxsac's advice, "Okay then... is this uncontrolled enough for ya?" at those words he performed a short hop and literally drop-kicked the ground below him. This kicked up a surprisingly massive amount of sand that proceeded fly out in the general directions of Nate, Nora, and Philippa in the shape of spiky projectiles. Of course, the protective circles would likely blunt much of the potential damage, but it would probably make one hell of a distraction. A distraction the Nobody could make good use of.

"Here we go." he mused again, his playful grin returning to his face as opposed to the dead serious look he sported earlier. He seemed to hop into the ground and vanish, having in fact opened up a quick Corridor at his feet and used it as a means to temporarily disappear from enemy sight. Next thing everyone knew, a Corridor quickly opened right over Philippa's head, dropping a hooded Seth from the air above. He'd already used the time to enter a drop-kick position, not to mention used his brief time within the Corridor to fall enough distance that he generated a considerable amount of momentum.

Those circles of Philippa's could protect them from magic, but how well would it do against a literal boot to the head coming down at a high speed velocity?

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

Seth stared up as someone emerged from a Corridor. A Nobody, he was sure of it. Nobodies often had a certain... talent for identifying one of their own, and this was no exception. Of course, that also meant that Philippa - or so she called herself - likely already identified Seth as a Nobody as well. At the very least, this meant they could skip the boring formalities and go straight to the meat and potatoes.

And these meat and potatoes weren't pleasant to swallow, that was for sure. Philippa brought two others with her, a man and his wife and both looked like they came from a completely different world. Nate and Nora, their names were, and the woman was one of the supposed Princesses of Heart. That wasn't the worst of it, no that would be the news that their baby was being held hostage as a bargaining chip to get them to serve Leo, "Well if that don't beat all..." Seth muttered to himself with a quiet chuckle.

"So, here's the riddle," Philippa was gloating, "how can you succeed in a fight where you're not supposed to kill or overly harm two-thirds of the enemy?"

Seth opened his mouth as if to respond, but bit his tongue. There was a surprisingly easy answer to this riddle, but he knew the others wouldn't want to hear it. He even considered implementing the solution himself, which would require that he disobey orders and act on his own, exactly the kind of thing Hakim would want him to do to prove the old bastard right. Still, if preventing the Princess of Heart from falling into enemy hands meant keeping the Multiverse safe, then maybe Seth would just have to swallow his pride and do the logical thing.

It wouldn't be hard. He mused to himself mentally. If the Princess refused to act against them to protect her son, then she could easily be made to remain a neutral party, since the other most important person of her life is standing right there next to her. Sure, it was easy to do what you knew was wrong when you stood united with the person you love. But what if the safety of both people you care most about were hanging in the balance? Help Philippa, and the baby's life is forfeit, but what if continuing to serve her endangered the life of her husband? An impossible decision, but one that would at least guarantee Nora's neutrality if nothing else.

With one motion, Seth made his choice. He reached out a gloved hand, willing sand to scoop up the man named Nate, to entrap him in a tomb of ever-squeezing sand. They're going to hate me for this. That thought didn't leave the Nobody's mind, and as true as it was they needed a way out of this dilemma. If their resident Nobody had to briefly play the villain, then that's what he would do. Assuming Seth's trap was successful, he had only one response for Philippa.

"This is my answer!" he called up to her, eye flashing bright blue and his usual joking tone completely gone. This was the dead serious Seth that was previously confronting Hakim, even he couldn't crack a joke in a time like this, "Sorry Princess, but its either your son or your husband now... if you want my advice... just stay out of this and let my compatriots do their thing... you really don't want me to go any further with this!"

Kingdom Hearts: The Lights of the Multiverse Redux [No Longer Full]

I guess we can leave Seth's group trapped in glass, then. Someone was supposed to finish them off after he trapped them, right? Otherwise, why did I go to the trouble of having Seth not wipe them out himself?