by Marky » Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:18 pm
((Hope everyone doesn't mind that I go ahead and rush to the end of where this was going to. I've got something planned that will continue from how this ends.))
The barrier that Francesca had put up to block the orange beam of energy held as the four made their way down the long corridor. They were able to make it to the very end of the corridor and turn the corner, right by the source of the orange energy, which, oddly enough, began to dissipate right as they had turned the corner. Moving on slowly and carefully down the next corridor, the group found an eerie silence. Surely Mary and the clones had been alerted to their presence already, right?
Perhaps, perhaps not. If they were alerted, there was no sign of movement or anything. Those with their senses, namely Mike and Konoko, could find that something was blocking, or at the very least hindering their ability to sense others moving about. After wandering down a few corridors with no doorways leading to anywhere else, the group suddenly spotted an unmarked door.
Deciding it would be best to not try and open it with conventional means, possibly being a trap, both Mike and Konoko blast open the door and send what's left of it into a dark room. Cautiously looking inside, the group suddenly spots something glowing from the other side of the large room...the bottom of it being a large circular computer console, and above it, there was a person floating in a liquid, contained by glass.
The clone of Mark that was with the group stared at the person, eyes wide with excitement. "Yes! We found him!" Suddenly, he rushes in, despite Konoko, Mike, and Francesca all trying to stop him, rushing in after him. As the clone of Mark comes within a few feet of the console, the lights suddenly flash on in the room, momentarily blinding the clone, as well as possibly the rest of the group, a laughter suddenly fills the room as a forcefield suddenly erupts around Konoko, Mike, and Francesca, trapping them!
"My-my. What do we have here, hm? Three intruders and the one person I've been looking for for quite some time." Mary says as she wanders up to the edge of a platform, on the second floor of the fairly large room, where roughly 50 clones have lined up along the edge as well, ready to strike at a moment's notice, if needed. Gritting his teeth, the clone of Mark grumbles to himself. "Damnit...trapped." Looking over at the trio in the forcefield, the clone watches as Mike, Konoko, and Francesca all try their own little ways of testing the forcefield, which would give quite a jolt to anyone touching it.
"I wouldn't waste my time if I were you three." Mary says to Konoko, Mike, and Francesca. "I designed that to where it would be QUITE difficult to break out of that. However, you wouldn't want me to go ahead and blow what's left of the original Mark to little pieces, now would you?" A sinister grin forms on Mary's face as the trio trapped by the forcefield suddenly stop in their attempts, glaring over at Mary. Meanwhile, the clone of Mark starts to slowly make his way over to the console, and all of the clones raise their hands as energy starts to form between them, each getting ready to strike.
"Now-now, let's let him be. We're wanting him to be released, remember? The clones all stop at Mary's words as the clone of Mark looks on, frowning, knowing that he pretty much played right into Mary's hands. "And what are you waiting for? Permission, hm?" Mary says to Mark's clone, who raises an eyebrow, before glancing over to Mark, still stuck inside the tube, before looking back to Mary. "And what if I refuse?" Sighing a little and shaking her head, orange energy glowing in her left hand, she says "One way or another I will get you to free him. I just figured you wanted to be perfectly normal while you did it. Cause I highly doubt you'll forget the password to open that blasted thing up once I transform you and make you join us."
A grimace forms on the face of Mark's clone, realizing that Mary is pretty much right. "You're not going to get away with this..." He says, slowly going over toward the console. Mary grins as she watches. "Oh, but I already have. You two were just the last pieces to the puzzle." The trio of Francesca, Mike, and Konoko can only watch as the clone of Mark slowly types in the passcode to free Mark, and upon hitting enter, a ding sound signals that the clone had typed it in correctly.
Suddenly, the fluid in the tube quickly begins to drain out, wires and breathing tubes suddenly retract as the fluid as the tube suddenly splits open, and then retracts and lowers down slightly in-between the console and thin crease the two halves where set upon. The clone quickly catches Mark, clad only in underwear, as he falls down, slowly starting to regain consciousness. "Unh..." Mark lets out as a groan, barely able to open his eyes due to the bright lights as the clone carefully drags him out of the backside, where a few steps are built-in to the console.
As soon as the clone drags Mark away from the console, Mary suddenly charges up a beam of energy in her hand. "And now to destroy this infernal machine!" She yells, before suddenly sending a beam of energy right at the center of the console. Hearing this, the clone's eyes light up. "NO! DON'T!" He yells out, but it is far too late as the energy suddenly hits the console! However, it almost seems to absorb the energy instead of being destroyed! "What the-?!" is all Mary can let out before suddenly the console begins sparking like mad. After a few seconds of sparking, there was suddenly a low, guttural-sounding boom that seemed to almost shake the very fabric of space and time.
The reason? Well, the console and tubing were instilled with an advanced combination of magic and technology that was built to prevent universal changes that affected the rest of the clones from affecting Mark. And, with this, a hole was suddenly torn in the dimension, just as the machine blew, the blast taking everyone with it. However, after whiting out from the blast and recovering, Konoko, Francesca, and Mike all find themselves safe and sound outside of where the underground complex was...was because the ground had pretty much exploded out and then caved back in from the explosion. A sudden clap of thunder is heard by the group from above, where there appears to be a white storm cloud, and if Mike and Konoko could sense it, it would be exactly related to the explosion that just happened. Reality was trying to prepare itself, and little did the trio know that Sam and the final clone of Mark had stepped outside of the Hasano manor to see what was going on. All of a sudden, a white streak of lightning struck out from the cloud, heading right toward the two in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, neither were able to move in time, blinded by the bright flash which was seen all across Muffinville. As the bright flash dissipated, the two were gone...no traces left of them. The cloud, meanwhile, began to collapse in upon itself, before eventually disappearing into nothing, blue sky replacing it.
If Konoko, Mike, and anyone else that could sense the presence of beings would find that Sam, any of the three Marks, as well as Mary and all of the clones were unable to be sensed, at all. However, those that could travel between dimensions would find the disturbance still existed, traveling through time, space, and the space between spaces, without any recourse. But the main question many are probably wondering...is this the end of Sam, Mark, and Mary?
Not by a long shot.
- To be continued.
)))