Scene #4263: Pain and Healing Pt. 4

Owner	Pose
Dr. Vahzilok	Dark Astoria is a section of Paragon City that illustrates perfectly that super heroes don't always save the day. That sometimes, hard choices have to be made, and that those choices can have far-reaching consequences. It's a zone that has been abandoned by its protectors, condemning all who once lived here to their current fates: ghosts that one sees wandering away from the few working lights remaining in the area, or being sacrificed to dark powers by some type of cultists... It's a zone without much in the way of support for any heroes who come here trying to fix things. There's a hospital that's been abandoned, and rumors indicate a low-security level hero has come here to try to reclaim it for use. 'Stigmata' is his name, though not much else is known about him unless an attempt was made to investigate him. Getting into this zone may have been somewhat tricky, hijacking a boat and taking it into Talos Island would have been a good way to bypass the security gates and other measures. The near-silence of Dark Astoria is creepy to most, and the dim pinpoints of supernatural light in the darkness that indicate huge clusters of wandering undead probably aren't too reassuring either. Thankfully, the hospital, St. Elegius Medical Center, is right near the entrance into the zone, so wandering around in the perpetual darkness and tangling with those things isn't necessary.
Tesla Armadia	Hijack a boat? Not hard to do when you have moralely ambigious organizations at your disposal. For that matter Tesla Armadia probably could of just provided a boat herself. But that wouldn't be in the 'spirit' of the way the world of heroes and villains works now would it? As many a world has already learned, Telsa is willing to play by the rules of the world. As long as the rules still suit her own agenda, at least. Now where was I... oh yeah, hijacking a boat. Not hard to do, just have a couple of her gremlinesque minions sneak aboard and essentially boatjack it, sail to Talos, and proceed from there. Which brings us to now, where heavy boots settle upon the dirty forgotten pavement of Dark Astoria. An eerie little breeze whispered creepily through the abandoned streets, briefly ruffling the tails of her labcoat. But Tesla remained unphased, folding hands behind her back impassively as ever. Her gaze set thoroughly on the old hospital just down the ways, unhampered by the darkness thanks to the spectral scanners and HUD display built into her visor. Finally, a soft tisking came from her lips. "Typical heroes. Just can't learn to live with failure."
Sanary Rondel	Sanary was never really expecting to explore more of Paragon City, but her interest has been piqued ever since her last foray into the city's sewers. That's why the excuse to actually dig around in the city's seedier underbelly is a welcome opportunity for her, and she's taking Tesla's hijacked boat headed towards... "... Saint Elegius. Gotta give these people props for keeping this kind of place open out here. They're braver than those freaking 'heroes', yeah." She certainly doesn't sound bitter about that. The healer in the white coat sighs lightly before checking her gunaxe to make sure its Freeze shell is properly loaded, her riot shield to make sure it's sufficiently shieldy, and her eyepatch to make sure it's not going to fall off! Tonight's going to be interesting. "Ready when you are."
Dr. Vahzilok	Contrary to Sanary's initial assertion, the hospital does not, infact, appear to be operational upon closer inspection. It's mostly dark, and once she and Tesla enter the building, they find the main lobby to be cluttered with gurneys, many of them with sheets brown with dried blood, and none of them occupied. There are some lights still working, indicating there's power at least, but with the way they're flickering, it's unlikely anyone has been here to turn them off or on in quite awhile. There's no sign of any medical personnel, or any living people in general, aside from bootprints in the dust that indicate someone came through here and forced open one of those automatic doors that isn't quite so automatic anymore, to get into another hallway. There's a stairwell far to the left, in back from where the two have entered, as well as a darkened reception area with the shutters pulled down. The stairwell seems to just lead up to a balcony hallway above them with lightless offices. It seems evident which way the hero went. But man, there's something about abandoned hospitals that's entirely different from the eerieness of an abandoned city.
Tesla Armadia	"For now, just be on your guard," Tesla replies to Sanary. "Just because these supposed philantropists are low on the ranking format this world utilizes for classifying missions," sounds like Stormchaser/Stratos has been doing her research while playing heroine, "does not mean they won't be dangerous.. Hmm, what's this?" Tesla turns her attention from the rest the delapitated building as her scanners detect the footprints in the dust. It's a thankful distraction from the ailing whine of unkempt lighting systems that only the technopath can hear. A scan of one of the prints flickers onto an inset panel of her HUD as Tesla turns and starts walking the same direction they lead. She chuckles softly under her breath. "Sloppy. Clearly our enterpaneuring friend did not expect to have visitors so soon, or he would of covered his tracks." Literally.
Sanary Rondel	Stepping into the hospital, Sanary's expression darkens just a bit when it becomes more obvious that the hospital is not as functional as she had thought. Sure, the lights are partially functioning at best, there's more blood around than even the Confederacy's medical wing would find acceptable for working, and there's no people around, but... She sighs. "Well, great. This place ain't working, either. Got a lot of work to do to get anywhere with this." She shakes her head slowly before nodding at Tesla. "I guess. I just don't get why the higher ranking ones aren't dealing with this, though. If they have all that power..." She trails off and scoffs lightly, eventually following Tesla and pausing to give the non-automatic door a little nudge to see if that'll fix it somehow. Or break it more, with her luck. "Eh... They got guts, at least. Dumber than me, but still." Sanary chuckles lightly, her grip on the shield tightening just a bit as she heads for the stairs. "So what's the plan on contact, anyway?"
Dr. Vahzilok	A hero who has come to reclaim a hospital for the use of the living probably had little reason to think he would either be followed or that his tracks should be covered. Does a rescue mission usually involve counter-tracking, after all? Tesla is easily able to follow after the individual as a result. Based on the size of the boots, they belong to a man. But when she enters the next hallway, there is something odd. A second set of prints joins the first, right in the middle of the hallway. Seemingly from nowhere. There was only supposed to be one hero in here, wasn't there? As Sanary goes up the stairs, splitting up in order to scout the balcony hall above, she finds that there's signs of one of the offices having been lived in. Bloody gauze, sutures, and other medical equipment is scattered across a desk, all of it looking fresh and newly-used. There are some empty emergency ration containers salvaged from relief packages discarded on the floor, and an assortment of small knives and surgical instruments as well. The balcony hallway wraps around the side of the last office up there, eventually winding up overlooking a medium-sized square room with more offices on Sanary's level, and another stairway leading down to the ground floor... As well as, as Tesla will see for herself, a floor covered in dessicated bodies, most of them clutching weapons ranging from muskets to hatchets. There's still supernatural light glowing from within their bodies and from their empty sockets as pinpoints of ghostly blue in the dark. Strange runes carved in their flesh seem to float up off of their bodies, distorting the space around them. It seems like they were cut down with swords, and recently as well. Another set of sliding doors have been opened already, leading deeper into the hospital, and into an even darker passageway. All in all, Sanary and Tesla wind up in the same place eventually, though with different discoveries due to their different paths. Not only are they not alone in here with the hero, nor even with the local enemies, but possibly with someone else as well.
Tesla Armadia	"Likely some notion of conserving their phenomenal power 'for when most needed'. Thus leaving the day-to-day matters of the younger generations to these guilds and government programs that are suppose to train them." Tesla gives the entire notion a dismissing wave. "They really should pay more attention to their lessers." Sanary goes off to check the upper pathway, while Tesla remains following the footprints... two sets of footprints. Huh. There was only suppose to be one 'hero' involved. The footprints seeming to appear from midair doesn't strike much not of peculiarity. There's a great deal of possible explainations in a world such of this, from levitation to teleportation. The next room, well that does start to jerk the needle farther up the weird-shit-o-meter. "Huh." Disection and desiccation were hardly a new or terrifying sight to the experienced scientist. The setting that which they are found, in an equally delapitated building that was supposedly not in use, does give it a definate creep factor, however. Did the so-called hero have help in his efforts to clean up this district... or did he stumble upon a much more insideous occupant of the hospital already? Astoria was often the playground of cults and other supernatural dickery after all. This could be defeated foes... or the hero could be in on something less noble than the intentions made known. Or become another victim of fouler deeds because of his overconfidence. Where some would feel fear or express disgust, Tesla only displays a mild grunt of curiosity at the potentially bigger problem she has come upon. Someone or something has been killing and collecting bodies here, unknown with how little attention is paid to this district. Like something out of an episode of the Twilight Zone almost. As she strides through the room of corpses her scanners sweep from body to body, recording the arcane seeming runes as well as injuries. Swords? Old-fashioned, but practical and not an uncommon application of tried and true means of inflicting grevious bodily harm upon others. Precision could kill a person in one or two strikes without damaging the rest of the goods, as it were. << Be alert, Sanary. We may have more unexpected company present. >> Upon stepping into the darkened passage Tesla taps the side of her visor with two fingers, switching it to a low-light setting alongside the sensors. Dark corridors are not somewhere you want to be less than fully aware of your surroundings.
Sanary Rondel	"Lazy assholes. You don't see us pulling anything like that." Such willful blindness. Or does she actually believe it? It's hard to tell sometimes. After letting out yet another indignant grunt, Sanary's on her way up the stairs and into another hallway! She keeps the shield braced in front of her as she checks over the used containers and medical supplies, a troubled frown crossing her face after a few moments. <<"Understood. There's a lot of fresh stuff here. Like someone's been using this just before we got here.">> But where is the person that's been using these? Or people, even? Is this a place people are just living out in? It's all getting to be rather creepy, depressing, and infuriating at the same time. Tightening her hold on the gunaxe, she clears her throat before calling out in a firm, yet not quite hostile tone. "Is anyone out there? I'm a healer with the Confederacy. If you've got any injured, I'm here to assist!" She's still taking her job as a healer seriously even if she's still looking ready to give someone a beatdown. It won't take long to reunite with Tesla at least, and she follows the woman's lead as she presses a finger to activate the nightvision matrix in her magitech eye. Not that she needs to do that gesture to turn it on, but... It makes her feel cooler, okay?
Dr. Vahzilok	There are no verbal responses to Sanary's yell. But as the two of them head down the darkened passage, abandoned operating rooms on either side of them, something metal clatters to the floor somewhere ahead of them. The sound of uneven footsteps, like someone quickly and repeatedly hopping forward one foot at a time, becomes more and more audible in the silence that follows. Eventually, a figure comes around the corner at the far end of the hallway. From the pinpoints of light in its eye sockets, and the glow from within its emaciated torso, it's like the bodies that were all over the floor in the room they just came from. But this one is mobile. It comes jogging down the hall, arms hanging loosely at its sides, its attention focused on the living beings in front of it. The rasping sounds of stale air being forced through dead lungs more by the movement of the thing than any effort to breath, begins to join the sounds of its ever-louder foot pads. Eventually, if not taken down first, it raises a hand cannon, takes aim, and fires a metal bullet in a flash of smoke and fire.
Tesla Armadia	Tesla Armadia stops midstride as proximity warnings in her sensors go off at the detection of movement down the corridor from them. "Hold up." There's a faint click-click-clack as her power gauntlets extend fully over her hands. "Something wicked this way comes..." Sure enough something very much more predator than human, at least now, comes ambling awkwardly yet hurriedly around the corner of the hallway. The inhuman gait combined with the sound of dead air, a corpse only breathing out of some vage mimicry of what the living body does, and armed to boot as it raises some sort of projectile weapon to fire. At the same time Tesla raises her own arm in one fluid motion and discharges a kinetic pulse from her power gauntlet. Pure kinetic energy should trump the kinetic force requiring a physical object to carry it and obliterate the bullet. And possibly take off the arm with the gun too if the collision doesn't slow the pulse down too much. "It showed hostile intent first," Tesla remarks, flatly. Her tone entirely sounds like she doesn't really care and is just stating it for the fact later if anyone tries to give them shit for fighting for whatever inane reason.
Sanary Rondel	"What the hell..?" Sanary murmurs as she catches sight of the moving figure, slowing to a stop beside Tesla while trying to make out what it is in the distance. A person? Or... A moving corpse? It certainly doesn't look healthy nor pleased to see them. "Take cover behind me!" The healer's not the fastest on her feet, but she doesn't need to when the attack is coming from right in front of her. Bracing the riot shield on the ground and keeping her shoulder up against it, Sanary's created a convenient source of cover for herself and Tesla right in the middle of the hallway! "How's a corpse...? Ah, shit. Is there a necromancer here of all places?" There's an irritated tone in her voice as she aims her gunaxe around the shield, firing a volley of ice-infused blasts at the ambling creature's legs in time with Tesla's shots. She's not too concerned about keeping the thing alive, but if she can keep part of it intact? Maybe someone smarter than her can take a look at it later.
Dr. Vahzilok	The combination of the kinetic force blast and the ice shells takes down the lone Chamber relatively easily... Though, being undead, it's likely that a horde of these things could be quite a problem to encounter in this place, given their lack of fear or sense of pain or conventional weak points. The sound of a human yellow from further in in the quiet that follows, as the lit-from-within corpse lies immobile on the ground indicates that it's possible that who they seek is nearby... And possibly engaged in battle of his own. If they hurry, they may also pick up the sound of blades clashing, the boom of further musket fire, and the growls of the reanimated dead. And they may pass a lot more bodies like the one they just took down along the way. When they get to the scene of the fight, not only are there a LOT of de-animated zombies lying around, but there's many more all crowding around someone in the middle of a large but low-ceilinged room. A figure is fighting them off with a pair of swords as he backs up a stairwell, making a fighting retreat towards the floor above. He's wearing a sleek bodysuit that shows signs of tears and bullet holes from wounds he has taken... But the more enemies he is surrounded by, the more determined he seems to become, and the less his wounds seem to slow him down. The zombies are having a harder time even landing a hit on him, despite having him completely surroudned, as he lashes out in a flurry of blade strikes, and series of various combination attacks on his foes. This must be Stigmata.
Tesla Armadia	While she is hardly inable of defending herself Tesla appreciates Sanary's protective position all the same, and it's easy for her to calculate an adjustment to fire around the woman and her shield. "Yes," she replies in a tone more akin to a professor instructing a class than in middle of a one-sided firefight. "Astoria is a hotbed for cult and paranatural activity in Paragon, so that is entirely possible." There's only the briefest of pauses as they stand over a re-dead body moments later, just long enough to make sure it is for the time being staying down. "That was not the last of them, not by a longshot." Labcoat flutters briefly around her as the scientist turns and marches in the direction of the sound of continuing fighting farther down the passage. And marches right into what could be the underworld coming back to the living world with a vengeance. "Well well, looks like someone got in a bit over his head after all." Only one hero? That doesn't solve the matter of the second footprints then, but we'll get to that at a less critical point in time. The glow fades from the palms of her gauntlets, only for farther mechanics to open up and deploy from behind it to deploy a pair of blaster barrels from each hand. "Fortunately for you, I am not particularly fond of unliving either." Tesla turns for a moment of dramatic posture before opening fire, the dual-barrel wrist bolter belting smoke of it own as it fires. A pair of explosive shells are not going to care about this 'lack of weak points' when they detonate. "At least not ones I have reanimate myself," the evil scientist finishes her quip, then raises her other arm to fire again with another round of explosive ordinance.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary checks her riot shield before moving forward again, shaking the gunaxe off on the way. Her aim still needs a lot of work, but she's improving! Sort of. Not really. One day. "Huh. So this place has it's own magic... What's the word. Locale? Makes sense..." As the two continue past the fallen zombies towards the sound of that voice, the healer's already cutting the flow of magic to the nightvision matrix before readying the Fire matrix. There's no telling just how many of those reanimated corpses there are, but it doesn't hurt to prepare for a quantity over quality strategy ahead of time. "Sounds like there's a lot in there... Er. Up? Over! Over there." Satisfied that she's gotten two words to come to her so quickly, Sanary beraks into a short run before stopping at the sight of someone fighting off a swarm on his own. "Very.... Great." On one hand, leaving the man to die would probably still be a success. On the other hand, keeping him alive to send a message back could be even more useful. Following Tesla's lead, the healer slams her riot shield against the ground to make the Confederates' presence as obvious as possible. "Keep your head down if you want to keep it!" She calls out and follows up the armadillo scientist's volley of explosives with a smattering of explosive heat beams from her eye. She sweeps it along the ceiling, trying not to let the explosions themselves get too close to their target. They still need him mostly alive, after all!
Dr. Vahzilok	Stigmata smoothly takes in the arrival of allies without truly ceasing his counter-assault upon the enemy, showing an ease and experience with combat that speaks more of a veteran than a newbie. But he ducks when he's warned to, taking the moment to catch his breath and let his wounds heal. He seems to have some sort of accelerated recovery abilities, which might account for why he thought he could handle this... Or maybe it's that skill of his. But he keeps out of the way, apparently assuming that Tesla and Sanary are allies. And they get the majority of the aggro from the remaining enemies as they towards the two Elites with their guns, or charge forth to strike with their bloody hatchets, or swing with their clubs that seem to be made out of some kind of... Unwholesome... Meat. Being clubbed to death with unidentifiable meat by a walking corpse is a pretty awful way to go. However, between Tesla's spread of bolter fire and Sanary's explosives and heat beams, soon enough the dead bodies are just lying around with holes in them, or on fire, or blown to pieces, and a man with paired scimitars is breathing out a slow sigh of relief as he calls out. "Thanks for coming, I guess. But it's dangerous around here. There's a killer on the loose, you know. The one that's been in the news." The hero rises to his feet, looking around cautiously. "I'm Stigmata. I recommend leaving if you don't want to deal with a serial killer." Ah, if only he knew.
Tesla Armadia	A brow is raised a bit behind Tesla's visor. That would explain the more than one set of footprints. A murderer then reanimating the bodies of his victims to farther his dirty work, is that what was going on here? However for the moment Tesla keeps the questions to herself, for that would show too much uncertainty in them being here. Which wouldn't do well for a woman whom prefers to be in control of the situation. "You presume that is not the reason we are here," she replies to Stigmata evenly. "Well, part of why. We were told a rookie hero had gone off on his own trying to purge this sick and twisted place." Tesla pauses to make a brief gesture at the bodies lying on the floor exploded and burned around them, not to mention scattered back the way they came. "Yet the, shall we say, trail we followed here spoke of anything more than a beginner." To be fair, she's not exactly lying.
Sanary Rondel	A chop! Eye laser! More chopping! And a few shield bashes for good measure. Eventually, the zombies are downed, and it's significantly easier for Sanary to circulate a green healing light between Armadia and herself to help regenerate away the worst of the injuries they might have sustained during that fight. Perhaps tellingly, none of that is going towards Stigmata. "We noticed. Uh... You mean the necromancer doctor or whatever, right? Where's /your/ backup?" She's already got an idea of what the answer to that will be, but... She still wants that confirmation. Sanary needs somewhere to direct that anger at! "You think he's lurking around in here or something? Or..." She adjusts her eyepatch, glancing at Tesla once before turning back to Stigmata. "... You got any leads on where he could be?"
Dr. Vahzilok	Stigmata narrows his eyes a bit at the suspicion directed his way. "This is a good place to practice. Most things here are already dead, so I don't have to worry about going too far. It isn't easy to fight with swords and not kill anyone." But to even be CAPABLE of using enemies like these as no more than 'practice' indicates he already had a lot of experience to begin with. He shakes his head though at Sanary's inquiry, "Necromancer doctor...? No. The one they were calling 'Jack The Ripper' before. I don't know if the others are copy-cats or not, but the first one, before all the other killings... I've tracked him here. I can see things the way he'd see them. By adjusting my perspective, seeing the crime scenes through his eyes... I've gained insight into how he thinks that way." Stigmata looks around at all the bodies everywhere, and says, "He's been medically trained, that much is certain. But he isn't trying to heal anyone anymore. He just likes having other people's lives in his hands, operating on them, and then choosing not to save them." He then starts back towards the stairs he had been fighting towards before, only to pause with his foot on the bottom step, and say, "By the way, you didn't identify yourselves." He looks back over his shoulder, clearly far more cautious than a stereotypical Heroic Stupid individual would be. In general, a lot of heroes seem to be pretty competent in this city. But this one is... Different somehow. There's just... Something off about him.
Tesla Armadia	Tesla tilts her head a little to one side as the man describes how he operations. So he's able to.. get into the head of his target in some manner, it would seem. Now the codename of Stigmata makes a lot more sense. And he was sharp enough to pick up on the lack of formal identification of themselves too. Still, something seems off. It might just be the nature of the powers he's described. They're kind of ominous sounding. Potentially dangerous in more ways than one might thing. "Armadia." Opting to just use her surname, it sounds 'codename' enough. This is exactly why she had one of her henchs snooping around before her. No connection to the rather infamous reputation she's made of herself in other worlds. A pause as she looks again at the bodies that have been left lying around. "Tch. Never been found of those that would twist the science of healing to their own ill pursuits." True, Tesla isn't really one that could object to the methods without it sounding a bit hypocritical, but motivations is an entirely different matter. An actual purpose, rather than this sick self-gratification.
Sanary Rondel	It seems more and more like they've received some faulty information coming into this place, but Sanary's not too worried about that right about now. No, there's plenty of new information to make up for that already, between this 'Jack the Ripper' and this Stigmata's odd method of... Scrying? Past sight? Visions? Whatever it's called, it could just as easily be a boon to them as it is a danger. Good thing Sanary's picking up on Tesla's cues, then! "Rondel." That probably means something somewhere, right? "So... This guy's an asshole, then. Fun." The healer rolls her eyes before glancing back at the mass of corpses that had been left in the trio's wake, then back at at Stigmata himself. "Well, at least you're doing more than the other 'heroes'. What the hell are they even...?" Calm, Sanary. Calm. She turns around for a moment to keep her face mostly hidden while taking a few deep breaths and listening to Tesla. She conveniently refrains from mentioning her own use of healing in awful ways, but... Hey, those people deserved it! By the time Sanary turns back around, she's looking not quite mad enough to blow a hole in a wall, at least. "... So where do you think he's going to aim next? I'm not really a... Seeing-eye that-thing-you-do." Eloquence!
Dr. Vahzilok	Stigmata inclines his head curtly in recognition of the names offered and then is on his way again, up the stairs he was fighting on to bottleneck his attackers before. He heads up them to a landing above, and says, "Where he goes next is less important than stopping him before he goes there. He's here, somewhere. And if he gets away again, there will be more victims. Though it looks like these... 'Husks' have begun to intrude on his 'territory'. He uses medicine, not magic." As the man continues along, just assuming Tesla and Sanary are following him, he keeps talking. "Magic is an abomination to him. It lets madness out. Makes it real. You can't tell if you're crazy or not when you're crazy, can you? But with magic, it gets worse. Because then other people see it too. And if there was no madness to start with, it wouldn't be here now. Still, it comes with SOME benefits... You can't kill madness, but with the right skills, the right knowledge, I could kill a ghost. Make madness into a phantasm, and I'll cut it right up, take it apart, find out how it works. Then people will recognize me as a hero. They'll have no choice. Because they'll see what I see." At some point, he transitioned from speaking of the killer to speaking of himself. Is he doing it right now? Getting into the killer's head? Or has it begun to infringe on him in a lasting way, like the two Elites were concerned about? Compromising him somehow? Assuming they're still behind him, he'd lead the way through hospital passages, lit with flickering bulbs, or completely dark. Gurneys are knocked aside, blood-stained hospital beds with the dark-brown of dried blood blossoming outwards from the sheets where the victims were stabbed. There are gouges in the floor matching fingernails in one of the rooms, indicating a patient was literally dragged from their bed out into the hall, before meeting their end in a large dark blotch on the carpet. Terrible things happened here when Astoria fell. And this is but a sample.
Tesla Armadia	"Some would say technology can do the same thing to people," Tesla replies with her usual impassiveness as the two Confederates follow their peculiar guide up the flights of stairs. "To the point that it can become hard to tell where the man ends and the machine begins. Which brings its own kind of .. instability into the mix. When the body or the mind no longer functions in the same way as the other is compatable with." She pauses a moment, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "How does the saying go..." Oh, yes. "Too much or two strong of cybernetics eat the soul." The continuation of gruesome, bloody sights laying before them are being recorded by her visor, but for the most part, Tesla is unphased by the terrible images or crusty dried remains of ludicris gibs. She has already stared into that darkness of humanity long enough for it to stare back.
Sanary Rondel	To say that Sanary's somewhat confused by Stigmata's response would be an understatement. Although she can certainly appreciate his drive in trying to find the culprit sooner rather than later, she's not nearly as confident about Jack the Ripper's continued presence in the building. "Well... If uses medicine, that means he'll run out of whatever he's using and have to leave?" The healer glances over at Tesla to see if she's following before starting to move along with the odd-sounding hero, taking note of that shift in speech. "So if we cover the exits, we should have a good chance of catching him before he leaves here. And then..." Arrest him at worst, beat the everloving crap out of him at best. Oh, it'd be such a nice way to send a message to imitators and heroes alike... "... We'll figure it out when we find him." As they continue moving, Sanary doesn't seem too disturbed by the sight of blood on those gurneys, but the evidence of struggles does give her pause. "Could use both. I mean... It balances itself out better that way, right?" And that's her attempt at trying to join the discussion! Probably not with the best timing as she checks out the nail marks, grimacing again before clutching her axe a little tighter.
Dr. Vahzilok	Gradually, dialogue (or monologue) with the hero ceases, as he focuses on the task at hand. Stigmata seems to be tracking the killer, though at times it's almost more like he's just walking around lost in his own thoughts instead of following a trail. But when they finally reach a small room at the end of their journey, they find... Only medical equipment. Operating tools. IV drip stands and so on. No more undead have crossed them, and there doesn't appear to be anyone here. Were Stigmata's instincts wrong? Is the killer not here? Did they miss him? He turns around and looks hard at the two women before him. Then he draws his swords. "Armadia. Rondel. I am going to ask you some questions. It would be best if you answer." He isn't pointing his weapons at them. Not yet. But he's just led them into the deepest, most isolated part of the hospital, in a zone choked with undead, cultists, and who knows what else, and he doesn't look like he's joking around. It's possible the two of them can take him in a fight. They're skilled, capable Elites after all. Sanary can even heal them if they get injured. But if he is a strong Elite too, and if he's stronger than they heard... Bringing them into an enclosed area might give him an edge. If he's familiar with the layout of the building, even more so. And with so much further to go to return to the entrance, if he does turn out to be much stronger than expected, he has a lot longer to chase them down if they decide to run for it. "Why are you really here?" he asks. From the edge in his voice as he looks between the two of them, it doesn't look like he'll take kindly to an untruthful or vague answer, but unless he's a body language expert or a mind reader he wouldn't actually kno--Oh, he is kind of a mind reader, isn't he? Does seeing things through another's eyes count? That's a different thing, right? Is it worth risking it? Strong or not, they have him outnumbered. And just as it would be hard for them to flee, it would be even harder for him to. He may have trapped himself. And they came here, after all, to ambush and beat down a hero who went to a zone he shouldn't be in alone. Does it matter if he knows that now, when they have him cornered?
Tesla Armadia	Really now, isn't that a question he should of been asking a lot sooner? "Oh, do put those away." In spite of the weapons drawn on them Tesla's stoic demeanor doesn't show a bit of waiver. The most she does is unfold her hands from behind her back, and even that is just to use one hand to adjust her visor as one would expect to see a scientist fiddle with their glasses. "I would say if you know what's good for you... but if you knew such, you wouldn't be romping around a high threat zone on your own, now would you?" In fact, she goes so far as to impassively ignore the drawn swords and instead walks over to pick up one of the IVs to examine it. "This is some pretty serious shit. If someone where to try and utilize this sort of dark medicine." Pause. "Or the sort of magic that ruined this district in the first place," she amends, "it could cause some pretty heavy problems in other worlds. Particularly ones that are not knowledgable or advanced enough to contend with such contrastingly different ideas." And just like that the IV loses her interest, and is tossed away over her shoulder. "But that's just my passing personal interest as a researcher of such things" After which she turns back to Stigmata, this time fixating him with a stern, yet somehow almost bored looking, gaze from behind her visor. Takes a few steps, almost too casually, towards him. Again, apparently not bothered at all by his drawn weapons. "Most certainly, I could elaborate on our presence here outside of investigating this atrocious display of a deranged man of medicine..." Tilts her head a little to one side. "Or would you rather take a look for yourself?" One metal-clad finger is tapped to the side of her temple. Do you -want- to possibly see all the twisted and despicable things an accomplished mad scientist like Tesla Armadia has done in her career? "But seriously. Put the swords away... Before one of us has to disarm you." Does she mean of the weapons, or like literally dis-arm him? The way she does finally smile, just enough to show her fang-like teeth, really doesn't clarify any.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary, at least, doesn't seem to suspect much as they head deeper into the hospital. Perhaps it's still her green-ness showing, perhaps it's all an act, or maybe... No, it's definitely being green. Thankfully, Tesla's there to bring the suspicious moves to her attention in addition to Stigmata making it a little more obvious with the drawing of his swords, and the healer rests her hand on the handle of her gunaxe once she's made aware by Tesla's stern warning. "Hm? Why... Wouldn't we answer?" Several reasons, probably, but at least she has the sense to look a little confused about all of it. Some of that confusion is even genuine! Have they been found out already? It seems so, but considering the location... No, it'd be too easy here. He has no escape route. THey can blow holes through the walls. Even someone with as unstrategic a mind as herself would know that this has to be a trap! Still, the fact that Tesla's seeming unafraid of any traps he might have laid does put the healer at ease somewhat. With the semi-veiled threats being thrown around both ways, though... Might as well come clean about a few things and see how it goes from there. Sanary's fairly confident it'll work out better for them, at least. "We came here to check out the place, clear out those zombie things, and kick someone's ass hard." It's all being said matter-of-fact'ly, and she glances over at Tesla to make sure that she (herself/Sanary) isn't giving away too much. "You're... Actually doing it, though. Clearing out this place, I mean. Hell of a lot better than the other so-called heroes that ain't even here, anyway, so... Yeah." Sanary shrugs, and she raises her hand from the axe to give Stigmata a quick thumbs-up. "Good job. Won't stop us from kicking your ass if you don't follow Armadia's advice, though. Your call."
Dr. Vahzilok	Stigmata seems calm at first as he gets the responses from the both of them. Then he snarls, "You're with him, aren't you? With the killer? I can feel him here! And he's been with you the whole time!" Then he seems to try to regain control himself. Is it the threats they made that causes that? He closes his eyes, lowers his head, and his blades sink down a bit. He breathes in deeply and lets the air out. "I don't get to leave the monsters behind after I take them out. Once I get into their head, they get into mine. Bits and pieces, mostly, but the killers live on inside of me. When it was just in my head, I could handle it. Even when I wasn't sure they were rela. But this place... They aren't just in my head now. Their ghosts are with me. They want vengeance. They want blood, and I can't give it to them. Can I? I mean, that isn't what heroes do." He's rambling, half to himself, and half to them. "But I've taken them down that way so far. Even if they've gotten the better of me sometimes. They're sneaky, conniving specters. But the way to control them is with experience. To learn how to fight without having to go too far. If I save enough lives that will make up for it, right? I can finally go back to what I was meant to do, before I became burdened with all these other minds!" Then he looks up, and his eyes are bright and clear, and there's no signs of madness in his expression. "You said this was a high level zone?" He raises his blades once more and lowers himself into a fighting stance. "I estimate my combat effectiveness matches a security level of 40 out of the possible maximum of 50. It would normally take seveal or even dozens of years, or even one's entire career as a hero to get close to that. Most will never half that far. Do you know what my official security clearance is?" He grins confidently. "Only 4. But by manifesting the additional minds I've picked up as ghosts, and a lifetime of combat and killing against dangerous enemies between all ten personalities, I've reduced the time it takes to become this strong to only a few months!" Then Stigamata lunges at Sanary and Tesla suddenly, unheeding of their warnings, turning into a whirling dervish of deft slices and deadly maneuvers, carving the floor and walls as he passes them, seemingly without even touching them. "Don't worry. I'll be sure your killer friend sees your corpses when I hunt him down!"
Tesla Armadia	An eyebrow is raised a bit more at the ramble Stigmata goes into. Which explains a lot more than he's probably intending to give away. Or maybe as he shifts from one mindset to another, he just no longer cares. Though it would seem there was some misinterpretation over how he takes information from other's minds. Oh well. Apparently magic and skitzofrenia don't mix very well. In the end though, Tesla just... actually chuckles a bit, looking aside to Sanary a moment as if sharing some sort of inside joke. "And you people worry about -me- staring into the abyss too long." But despite the turn of her head she hasn't taken her attention off Stigmata. Situational awareness and all that. Even as the man goes into a whirlwind of blades and slashing as he apparently thinks he has a head start on them. Slice slash slice slash slice... in a matter of seconds the combination of tactical scans from her visor and her own pretty much expecting this sort of outcome has Tesla breaking down the seemingly blurred flurry of his attack... And just as Stigmata actually steps up to her with one of his slashing swings, swings her own punch right for his face with her kinetic gauntlet, aiming for what can only be vage clicks of an opening between his sword strikes.
Sanary Rondel	"What? No, we want him taken down as much as you do!" Sanary narrows her eye as she braces the riot shield a little more tightly against her side, although there's a hint of a sympathetic look as Stigmata reveals the source of his power. It's not the sort of thing that she's unfamiliar with herself, but at least she had a support network. Even Tesla does, if her look over at her is any indication. "Looks like we all have, huh?" Does he, though? "... So that's how it works, huh? Well... Hey, what the hell is a 'hero', anyway? Someone that doesn't get anything done, or someone that's willing to do the hard shit and save people?" It almost sounds like she's actually trying to reassure him! "But trust me when I tell you that trying to get powerful this way doesn't-" Up until he starts attacking, anyway. Then she's put on the defensive, bracing the shield in front of her to defend against most of that speedy series of slashes. Some of them still get past her wall of metal, though, drawing blood and leaving several gashes at her sides as she turns around quickly to face Stigmata as he passes by them. "Tch... We told you already, but if that's how you wanna do it...!" She whips her gunaxe free of its place at her side and channels some magical energy into it to power up the Freeze shell loaded inside, then starts lumbering forward to try and bring down that axe upon the mind-clouded maybe-hero!
Dr. Vahzilok	The attacks from Tesla Armadia make contact, though it seems Stigamata is no stranger to pain, or that willpower of his makes him able to push through it, because he doesn't seem to care as much about the damage taken as he probably should for someone so much stronger than him. He starts using more skill-based than volume-based attacks, feinting and then lashing out with an attack from a different direction, underneath Tesla's jaw. Even though his partially-masked face is bruised and bleeding from the blows he has taken so far, he's still able to think on his feet and adjust his tactics. Maybe it's not so much his raw power that is huge, as his sheer combat experience. But it's severely hampered by his insanity. As Sanary brings her gun-axe down on his shoulder, he staggers briefly under the impact, his body suit cleaving under the blow. He spins around, lashing out in a whirling attack at melee range that basically turns him into a human meat-grinder. It's unpleasant to get hit with if it lands, but not lethal to Elites. At least, not on its own. "Liars! Have you not looked behind you? Beside you? You can' tell me you're alone! He's there! Right there! He's been following us, and you led him here! How can I believe you aren't working together? How can I know who is an enemy or not, when you're all liars, keeping secrets!? You're monsters! You need to be put down!" He's clearly not thinking rationally anymore. Taking on the madness and ghosts of serial killers has turned a hero who wanted to go out and do the right thing for the sake of others, even if he had to get his hands dirty, into just another killer himself. It's like Tesla thought. The darkness of humanity can get to anyone eventually. And some people really aren't able to handle it. Some people are too pure to even try. Because once they discover a flaw in their pure motives, a target that isn't what they expected, evil among those they fought for, their black and white worldview comes crashing down. He can't stand up to the both of them. Not long-term. But he's putting up a fight.
Tesla Armadia	To be entirely honest, Tesla is unsurprised that he's unfeeling and unacknowledging of pain in his madness. She's also rather unimpressed by it. Bluster and bravado may hide pain but it does not so well hide the harm done. His descent into constant semi-dilerious ranting by this point is a bit of a curiousity though. Clearly he does not have as much control over these fragments of alternate mindstates than he thinks he does. "Tch. While it may be true you have gained considerable power in a comparitively short amount of time." Tesla thinks just as quickly on her feet, grabbing the blade aimed at her throat with one hand, sparks flying between her fingers as the blade slices against the metallic palm instead of her neck. "But the deeper you looked, the more blurred lines you saw, didn't you?" Is it more demeaning, or just a bit creepy, that she's saying all this in the sort of vocal tone one would expect from a college professor giving a lecture. "The world isn't black and white. I've seen it too. The greyness that lies in the hearts of the Good AND the Evil." Even as she's taking a step back onto the defense, much like the armadillo she's been genetically spliced with. She doesn't completely roll up in a ball, but the way she crouches down and expands the additional shielding from her gauntlet braces and holds them together at an angle over her is much the same effect. The whirlwind of blades cuts gouges into and even tears a few chunks off the shields. Though that is kind of the point of ablative armor, it gets trashed so your more vulnerable bits don't. Though under such a flurious assault, some of the strikes now being made in precision rather than volume, do manage to get past the breaking shield and dig into her arm and shoulders. Maybe she should of activated her full armor, but there was neither time nor inclination. "But you weren't ready for that... So, to sum up this lesson..." Just as Stigmata's attack sequence is coming to a close, Tesla drops what remains of the ablative shield and stands back up, the saw-like 'claws' extending from the sides of the other gauntlet as she turns to catch one of Stigmata's swords between the two chainclaws. "Welcome to the horrible, pitiful, fictional -reality-." And then twists, using the motion to wrench his arm painfully in the opposite direction and heave the mentally unstable swordsman off sideways.
Sanary Rondel	In any other circumstances, Sanary would actually be impressed by Stigmata's endurance. As addled as he is, though, she simply frowns at him while drawing the weapon back in time for his assault to come her and Tesla's way. "Ah, crap. He's losing it. Just like..." Sanary scowls slightly as her magitech eye flickers for a moment, adjusting for a moment as it switches to the Fire matrix contained inside it. She's not charging it up yet, but they might just need it if the fight goes on too long. "Good and evil ain't as easy as it look, no... Sometimes, it means hurting some people to save more." Oddly enough, her shield and weapon are doing a much better job at taking the hits than she is, but the healer still has an ace up her sleeve to keep herself and Tesla in the fight! Namely, being a freaking healer. A green light cloud extends from her body as she directs her magic energy around herself and towards the armadillo lady, accelerating their natural healing rapidly in an effort to shore up some of their wounds from the killer hero's attack. "Can you do that, Stigmata? Or... Whoever you are now? Are you really ready to save anyone in this city?" For now, however, she's focused on trying to keep herself and Tesla in good shape to turn this less into a battle of skill and more of a battle of attrition!
Dr. Vahzilok	His willpower will see him through. But part of his will seems to come from the combination of wills he has taken from those he has gotten into the heads of so thoroughly they have become part of him. And in a place like Dark Astoria, where ghosts roam, and a terrible god of utter unlife lies somewhere below, those he has taken down manifesting as phantasms of memory isn't that improbable. This is a place steeped in darkness. Those already tainted are probably more susceptible than most. Does that mean Tesla and Sanary are vulnerable too? It's unclear, but even as his arm is nearly wrenched out of the socket, Stigmata rolls with the attack, and comes up onto his feet. He doesn't seem to have any special defenses. No armor, no regeneration, no superhuman resilience. He just keeps fighting and fighting until either he or the enemy is defeated. "Johnny's not here right now. Please leave a message after you finished bleeding out," Stigmata says in a guttural voice tone as he slashes one of the IV stands up into the air with the tip of his blade, turning it into an improvised javelin aimed at Sanary. If the healer is providing healing, take out the healer. Or at least occupy her. His other arm isn't moving as smoothly as before, but if he is driven by willpower, then it's possible his recovery is too. Given time, he can probably recover. And given medical technology in Paragon City, he might recover even faster. Assuming he gets out of this fight alive. The attack upon Sanary proves to be more of a distraction than a real assault, however, as he turns and runs back down the corridor they came from. Is this Stigmata's choice, though, or one of his personalities?
Tesla Armadia	And Sanary is quick to perform as usual, which is why Tesla didn't hesitate in risking eating part of Stigmata's attacks in order to turn the tables on him again. Accelerated healing would at least help stall just how much overall damage Stigmata can do to her, and that may be what it takes to keep turning this fight in their favor. "Not to mention, your strength comes from, what was it, ten different personalities? So really, while it was quicker it still took TEN of you to reach the strength of one exceptional hero. Ten parts that, much like New Math, don't necessarily add up to a complete whole." And she comes back with a sick burn to boot. Mathematically. Hit sparks continue to fly as she uses the chainclaws to deflect most of Stigmata's strike attempts, though even with tactical calculations on her side she can't predict every strike. Though Sanary's healing boost and her own armadillo toughness are putting a curb on how much damage he can rack up. And then Stigmata heaves an IV at Sanary to distract her and makes a run for it. Tch. Just as he was getting interesting too. Tesla wheels around in the direction the deranged man took off in. A technopathic command alters the tech of her boots, and in a moment she takes after him using the kinetic discharges as a dashing speed boost, the brief pulses of energy visible behind her. "We have destroyed monsters worse than you. We have outsmarted Heroes and -other- Villains that were more than you and your borrowed talents will ever amass to." And still giving her depreciating lecture at the same time. "So while your little mental gangbang may essentially outnumber the two of us..." As Tesla closes in energy crackles around her gauntlets as another technopathic command alters their state of output. At the final moment she gives a last boost from her boots to initiate a charging leap of sorts, aiming to grab onto the fleeing Stigmata and discharge a rather impressive amount of electrified power through his body. Painfully so. "We outEXPERIENCE you."
Sanary Rondel	Although Sanary's not a stranger to being around darker energies and malevolent spirits lurking about on a dialy basis, she's still not quite so used to them as to just be able to shrug off the effects of the darkness without a second thought. It's only the combination of having a clear target to focus her aggression on and an ally to keep in fighting condition that she doesn't just dive right in and go all out. "That's... Actually, that does kinda make it sound less impressive." The banter actually helps quite a bit, too. Not that she seems particularly interested in a dragged out brawl with Stigmata. The man's clearly lost it, even if that move to use the IV stand as a projectile is still much more clever than she'd been anticipating from anyone. Her riot shield's up to the task of defending against it, but he's already running by the time she realizes what his real goal was. The healer gives chase with Tesla, albeit not moving nearly as quickly even with magic augmenting her agility to offset the weight of the shield. "That's right... That's what we came here for. If those heroes want to really fix things, then they better send more than just you!" And now she's starting to get into it herself. Following the armadillo lady's lead, Sanary pumps a brief burst of energy into her anklets, launching herself forward as well! ... And right past the both of them nearly into a wall. Still, maybe that'll be enough of a distraction to give her comrade an opportunity to sandwich him between the both of them! If nothing else, they might at least have an easier time keeping Stigmata from escaping. That was a planned maneuver, really!
Dr. Vahzilok	Tesla's lightning attack hits Stigmata in the back, shocking and paralyzing him with muscle spasms that send him stumbling directly into the path of Sanary's reckless charge. When she slams into the water, she slams him into it too. Fried, and then smashed into the wall, Stigamata slumps to the ground. For the moment, it seems like his true self has returned to the surface. At least for now, though his body is half-crushed. "I... I can't die here... I refuse... If I don't... Keep fighting... Who... Will protect people?" He coughs up an awful lot of blood, implying organ damage. His eyes start to sink shut, as he says, "The killer... Still... On the loose... Can't... Give... Up." Right as it seems he's fading, his eyes snap open, and with a wild yell, he lunges with his single functional arm, and starts trying to crawl down the hallway, pulling himself along. He doesn't make it far before his breathing cuts out amidst ragged gurgles, and he finally stops moving. Did he even hear any of their lectures? Did they make a difference? Are they what brought him back at the end, or was that the specter of death looming over him? William Wordsworth said, 'The good die first, and they whose hearts are dry as summer dust, burn to the socket.' Stigmata fell here, and Tesla and Sanary stand triumphant... Will they be happy about their victories when they reach their ends, clinging to life like Stigmata? Or will they meet their ends unexpectedly, while doing what they believe in too, also like him? Were all three of them villains? Or could they all be seen as heroes in their own way? It's uncertain. What is certain is that the seemingly mad ramblings about the serial-killer being here may not have been all that mad. One final, chilling reminder that in Dark Astoria, not all is at it seems. Maybe Stigmata wasn't seeing things after all. Mixed with dust and blood, there are the distinct prints of four different people entering this corridor on the floor.
Tesla Armadia	And so comes the end of the line for one very deranged man. Hero or villain or both was irrelivant, such an unhinged individual, regardless of good intentions, should not of been left on his own in such a sick and twisted place. Hopefully one death now would prevent more needless ones later. Tesla would rather not have to plan out the demise of multiple supers of both inclinations, again. If anything, in her own way, she was trying to -prevent- Paragon City from stumbling down the path the last superpower-world she meddled in did. "We should take our own advice," she remarks to Sanary, even as she turns to walk back out of the building. "This is no place for the two of us to dig around on our own, now that our primary objective has been completed." Dark Astoria was a much, MUCH bigger mess than she had originally anticipated.
Sanary Rondel	Getting back onto her feet after that awkward maneuver, Sanary slips that axe back into place on her belt before clearing her throat. "Good work, Armadia. That.. Uh. I meant to do that." She states a little too quickly, almost like she's trying to convince someone other than herself of that. Not that she has much time to gloat, of course, considering the state Stigmata's in after that combined assault. The healer lets out a weary sigh before glancing over at Tesla, then at the fallen hero. "Yeah, you're right... This place sucks. Not a place anyone should be hanging around in without real backup. Still, this should give those idiots a kick in the ass." Letting out another irritated groan, the healer drags her feet a bit as she stands over Stigmata, peering down at him before... ... Dropping some healing light over him. Is he even still alive? Does it matter? Either way, the message has to be clear to the heroes at this point. One thing's for sure: There's a lot more to this situation than it seems at first glance. They just need to figure out what that is before things become irreparably screwed up. That, or figure out how to turn it all into a net gain for themselves at the very least. Either or.