New in Town [Open]

[Annalise Thergo]

"I will explain things after I've had enough rum." She imagined Kazadus had more than a few questions to ask, and the alcohol would assist in keeping her calm while she answered the more difficult ones. So, Annalise, how were you able to do what you did to Rocko? Well, Kazadus, it all began with some freakish drugs...

"It shouldn't, unless his mind is too far go--"

Everything following that happened so fast. One moment, Rocko was on the ground with Kazadus checking for a pulse, and the next, Rocko was back in action, faster and angrier than before. The screams that tore from his throat sent a cold chill down her spine, but that paled to how she felt seeing her newfound friend being pummeled into gas tanks.

An explosion burst forth! People scattered, abandoned cars at the gas station ignited, car alarms went off, and the heat that radiated from the scene would make one break into a sweat in seconds! Ambulance sirens shrieked all throughout the city and people screamed. Annalise's own cry was mingled with the crowds, "KAZADUS!"

The battle between them lasted seconds, but for Kazadus, it must have lasted for ages. As Annalise began to run into the fray to help him, he fired another round of his energy beam, finally putting Rocko down for good! The hope she felt sizzled out when Kazadus fell next to Rocko's body and the fires were zeroing in on him. Annalise sucked in one last lungful of fume-free air and gave it her all.

She ran fast, faster than she had ever ran before. The muscles in her legs and hips felt like they were tearing from the exertion, but she refused to slow down until she got Kazadus to safety. Annalise, still holding her breath but dizzy, picked him up over her shoulder, and zipped away. Just in time, too, for the inferno had reached other vehicles and gas tanks, setting off more explosions. Smoke and fire rolled skyward. There was nothing Annalise or Kazadus could do about the damage--that would be up to someone else.

"Kaz, Kaz! Hey!" Annalise lowered him to the ground and began to check for vitals. If his heart rate and/or breathing was minimal, she would begin to administer CPR, otherwise, she would wait for him to come around. Come on, Kaz, come on! Wake up!

[Cazador]

He could hear a voice calling out to him. It was faint, but he could hear it. She sounded very far away until finally he couldn't hear anything. His heartbeat was coming close to the end. Darkness took him. Kazadus was surrounded by black. He thought to himself that this was it. He died of smoke inhalation. What a crap way to go out.

"Guess this it huh? No heaven or hell. Just blackness. Am I in purgatory? No wait I can't move."

The blackness around him started to clear. He was in a room covered completely in blood. Kazadus immediately recognized the room. An event that he had long forgotten came flooding back to him. Fear and panic overtook him.

"No… please no. Not here."

He was tied to a chair. Several men stood in front of him. To the side of him several bodies laid sprawled on the floor. He couldn't remember who they were, but in his heart he knew he had loved them with all his heart. Kazadus was screaming and crying. They were dead. He was overcome with an indescribable agony. The man standing in front of him drew a sword from his cane and drove it into Kazadus' chest. He couldn't even feel it go in. The pain at having to watch his loved ones die one by one left him numb to all external pain.

"Goodbye Mr. Hernandez. Don't worry. You'll be joining your family soon."

The men around him started dousing the home in gasoline before lighting it ablaze. Despite being stabbed through the chest and left in an inferno, a will to survive still sparked. From that spark, something was born. He looked at the exiting strangers as an overwhelming unquenchable rage burned inside him. He wanted to bring them unfathomable suffering that went beyond excessively cruel. He wanted nothing more than to bring them agony far beyond anything the dreams of the devil himself could come up with.

"DAMIEN! I WILL END YOUR FUCKING LIFE EVEN IF I HAVE TO BURN THIS WHOLE GOD DAMN WORLD TO THE GROUND!"

His rage rage kept him alive that day. With all his might he tore himself from his ropes once his captors had left. They thought they left him for dead, but they were wrong. The rage born in him that day was only the beginning of horror to come. Darkness took over Kazadus once again as he was sent back to the empty void.

"What the hell was that? A dream..."

An echo of a voice filled the void.

"You insignificant weakling… he thought he could hide you from my sight. I have found you."

"Finding him is not the same thing as capturing him 'Emperor'."

Green light filled the black void as the mage appeared beside Kazadus. While Kazadus was on his hands and knees, the mage stood tall at the looming voice.

"Valandil… your interference will not stop the inevitable."

"You're wrong. When the Eldritch learn you have been weakened they will take their vengeance on you and be free to return to which they came. For now he is safe from your wretched grasp monster."

The mage engulfed Kazadus in green arcane energies.

"It isn't your time to go yet Kazadus. Live!"

The energy pulsed through him. It felt almost like something was pushing on his chest hard. In fact in felt like his chest was being pushed in rapidly like the wind was being knocked out of him. The void seemed to vanish as all of a sudden he could hear the chaos of sirens and people yelling. He could still feel the impact of someone pushing on his chest. No wait now he could actually feel the air being pushed into him. What was happening to him?

His eyes opened wide as he took in a giant gasp of air and coughed.

"Holy *cough* shit *cough*. Annalise?"

[Annalise Thergo]

Annalise, unaware of what was going on beyond this world, repetitively performed CPR. She counted the number of chest compressions to herself, filled his lungs with air, and repeated the cycle over and over, settling into a calm and paced rhythm. Eliza had gone over this with her countless times with dummies, and required her to re-certify every year until she passed.

Seconds ticked by, slow as molasses, and Annalise began to wonder if she should call the paramedics. It was a gamble relying on his healing abilities and CPR to bring him back. Did she make the wrong choice? She couldn't stop now, not with his breathing and heart rate being so erratic. Annalise decided that if he did not wake up after ten cycles of CPR, she would call 911, and hope that it wasn't too late.

Just as she was about to get her phone, Kazadus returned. Annalise's posture sagged and she released an exhausted sigh. Thank god. "Welcome back!" Annalise removed her damaged leather coat, folded it up, and placed it under his head to provide some comfort. Asphalt wasn't exactly a top of the line mattress. Time to conduct some tests. Annalise switched on the light on her cellphone,"I'm going to check on a few things to make sure you don't need to go to--"

Wait, he just needed food. Annalise wasn't accustomed to being around supers who could heal their extensive injuries without medical attention. She switched the light off and flashed him a sheepish grin. "When your mother is a nurse..." That should provide an explanation. "Are you able to stand? You need to eat." 

[Cazador]

He was back in the world of the living or did he even ever leave. Kazadus honestly wasn't too sure. What had he just witnessed? It felt so real. That memory of absolute sorrow and rage. Then the vision of the mage coming to his aid. His head felt like it was going to be split open though it could have also been the lack of oxygen. He looked up at Annalise as he felt the leather jacket slide under his head. He still spoke with a small rasp.

"My hero. You saved me. I'm such a lucky gal."

He chuckled lightly. Breathing was getting easier. His regeneration was kicking in and healing his lungs. He still had energy. When he first got back to Earth he would of been completely maxed out after a fight like this, but every fight was only making him stronger.

"Yeah I think I'll live. C'mon let's get outta here before our adoring fans show up."

Kazadus slowly got to his feet. He thought bit be safe to leave the scene. Law enforcement could handle the rest. He had a feeling that Annalise didn't want to be around to give a report to any government officials. The cops could figure out the logistics of everything. Even if they didn't like him at all, they would still have to pay him for his work.

[Annalise Thergo]

Annalise deepened her voice and took a bow from where she sat, "My Lady." The gesture was followed up with laughter, the sort one would express after a long and tense moment. They had gone from a normal day in a city, to a fight against mutants, to a close call at a gas station, and now they were in recovery mode that was sure to follow up with more food. What would happen next?

"That is fortunate. I thought you were a goner for a moment." Annalise swiped her coat from where he once rested, tucked it under her arm, looked back at the scene, and motioned for him to move. The media was showing up in droves to get their first scoop of the story, and cameras were pointing in their direction. She unfurled her coat, placed it over her head to conceal her identity, and jogged away. They had to get new clothes and fast.

Reporters terrified her more than those unruly mutants.

[Cazador]

"Goner? No way. You can't get rid of me that easily."

Still there was that vision. What had all that been. He wanted to know what it was all about. The mage was there too. Not to mention he finally heard his name… Valandil. Just saying the name in his head, flooded more images into his head. As Kazadus and Annalise made a run for it away from the press, he smiled. He would get his memories back eventually, but he wouldn't let any past mistakes dictate his future. He didn't know what kind of man he used to be, but his actions going forward would determine that. It has been one hell of an adventure up to this point. Little would he know, his life was about to completely change again.

It didn't take them long to get away from the scene. Both with their speed could easily outrun any curious onlookers, but it didn't really help that Kazadus stuck out like a sore thumb. People tended to notice when a giant, scared up, one eyed, shirtless man covered in blood and ash was running around. Still he wondered if a clothing shop would let him looking like this now.

"I think people are staring at me for some reason. You didn't leave any lipstick on me when you were giving me CPR did you?"

Thunder and lightning started sparking in the sky as black clouds began filling the sky. There was something unnatural and ominous about it. Kazadus stopped running as the ground began to shake as well. Something was happening. Lightning struck in front of both Annalise and Kazadus. The air became distorted as reality itself looked to be pulling itself apart into a hole big enough for a person to enter. Time was beginning to stop again, but this time it was not just for Annalise, but Kazadus as well.

"What the hell is this?"

"I'm sorry Kazadus… it's time for you both to leave."

The mage who's name had been revealed as Valandil appeared before the two.

"There isn't much time left for this Universe. I must send you through the portal to another one."

"What do you mean not much time?"

He didn't answer Kazadus' question. Instead Valandil looked at Annalise. If only he had known about… that ability. Though in the end it really wouldn't of mattered. The mage could sense the Gates of Chaos about to be opened. Somehow the Vanguard had found a way to open them in such a short amount of time. The portal started to draw in Kazadus and Annalise like a vacuum.

"Valandil what are you doing?"

"You must trust me. I will explain it all I promise."

Kazadus grabbed onto a light pole and Annalise to stop them from being sucked in. He wasn't about to turn tail and run just because something had spooked the mage. Kazadus had kept his grip tight on the light pole to stop them from flying in however he wasn't counting on the pole to break off out of the ground. Just where could they be going.

[Annalise Thergo]

Humor was a welcomed reprieve from the heat of battle--quite literally--and the internalized jittering she felt upon seeing the media show up shortly thereafter. "Stubbornness! A good quality." She remarked with a large grin.

As they ran away from the scene, Annalise replayed the battle over and over in her head. She had gotten into her fair share of fights over the past forty years, some more complicated than others, but never where she had to pull all stops, not since she was in that lab with the "good doctor" watching her from behind a clear screen. Annalise detested fighting since then and always tried to talk her way out of a situation before turning to violence. It was never a choice for her, until today.

Annalise felt as though a weight or shackles had fallen off her, and her steps were lighter. Deciding to use her "gifts" for the greater good instead of squandering them or hiding in her van under the guise of a traveling jeweler was fulfilling. It was as though she found a missing piece in her own puzzle.

Annalise feigned a gasp when Kazadus asked her if she wore lipstick while performing CPR. "Uh oh, last I checked, I did not. Someone else must have rescued you when I wasn't looking!" This was fun. "In all seriousness, we should probably find clothes and go to a gym to use a shower. I think we're sticking out just a tad." Judging by the numerous looks they were getting, it was more than "just a tad."

Her elated mood flatlined when the weather took a turn for the worst. Annalise had seen enough weather in her life to know that this was unnatural and there was something about it that made her take a step back. Annalise leapt back when the lightning struck the ground, and her eyes darted about wildly in search of something, anything, that could be the source of this.

Shapes, color, sound, and light began to distort and become misshapen, as though an artist decided to smudge their crystal-clear work of art. Annalise didn't understand what was going on, that is, until that sorcerer or whatever-he-was reappeared. Time slowed, except this time, Kazadus was not. "Leave?" Annalise asked incredulously. As in, leave this city? What else could he mean?

Everything was happening so fast. This Universe? How? What? Annalise did not understand why Valandil stared at her with such intent, as though to say, "you-did-something-wrong," but in her ignorance, she had no clue what the silent expression meant.

Then, they were starting to get pulled in. Just as Kazadus grabbed for her, she grabbed him, and hung on tight. The vacuum got stronger and stronger as the seconds ticked on. She could hear the cement beneath the light pole crackle.

Their hair whipped wildly around them, and Annalise struggled to breathe as air was also sucked into the portal. She had to lift her head just to gulp in air, and the muscles in her neck strained from the effort. One way or another, Kazadus had to let go or the pole would cease to help them.

The pole was the first to fail.

It was uprooted from the cement, and the two were drawn in. Annalise gave out a surprised yelp as she fell in, down, down, down into the rabbit hole.