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ArcRift

Joel nodded slowly in response, "Grey... got it..." he shook his head, "Nope. There's this thing I do, where if I focus hard enough, I can hear people in other rooms... but that's only when it's quiet..." What followed was a groan from Joel as the mysterious voice let out another giddy giggle.

"Oh no no no no noooo!" the voice insisted in response to Ben. "The Joker is someone else! And don't compare us again - the disgust may cover me in welts!" The voice had lowered into a low hiss at that, almost like he was snapping at Ben for making such a comment.

The group pushed forward, with Joel having taken point. After what seemed like hours, you all finally reached a door at the other end of the hallway. Joel stopped in front of it and looked back to all of you. The look he gave was one of slight concern, but ultimately, his hand did grasp the knob and push it open. Slowly but surely, into the darkness...



As soon as the last of the group entered the room, the door slammed shut behind them - trapping you all in the seemingly infinite abyss of the surrounding darkness. Joel turned and drew his gun, before fumbling for his flashlight with his other hand. He grunted and clicked it on, revealing... the white ends of a tablecloth?

"What the hell...?" Joel asked as he stepped forward... only for light to finally shine in the room itself. The sudden shine made Joel stagger back - and probably some of you as well, but once your vision adjusted, the sight before you all was clear...



Before you was a long, outstretched table. Two rows of men wearing odd bunny masks lined the table's sides. Their posture was almost eerily perfect - especially given the fact that not a single one of them moved an inch. But at the other end, staring at all of you, sat a shadowy figure. It was one who seemed to have an almost comedically oversized hat adorning the top of his head.

"Oh, frabjous day, callooh callay!" The figure exclaimed. It was very clearly the same voice that had been taunting you all earlier. "You're all here!" he laughed and clapped his hands together like an excited child on Christmas Morning. "It's time to play!"

Joel stepped forward and grit his teeth, grip tightening around his gun as he did so. "You mind tellin' us where the hell we are!?"

The figure only giggled yet again in response.

"In due time, my friend, in due time..." The figure held out both his arms. "For now... why don't you all have a seat and hear my rhymes?"

@Attesa @davefromdiscord @KageBaka @Second2Last @TheElenaFisher @Crow

ArcRift

"Oh, it's quite fun, I assure you! Soon, you'll know it to be true..." the voice let out a giggle.

"Joel," the man said in response to Grey as he made his way down the long hallway alongside the others. He was doing his best to ignore the voice... even if it was starting to piss him off. "And yours?"

@Attesa @KageBaka @Second2Last

ArcRift

For those who had flown and/or crawled up to look in the top floors, they would find that the civilians weren't actually trapped under everything.

Behind the initial patch of rubble that blocked the window's view, Penny would find with her advanced vision that several people were crouched along the room. The reason that they were crouched were that several thugs in gas masks were standing above them, assault rifles in their hands. They paced back and forth, while the civilians sobbed and coughed from the room slowly but surely filling with smoke.

@KageBaka @SomeMekBoy @ratking @Crow

ArcRift

Kira would find that a blonde woman was in the fire escape, rushing out with what seemed to have been a purse strapped to her shoulder. Had Joel, Grey, or Sougo been here, they'd have recognized her as the woman they'd saved from the rubble earlier. She stopped in her tracks when facing Kira, appearing nervous, though also confused.

"Umm... sir? Can you please move?" She asked, before hurriedly trying to shove past him. This area remained largely untouched by the fire, but that could easily change at any moment.

@davefromdiscord

---

As those who rushed into the building itself began to clear the various rooms out, they would find that progressively, things began to clear up more and more. The building was a lot longer than it looked, with a multitude of doors that Joel and the others were pushing through. With each passing room, the rubble seemed to begin clearing itself up more and more. The rooms progressively became nicer to look at as well. The fires were all gone, and the panicked civilians weren't anywhere in sight.



Eventually, the group reached one long, seemingly endless hallway. Joel stopped in place and began to look around, clearly confused by... whatever was going on.

"H'oookay..." Joel muttered to himself, before glancing back to the others. "Dunno about you guys, but this does not seem like a destroyed buildin' to me."

And then, before anyone could get a response in, manic laughter could be heard.

"Ohohohoho!!!"

"You're not in THAT place anymore! No no, it was such a bore, such a bore!"

Joel's grip on his gun tightened as he turned around, holding it out and aiming for wherever the voice came from. "Yeah? Well why don't ya tell us where the fuck we are, then!?" he shouted angrily. The voice only laughed again.

"Oh, why don't you come forth and see? I'm sure it'll fill you all with such glee..."

Grunting, Joel looked back to the others, before hesitantly beginning to make his way down the hall.

@Second2Last @Attesa @KageBaka

ArcRift

Thanks to the combined efforts of Grey, Joel, and especially Sougo, the giant slab of rubble was successfully lifted from the woman's leg.

"Th-thank you!" she thanked tearfully, before running out of the building.

"Thanks," Joel said to both Grey and Sougo with a nod and a few heavy breaths. With nothing more to say, the man turned and headed deeper into the building, clearly expecting the other two (and anyone else who was there) to follow.

@Attesa @KageBaka

ArcRift

Cloud would find that, luckily, there were plenty of nearby, non-burning buildings that he could indeed scale if he so wished.

Otto's makeshift safety net was enough to encourage the civilians to go ahead and jump from the building. One by one (some in groups), they all jumped out of one of the many shattered holes that used to be windows, only to safely land on the net and run off. But from both Otto, Penny's, and Lucifer's respective vantage point, they could still hear muffled screams and coughs from within. There were still very clearly people trapped inside.

@ratking @SomeMekBoy @KageBaka

---

On Grey's and Sougo's side of things, they would find a woman with one of her legs trapped under a pretty heavy piece of rubble. She was crying and screaming and writhing underneath the mass, while Joel was there trying to lift it off of her.

"Nnngh..." Joel grunted, before looking over to the pair. "G-gimme a hand with this thing, will ya!?"

@Attesa @KageBaka

ArcRift

Chapter One

"Down and Dirty"

Continued from here.

The Story So Far

After the group was finally let out of their cage, they met the boss of Lexcorp himself - Lex Luthor. After some interrogation, it was revealed that the purpose of being here is to defeat the hero known as Superman, who has allegedly gone rogue and randomly begun to attack civilians. If they refuse? Then they won't be getting home any time soon.

---

Lex merely sat back and watched as the group divided up into teams. He didn't care about the methods they used to take out Superman. It was clear that he just wanted him gone. There were some brief arguments, sure, but those seemed to be dispelled just as soon as they arose. For the most part, the group seemed more than willing to cooperate. He did, however, give a nod in response to Voss' words.

"Theoretically, yes."

And then, he shifted his gaze to Schezo, and once again his annoyed slight-scowl returned. His brow furrowed as the boy spoke, before he gave his own response, "Superman isn't exactly found easily. He flies at speeds faster than a speeding bullet, and has been all over the place lately with his chaos. From the East Coast to Japan..." Lex shrugged, "But ultimately, finding him won't be any issue..." Lex paused, then, and proceeded to lean forward, both arms resting on his desk as he did so.

"He'll make sure to find you first."

And then Lilith approached him, and he shot her a look. "Yes, because she really looks like she's being held against her will in front of that TV." He rolled his eyes. Moments later, A.M.A.Z.O. entered the room, and Lex smiled. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd get here," Lex proceeded to gesture toward the tall figure. "Everyone, this is A.M.A.Z.O. He'll be accompanying you on your expedition." His smile disappeared into his more neutral expression as Ciri and Tess both asked about Superman's powers and weaknesses. "I have already been over all of his powers. The only notable weakness Superman possesses is Kryptonite. It's an extremely rare artifact that weakens him and his powers when he's near it..." Lex sighed. "Unfortunately, we used the last of it a while ago in our fight against him... which is why we resulted to bringing you all here."

"As I said before, you all have a reason for being here. The abilities each of you possess are extraordinary in their own right." Lex gave a single, firm nod. "When used in tandem with each other, Superman won't even be-"

BOOOOM!!!



A sudden explosion rang out from one of the nearby buildings. Although it wasn't inside of LexCorp itself, it was more than enough to shake it at its foundation - and maybe even knock some of you off your feet. It didn't take very long for some of you to realize just what had happened. Not very far from LexCorp at all, the explosion could very clearly be seen. A few buildings were obscuring the view, but the picture was as clear as day: the entire top half of a building had outright exploded!

And in front of it, the very faint sight of a floating figure could be seen. And attached to that figure was a very familiar looking red cape. The figure remained in place for a moment, seeming to look down on the building itself, before flying off to the other side of the building.



"That's him!" Lex shouted as he suddenly stood up out of his chair and witnessing the sight with a look of horror mixed with anger on his face. "That's Superman!" Lex turned to all of you, then, and began to motion toward the door. "Go and take care of him, now! Before more people are hurt!"

Whether you liked it or not, soon enough you'd left the building. If not willingly, you were simply escorted by LexCorp's surprisingly beefy security. Plenty of people were running out on the street, entirely away from the destroyed building. At least made things easy to track.

---

After following the sounds and sights of fleeing civilians, and the distinct smell of smoke, it was made pretty obvious where the sight of the building was. The tall burning building stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of the street. Plenty of civilians had managed to escape and were currently running for their lives - past all of you, of course. But there were plenty of sounds coming from the rapidly collapsing building itself. Anguished screams and cries, as well as violently loud bursts of coughing from what seemed to be the upper floors. Sounds of furniture toppling and floors collapsing from within could be heard as well.

But worst of all? Superman was nowhere to be found.

"He's gotta be near the top," Joel said through squinted eyes as he looked up, trying to get a good read on the situation. "We ain't got long before the whole damn place collapses. C'mon!"

Without another word, Joel rushed in through the open door with his gun in hand. Right into what seemed to be hell itself.



Negan, meanwhile, pursed his lips together as he stood in the back. "Well shit," Negan bounced on his knees a bit while gripping Lucille. He didn't seem to be anywhere near as battle ready as Joel was. Eventually, he turned to Otto, "Well, leader man," Negan said, his tone dripping with fatigued, condensed sarcasm. "Ya got any more 'brilliant plans' to pull outta y'er ass?"

Main Thread Cast List
@midle1998 as Captain Falcon (F-Zero)
@cadesmith as Tosai Furesawa (NEO: The World Ends With You) and Sarah Miller (The Last of Us)
@Lazaro1505 as Dismas the Highwayman (Darkest Dungeon) and Natal (DnD OC)
@Thatguyinastore as Negan Smith (The Walking Dead) and Joel Miller (The Last of Us)
@StaidFoal as Corvo Attano (Dishonored)
@Jeff Jones as Kaname Date (AI: The Somnium Files) and Trevor Belmont (Castlevania)
@Critic Ham as Doomguy (DOOM)
@Kagebaka as Sougo Tokiwa (Kamen Rider Zi-O) and Penny Polendina (RWBY)
@Chung as Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem) and Jeff the Killer (Jeff the Killer)
@TheElenaFisher as Ciri (The Witcher 3) and Tess (The Last of Us)
@ratKing as Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer) and Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)
@BoltBeam as Red Riding Hood (Mary Skelter Nightmares)
@TheRealMonaMona as Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII) and Rindo Kanade (NEO: The World Ends With You)
@darkred as Thomas Sinclair (Killzone: Shadowfall) and Jak and Daxter (Jak and Daxter)
@Spooky Birb as Dris Mocitch (DND OC)
@Yamperzzz as Voss Boris Eierkuchen (Tembo OC) and Sanford (Madness Combat)
@duskkyy as Pit (Kid Icarus: Uprising) and Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)
@QizPizza as Maisha Arbintz (Star Wars OC)
@Smoking Peanut as Baldwin, the Leper (Darkest Dungeon) and Poppy (League of Legends)
@Edyfum0 as Ben Birdland/Bigband (Skullgirls)
@ProfSpacecakes as Toshinori "All Might" Yagi (My Hero Academia)
@GaaraoftheSand as Gaara (Naruto Shippuden)
@SomeMekBoy as Superior Spider-Man (Marvel Comics)
@Attesa as Eric (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon OC) and Grey (Havoc Fox)
@RirisStride1 as Hershel Avad (OC)
@Starmaker as Rena Berit (OC)
@ClownTown as Spamton G. Spamton (Deltarune) and Ultron (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
@Mav as Schezo Wegey (Puyo Puyo)
@FactionGuerilla as Cole Macgrath (inFAMOUS)
@Second2Last as Lilith Audrey (OC) and Shantae (Shantae)
@davefromdiscord as Yoshikage Kira (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)
@Paper94 as Spike Spiegal (Cowboy Bebop)
@Pixxieblush as Bayonetta (Bayonetta)
@XeroUltra as Bardock (Dragon Ball)
@Crow as Ben Tennyson (Ben 10) and A.M.A.Z.O. (DC Comics)

ArcRift

With Joel finally freed, the man slowly climbed to his feet, while rubbing his strained wrists. The man was a lot calmer now that he knew where Sarah was. She was safe, and that was all that mattered. But from what he'd seen so far? Well, Joel didn't fully trust that she wouldn't be used as a bargaining chip against him at some point in the future. But he knew better than to start that fight right now. He was outnumbered and outgunned. He'd have to take the bald man's word on this until he was given a damn good reason not to.

The first thing he did was give a nod toward Tess, while checking the holster of his handgun for the amount of bullets he had left. A full clip. That was good. He'd be needing it. "Hope you're prepared for the shitstorm, Tess," Joel grunted to his partner, before turning and facing All Might. He'd seen how the man had reacted when his daughter had disappeared. The intensity - the rage. He'd been kind to them since they arrived, and since they very well might die here shortly, Joel decided that now was as good a time as any to thank him. Call it southern hospitality, if you wish.

"Hey uh," Joel spoke to the skinny-turned-buff-turned-skinny again man quieter than before, now that he'd of course calmed down. "Thank you for that back there. Where I'm from, not too many people give a shit about a man or his daughter." And it was true. And- quite frankly, Joel couldn't say he gave a shit about families he didn't know, either. At least, not enough to go out of his way to help them like he would his own. 'Specially not after everything he'd seen.

He gave a nod to Maisha as well, "And thanks. To you too."

With that, the man resumed his place by the only woman he knew. He stayed silent, but his position was clear: he'd be going on whatever team she decided on.

@ProfSpacecakes @TheElenaFisher @QizPizza

ArcRift

Negan had been watching everything unfold thus far from the back. Unlike the glass cage - Negan really just... didn't have much to say here, really. The man was sort of out of his league here, which was something he'd soon realized. I mean- taking down some super powered, homicidal alien man? Negan was just a dude with a bat (and some hefty nuts).

But Negan also knew what these people were capable of. He'd seen it all in the cage. Giant robots, lethal stop sign guns... yeah. There was a lot of leg room here. And besides - he was sure that there would be more skulls to crack than that giant aliens. After all, he's gotta have some kinda minions, right?

"Well, you can count my happy little ass in with the Strike Team."

Negan said, before making his way over to whichever group that was, Lucille in hand all the while.

@KageBaka @ProfSpacecakes @SomeMekBoy @RirisStride1

ArcRift

Joel hadn't said anything for a while now. The man had just seen his daughter disappear in front of him, after finding out that she'd been unwillingly taken into some conflict against a super powerful alien beast. His daughter, who he hadn't seen for twenty fucking years... she was gone again, just like that. The display of her safely in a room watching a movie seemed to ease his concerns a little bit - as did the words of those around him.

He didn't say anything for a while. But eventually, what he did do was glance up toward Maisha... and give a single nod.

@QizPizza