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[What Price One Soul] Hellboy Fanfic - Jailbreak at the Chainer of Souls
5816/Jailbreak at the Chainer of Souls
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- Hellboy has posed:
Morrigan and Hellboy had spent the past several days investigating the network of the chamber of souls and the network of the Chainer of Souls to try and figure out how to free the thousand and thousands of souls he had captive. Subjectively, from their point of view the entire time took over three weeks despite only being gone a single week. But eventually, they were able to locate a way to bring in a portal and call in reinforcements for a brief window of time. That was the good news.
The bad news was that the effort took the entirity of Morrigan's magical reserves, knocking her unconcious as a result. That, and, the duplicate hellboy's magical tweet and darknet post had hopefully gotten a response from the hero community. Hellboy had the know how but not the muscle by himself to do this alone and there would only be one chance.
As it was, the portal opened rippling at precisely the time and date posted by Hellboy (the singing one) to the shock and astonishment of the eaters at the tavern, a wide golden rimmed thing with sparkles leading in to the dark and curved realm. Through the portal it was easy to see Hellboy, shooting the Good Samaritan again and again at a seemingly endless hoard of little purple imps long enough to hold the portal open.
- Michael Hannigan has posed:
Well. Time for a bit more bad news. Mike's not really monitoring social media 24-7 and save for work related posts he's pretty quiet on there. He has no clue what darknet is. And well- yeah.
So. HOW did he manage to show up to the park in time for the portal to open? Well the same way he met all the other magic people. He zoned out.
Honestly someone should talk to the musician about walking when mentally checked out. It's a miracle he hasn't been hit by a car yet. But. He gets distracted. He's still walking, his thoughts just happened to drift over to Mo's situation and well- Here he is at the the park.
The visual of the portal in the distance does get his attention though. It's kind of hard to miss. And being that's the guy who took Morrigan well-
A hand reaches up, twisting and tugging the gater cap down, flipping it to cover the nose on down. He starts running towards the portal, steps becoming a bit quicker as the scar on his right forearm fades over to the left.
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Who should step through the open portal but a face not seen since a certain faerie apocalypse in '79. The heist of a potent magical artifact got someone's attention and the leather clad blonde sorceress has actually been on Hellboy's trail since.
"Oh now I see the source of all of this commotion. It's been a long time Red." Rien says eyeing Hellboy for a moment though her lips quirk into a faint smile. "You never were one for subtlety."
- Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy spots the two of them enter and smiles, glad for the back up. He nods and takes out an improvised flamethrower and shoots it at a bunch of the hoarde. "Well, I CAN be subtle, I just almost never am."
The world beyond the portal is...ugly and grim. There is a single orange sun in the sky and the entire world carves in on itself on the inside of a sphere only twently miles in diameter with many many caves along the way and a series of brass tubes that go from the parched barren earth all the way to a sphere in the center with the occasional glittering golden cylinder that sometimes flecks green a little. The heroes are in the center of this on ANOTHER sphere just beneath the orange light that makes up the sun that lights the world. There is an army that seems to go on forever of the ugly little foot high purple imps with several large mechanical spider things in the background and SOMETHING shaking the earth but unseen coming closer and closer.
Hellboy shouts, "We need to go through that door" he motions behind him, "and destroy as many of the anchors to this network as we can while holding off the Chainer....the more time passes, the more power he can drain from the souls. And yes, those lights out there," he nods to one of the small glowing cylinder, "are sapeint souls, human or otherwise pulled from a dozen realms.
- Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike archs a brow as he looks around to the scenery. Imps. Giant mechanical spiders... He can't feel the movement underground but he can see the effects the shaking has on the environment. His head turns, glancing around for the school principal. Not seeing her he frowns.
He looks back to Hellboy, eyes narrowed as he listens to a brief explanation of what is needed. "First off, Where's Morrigan? And second, you going to point out the anchors?"
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien arches a blonde eyebrow, "We both know that you can not. Even five decades later, some things never change."
But the humor soon fades as she regards the hellscape that she has stepped into. "It has been a few years since the last time I was in a hell dimension, I did not miss it. Chainer of Souls? Sounds wonderful. Well let's get this over with."
- Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy says, "The portal sent her back once she activated it, so far as I know," he says as he fires the Good Shepard right into the one of the on coming spiders piloted by the imps smashing it, "she is back home. I didnt exactly get a chance to confirm that since she vanished. That was the plan though. The anchors are big giant red vats of liquid on the other side of the door can't miss it." He punches three imps in the face and looks at Rien. "Well...I mean they change like....slowly" he smiles at Rien,"Very slowly. I'm sure I will be very subtle eventually." He nods to Rien, "Backup very much appreciated." He nods to Mike, "Both of you."
- Michael Hannigan has posed:
There's a slight shift in posture at the mention of her being sent back. Mike gives a slight nod. "Right. Can check later. So long as she's not here."
Perhaps it's the visit to Limbo, or perhaps it's because people dream a lot of WEIRD stuff. But there's not much questioning the current situation. Nor does he seem to blink as an imp finds out the hard way that a tackle from behind is not that effective a means to attack him.
"Right." the musician says as he moves forward, focusing his strength to the tip of his foot as he punts the surprised imp across the scenery. "I'm game. Let's go."
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
And out come the claws, both metaphorically and literally, as three nearly foot long bone claws extend from the back of each of Rien's hands. The wicked looking protrusions glow faintly with a mystical bluish white light. She then leaps into the air and proceeds to positively thrash one of the giant mechanical spiders, slicing through its legs with relative ease and rising up to punch straight through its core before landing again as it explodes behind her.
"Let's get through that door." She says offhandedly tossing a mystic energy blast at one of the imps that gets too close.
- Hellboy has posed:
The imp is punted with great impunity and shrieks its tiny helium filled voice with rightous indignation and swearing in a language you do not understand as it sails off into low sphere orbit. One down, a bamillion to go.
Hellboy shoots more and nods as he starts to wrestle with a spider leg, then another spider leg, "Yeah...I...Got. This." He gives a thumbs up and punches a large spider.
Three more imps are smashed and also righteously indignant. The spider Rien slices crashes with a thud and the imp comes out leaping for her but being singed in the face with raw magical fury.
Upon entering the door the room inside seems larger inside than the sphere itself. There is row after row of large glass red spheres with what looks like....blood? Kool aid? Its bubbling and frothing and hard to tell. There is no discernable source of light yet the room is lit. It smells but the smell is utterly alien and unique to this world and this room and the only thing you could call it would be 'bad' but not in a rotten or fumish way more like 'wrong' and not natural. Careful observation will note that the spheres almost seem to loop on each other so that the room is deceptively large but it isnt a mirror more like a gate, and its hard to tell where the gate begins and the anchors end.
- Michael Hannigan has posed:
With the fate of Morrigan somewhat settled. The discretely phantasmed Mike has a moment to take in the third person on the last second mission. Claws noted, there is a momentary temptation t-
No. Don't. Not yet. Fists clench. Ok. Let them do the big stuff. Focus on the anchors. Annnnd maybe punt a few more of those imps along the way.
Whatever smell there is in the room, that's lost on him as Mike enters. One thing he gives up when tapping into this. He glances around the room, fixating upon the glass spheres. Fortunately the ability to discern color is NOT. And big giant red vats. Glass? Well then. Hello Anchors. Let's get busy.
Giving a running start, Mike's form shifts, growing larger in length as the masked human becomes more of a full grown grey wolf, speed to match he runs at full tilt before spinning his body, slamming into the glass.
Graceful? Probably not. Effective? Well. It's not quite a Bull in a china shop but-
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Stepping through the door, Rien lets out a sigh. "That is a lot of vats." She glances around, "And where is this Chainer then?" Yes, she asked the question you're never supposed to ask when the boss is not immediately apparent.
"Well, we might as well get started, I'm sure he will show up soon enough." The glow around her claws intensifies as she takes to the air flying low, claws outstretched to try and slice through as many vats as she can as she flies past.
- Hellboy has posed:
The answer to her question (that probably indeed shouldnt be asked) is a very loud ROAR that sounded like someone gargling chainsaws while the ground shook a LOT followed by swearing in Hellboy. Small chunks of stone dropped down from the 'ceiling' into the vats making eiry little plook plook ploots in the mysterious red liquid that was shattered into a gabillion pieces as Mike rushed into one sending shards of....glass?...up into the air as the liquid splattered all over him, the room and everything.
Time got weird.
The liquid reversed and then flowed up as if it were down to the stone 'ceiling' and then sideways. As Rien the Killing Machine got into the action the time dialation got even more obscene. Sometimes it sped up so that it seemed subjectively like they were going at fast forward and sometimes it slowed down. Causality itself seemed to unglue a bit and while none of the destruction was undone, at one point they could literally see themselves smashing the other jars.
They are making progress, but it is difficult to judge.
- Michael Hannigan has posed:
Trusting the other two to deal with whatever the hell this chainer is, the wolf continues to try smashing. But being this is not a typical environment for him to go all dream wolf on, there are some additional issues to deal with. It's like time took notes from the bastard child of Chariots of Fire and the Benny Hill theme. Utter chaos.
Almost dreamlike.
The furnado continues, spinning around striking as much glass as possible. The spin looking more and more like Mike's chasing his own tail. And at one point he does catch it.
Because it was right there. He holds it for a second before letting go and continuing with his spin.
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
When you make a career of hunting monsters and demons, weird comes with the territory. When you hang around Hellboy, really it is to be expected.
Time doesn't have the same meaning to Rien as most people though, when you have lived for over a century things begin to blur together, even still the constant flux within this place can be a bit jarring. Still, there is a task before them and she aims to complete it with brutal efficiency as she flies about smashing as many vats as possible.
"Oh it looks like Prince Charming has arrived." She quips when the roar and shaking announce the arrival of the Chainer of Souls.
- Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy there is more crashing, more roaring, the sounds of a thousand imps crying in pain as their indifferent master slices them all to cut down the accursed one and there is then a counter roar that shakes the room, and the sound of fire, lighting and blows. That roar is the kind that Rien has only heard once before, when Hellboy entered his full demon form.
The work of destroying the anchors is tedious, meticulous and only someone of strong will can keep it up. There are problems though. For Rien, the liquid 'smells' to high heven. This time though it isnt her physical sense of smell but mystical one and her vulnerability to sensory overload is slowly starting to trip her up. Its just...too much. Its taken some 'time' but she finally realizes that this is remnants of souls used up by the Chainer and its just...YUK. Not dead bodies but icky to be sure.
Mike has the opposite problem. His vulnerability to magic is working here and the time dialations are slowly leaking through to his body. It shouldnt work like that, but it is. Its not a direct PHYSICAL pain but the magic and the souls therein are not meant for 'mortal' beings to handle and the dream stuff gives him a certain level of immunity but its simply too much dark magic not to have an effect. It won't 'wake' or disconnect him but its hardly a pleasant experience.
- Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
One moment there's a Morrigan gathering herself up from where she'd been channeling her energies, then she's gone. She was going to help the big dude. "Does he have any weak spots?!" Morrigan calls out to Hellboy. This might not be the best idea, but, she's been known to do something. If he doesn't hear her, she's just going to start hitting where she can see some chains breaking.
- Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the wolf progresses through the task fo smashing and spinning. The gray, brown, and white of the fur starts to shift red. As the movements progress, he seems less Balto and more Cujo-esque in appearance.
The wolf stops, staggering for a moment as it looks around, looking for more to smash. They're almost done, right? He can hang in. Mike's head looks up to the sound. A flicker of shadow crossing along the fur to obscure some of the red. He's starting to get tired. And with the percieved time flux of before, there's a general sense of impatience. With the familiar voice speaking up, a building sense of anger as well. She was supposed to be SAFE...
A low growl emits from his throat as he regroups himself. Charging at the remaining anchors, fur getting darker and darker as he goes. Got to hold on. Just a bit longer...
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rather than clawing through a tank Rien flys straight into one, crashing through it and into the ground in an impact that looks like it hurt.
She isn't down for long though as she pushes herself to her hands and knees and shakes her head trying to clear it. "This place smells worse than the Seine."
She grunts as she pushes herself back to her feet and from some unseen pocket produces a handrolled cigarette, lighting it with a snap of her fingers. The unique blend of herbs within, both mystic and mundane, when burned seems to at least somewhat alleviate the overwhelming stench around her. "Why do demons always smell like a sewage disaster?" She asks blowing out a long trail of smoke and then launching forward to resume her rampage again.
- Hellboy has posed:
The Horror.
Where to start? The chainer of souls is...well...chains and souls. The chains themselves are from a distance made of rusted steel but the longer you look at them or the closer you stare at them you realize that what seems like rust is infact horrified nightmare faces trapped in bubbled and bent space time like amber and a mosquito, but each link in the chain is as long as a human arm, and as thick as two handwidth and there are hundreds upon hundreds. There is no 'body' for the thing though there are five or six 'arms' and twelve 'legs' in a Spagetti of chains without all the adorable pasta calories or spagetti strainer pirates. It lashes out again and again with fury and torrent at its opponent...
Gone is the friendly neighboorhood cereal munching adorkable Hellboy and replaced with it is a ...thing. A Kaiju of monstrous proportions blood red with dark bat wings and glowing green crimson eyes flickering like a nightmare breathing brimstone and frost and fire and hell itself as he lifts his arms to the 'sky' and pulls forth lighting bolt after lighting bolt which destroys thousands of imps with a hit though the numberless little buggers act as a plague of locusts slowly swarming up his forearms and legs slowly miring him and the chainer seems to be winning...until the Red Right Hand pounds the Chainer again and again. Instoppable force meets immovable object and the only thing keeping Hellboy from losing is that Hand which was forged before time itself and unbreakable and involate, thousands of souls all conjoining.
It is an impasse....until Morrigan unleashes her elemental fire. It seems tiny in size to the sheer scope of the combatants, but it tips the balance, freeing enough of his leg that he can move forward and REALLY punch the thing breaking many many many locks.
Meanwhile inside, time breaks down further as the chainer draws more and more of the power of his captured souls, straining the anchors. The battle is clearly one of will and Mike and Rein work and work and work until their psyches are straining, but finally FINALLY time begins to flow to normal as the battle outside tips the balance and is only possible at all with their own continued efforts until they finally seem to almost done.....
The chainer is not so easily denied however, and when it realizes it is losing in spite and fury begins to slowly BURN the souls it has collected rather than use them. None are yet destroyed but a few are fading and the extra energy it gains causes more vermillion saint elmost fire to slap into Hellboy's face sending him reeling.
- Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's trying very hard to make heads or tails of things. She just doesn't want to end up hurting one of the souls. "I'm going to figure out how to release them...I'm going to get smacked over it. But...that's OKAY!" she shouts. She's talking mainly to herself, but, just so everyone knows what she's thinking. She floats up towards the Chainer and proceeds to work her magic, literally. Sorcerors gonna Sorc!
- Michael Hannigan has posed:
"Take your word for it." The wolf snarls, pausing to close his mouth as he slams into another container. As he skids to a stop on the other side, he gets back up and starts to charge at another one. "Can't smell a thing."
SKID.
CRASH!
SKID.
CRASH!
You get the picture. He's going to do this til there's nothing left to smash.
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien's eyes narrow at the burning of souls, another long trail of mystic herbal smoke is exhaled as she stops and begins to gather her magic, waving her hands as she chants an ancient runic incantation of binding twisted with raw natural fury. "You're the Chainer of Souls, leave burning to the firebugs." She calls out even as with a gesture she calls forth chains of molten fire that lash out piercing through glass vat after glass vat as they arc towards the chainer, "Since you love chains so much, let's see how you like being bound."
- Hellboy has posed:
Between Mike and Rien they are able to finish smashing the anchors. Well....the temporal echoes of them serve as the basis for the fury and fire of what Rien is summoning and as she dabs into it the echoes and mingles of pure soul stuff, not souls but the basic magical components of one forge the chains that work on the chains that make him up. She is insideously powerful and when combined with Morrigan's assults it helps turn the balance, but the sheer SCOPE of the thing would make the task impossible....except the Red Right hand punches the thing in the face. Yes, it has a face finally exposed as it looks in horror, eyes and a mouth open in shock as it realizes the anchors are done.
It is done.
And the souls are free.
The Demense of the Chainer rocks and begins to crumble.
Hellboy, instinctively understanding on a divine level ...well....infernal level what is happening as he only can in his current form roars like the bastion, a clarion dinosaur call, "RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"
And one by one the soul batteries break and burst the angry shrieking souls turning on the chainer battering it one after the other until it bursts, the world falling apart at the seams. The souls are trying to go where they were meant to go before stolen, some guided, some drawn there, some sent there by inertia a few still lost, but Hellboy spots one like a bright light in amber and moves to save it.
It is obvious that the portal and the demense itself will collapse in moments.
- Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's violet gaze is glowing and she's trying to get things to let go. They could do this. The Irishwoman shakes as she pours the last (for real this time!) the last of the magical energy that she has into their works and finally, there's the snap. Then she hears Hellboy screaming for people to run. "HEAD FOR THE PORTAL!" she calls out to those who are still there. She'd make sure folks got out quick...and in one piece hopefully.
- Hellboy has posed:
(From Mike)
As the task carries on, the wolf gives further growls of discontentment as his red coated fur starts to get even darker as the shadow crawls along him, encompassing. The urge to stop and run off is getting stronger but not knowing where to go and the continued self assurances of 'just a few more seconds' drive him on.
The welcome sounds of get the hell out uttered by the red headed demon child is not ignored as the wolf spins on his feet hightailing it towards the portal, watching to see if Morrigan makes it out.
Upon reaching the other side, the wolf form drops bringing back the gaiter masked musician. The Arm scar quickly fades from the left forearm back to to the right as he goes back human. Eyes widen as he senses come back into play. "OH GAH!"
Immediately Mike falls to his knees, huddling down. Hands clasp together as a quick, low rhythmic murmurs come from his lips. His positioning obscuring the words. But as he lights up like a Holy glowstick, it's apparent they were words of some meaning.
Come on holy light! Get that icky red liquid feel off. Get it off!
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien doesn't need to be told twice to get out of this blasted hellscape. Flicking the remains of her herbal cigarette towards the Chainer now under assault from the innumerable souls it had sought to contain, she snaps her fingers disappearing and reappearing next to the portal.
She turns back for one last look to make sure Hellboy in particular actually makes it to the portal, not afraid to bend space to get him there if need be, before stepping through herself.
- Hellboy has posed:
The collapse continues as the chainer bursts at the assault from the heroes until it is nothing but sparks and motes of light and the sheer Demense from the primordial chaos of the universe itself held together by nothing but its magical and mystical will starts to erode into nothing allowing souls to zing hither and yong as Morrigan and Rien get the sense that it is vast and distant, whereever HERE was was far far far from the Earth they called home in every conceivable way and as they run, and Mike comes with them it seems that they are going to make it...
Until the panicked remants of the Imp Hoard start to go forth about to pour forth onto Times Square. Hellboy is having none of it as he holds the soul he came for in his own hand while the Hand of Glory and the Big Red Hand and Hell itself unleashes hellfire on the imps killing them by the score. They will soon disappate into nothing all on their own but if they make it out they can wreak untold havok.
He smiles at Rien, eyes human though the rest of his form is monstrously demonic and vistule and waves but once as the time bending is not quite enough to prevent him from moving the three heroes out with one massive hand as the portal closes....and all three are in times square with astonished diners looking on as if not a moment had passed.
- Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's not sure how this is all going to play out, but she has a feeling that someone isn't going to make it. And she figures it out once she turns, violet gaze catching on Hellboy smile at folks as the portal closes. "Anung you're not getting out of your scolding THAT easily." she shouts. She could open more portals!
If she found the right gems!
Then she looks around to see that they are in the real world and there are real human faces staring at them. She huffs loudly at them, her ripped evening gown getting picked up at the hem as she looks after Cujo-Mike, "I'll call Einar...or I can just portal us to wherever you want." she tells him. She gives a look to Rien and there's a dip of her head to her, "Thank you." she states. Then she's gone.
- Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien stares at the portal for a moment, they hadn't seen each other in fifty years and he still goes and pulls this sort of stunt /again/. The eyeroll is palpable.
A glance is spared to the shocked onlookers, before she just lights up another one of those hand rolled herbal cigarettes and just walks away knowing Hellboy will be back ...eventually.
- Hellboy has posed:
The world ends.
Granted, it's a small (rancid) world after all but without the soul or the chainer to hold it together or the link to the 'real' world outside through the portal, the IDEA that is the world has nothing to hold on to and so all of it, lock, stock and barrel falls apart. There are a few brickabracka of others who found their way there, real matter like skeletons or explores or one VW Bug with the number "53" painted on it or the random rock or eggplant or washingmachine but in general except for these few objects that go off hurdling into "space" Hellboy is alone with the soul. He slowly reverts into his 'lesser' (but to him 'real') form except for the long insanely curved horns which he snaps off with a bit of concentration. Then he looks at the small blinking light of a soul.
Souls can take a lot of forms, but in this case it is a small wisp of light, like a grain of sand meant for the child like empress but there is no Fantasia (as if) that springs forth from Hellboy's mind, its mostly just blackness of The Void as he senses a vague TUGGING in the soul of where it wants to go but unlike the souls trapped in the Demense, it is a bit LOST having been isolated in the locked form for decades in the real world, it has taken a toll, but the toll is not lost and the soul knows where it needs to go.
Hellboy floats with it, flying even though he has no wings and stands between it and the darkness. Occasionally, rarely, tentacled horrors or creatures of this void think to consume the soul or the hotblooded creature so rare among the darkness. A punch in the face or a shot of holy water from the Good Shepard quickly abuse them of this notion.
Time passes, and eventually they come to a large willow, brilliant and white with its branches and a small soft white glow around it. It is a nexus, a gateway to an afterlife for the soul. And on approaching, the soul finally takes the form of a young 12 year old Latverian peasant girl, greeted by the members of her family forming one by one under the spectral shades of the tree. She hugs her parents and her siblings, so apart for so long at last ready to move on.
She turns around and runs quickly back to Hellboy, hugging him and filling him with the soft warm glow that only good deeds can provide. She then runs off with her family, returning to 'wisp' form all of them as they spiral higher and higher up into the darkness of the Void.
Hellboy waves and watches and smiles as the tree slowly dims to a barely visible glow as he realizes he has no idea where he is or how to get back.
"Crap."
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