[CaptainRasmot]

"If that's the case then we are dealing with one of two things." Tomas held out two fingers. "A clone, and i'm not certain about that tech in this neck of the woods . . . or-" He stopped abruptly bringing one finger down. "A dark copy of Magnus . . . and while that does sound a lot more improbable . . . perhaps it's our best bet." Tomas put his hand to his chin, cupping it a little and stroked what seemed to be an imaginary beard. "If that's the case then we don't have the word of this dark copy, he could kill your father when and how he pleases . . . and be gone the next second. That guy seemed to vaporize through walls . . . perhaps i can make a work around to that." Tomas looked to his gun and pressed the grenade launcher holder release and it whirred open. "Have you ever heard of a flash-bang grenade, or a flare launcher perhaps." Tomas put the gun back on the bed. "Both are very crude devices but perhaps we can make something similar. We need something that would create a large flash of light, and at the same time not be lethal. We want to choke his avenues of escape." Tomas looked at Vivian slightly. "What do you think?"

[Magnus Blade]

OOC: I guess it was pretty obvious that it was Dark Magnus huh?

Vivian nodded. "That could work. I'm just confused that's all. This copy has to be dealt with as soon as possible. He may be intended to mess up the real Magnus's reputation and he'll get executed for nothing...That's how these copies work. But I won't let that happen. Oh god, first Xeyon now this. My head is hurting from all this thinking for this entire time..." she said holding her head.

[CaptainRasmot]

Tomas went over and gave a friendly arm across the back and a slight back-rub. "Wooooah, hey, take it easy. We'll find a way somehow to deal with this mess, hell i'd just love to give the fucker a specialty Tomas five knuckle sandwich." Tomas gave a slight chuckle hoping it would make her laugh. "I say we do something to get your mind off of things for a while. A walk or something normally does the trick. But it's up to you."

In all earnest feelings Tomas felt really bad for her. She shouldn't have to bare this weight on her shoulder, deciding if her father would live or die. She shouldn't even have to make the choice to kill if it were up to him. But this was a different place than the one he was used to or the one he'd want. This world was crumbling beneath their feet and it was their job to climb and run from the wreckage as it fell.

[Magnus Blade]

Vivian smiled. She tried to take her mind off of the situation. Although she was a little happy at the moment, it's pretty impossible for her to completely forget. "I guess a walk wouldn't hurt...Are you sure walking around without your armor is safe...?" She asked Tomas.

[CaptainRasmot]

"Well this stuff is not as thick-" Tomas gave a quick rap with a knuckle on the armor over his chest. "-But it has been proven to take a bullet, it's made out of a lighter version of the armor the suit uses. Spun Titanium Carbon alloy. As so long as i'm not shot in the chest with a grenade or plasma on a high setting i'm good." Tomas was about to grab his gun but left it and took a great sigh. "Sides i need to step away from being a weapon for a change."

He wasn't able to shift the tone change in that last statement, make it seem more normal. He didn't even want to, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed the walk as much as she did. He had enough going on in his mind. The mission, conflicting objectives, thin friendships, this whole ordeal, and being in a foreign place. It was starting to take it's toll on him little by little.

[Magnus Blade]

Vivian smiled again as she was turning towards the door. "This temple is pretty big so this long walk will pay off." She said holding the doorknob. Vivian peeked her head out the door and saw someone right next to the wall of the door. The man looked at Vivian with a strange look. "Uh...hey there Vivian....nice weather huh? Heheh.....don't hurt me...!" He said holding his hands behind his head.

Vivian cracked her knuckles and grabbed the man with force. "You...idiot! You are the same guy who was ease dropping on me and the Master weeks ago! You never learn to you?!!" She yelled at him. She yanked him off the floor and started pounding him on the wall, hitting him in several different spots of his body. "OWW! OWOWOWOW!!! STOP! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN! NOOOOOO!!!! OOF!"

[CaptainRasmot]

"Woah hey." Tomas started out as he came out into the hall and gently released the man from Vivian's grip. "You're doing it all wrong, watch closely."

Tomas started off with a ramming hard punch in the ribs, feeling something give a sharp crack but no broken fragments. Afterwards he shifted his grip and held back his right arm, formed a fist with every knuckle cracking from the clenching grip and rammed it into the man's face. The fist chipped out one of several teeth as he let go of the grip. The punch sent the man flying several feet onto the ground.. He cracked the knuckles in his left hand with one movement and it sounded like a thousand feet marching on skulls.

"Okay punk, unless you want some more pain, you better apologize right now before i get really angry. I've had a lot going on today, and i feel in the mood to stomp on someone's balls." Tomas's right eye twitched with anger.

[Magnus Blade]

Vivian just smiled and crossed her arms. The man was shaking in fear. He was so terrified that he could barely speak straight. "I-I-I-I'mmmm s-s-sorry! I...t-t-told you, I'll never d-do it again!" He said frozen with fear.

[CaptainRasmot]

"Good, now get the hell out of here before i start painting the halls red."

Tomas's right eye flashed read to give the confirmation of glee Thor was feeling from the whole action. In fact, Thor was enjoying every moment of it, reveling in the fear. Drinking up the pain from the man as though it was a alcoholic beverage. Every cry of pain was a breath of ecstasy to Thor, the blood lust filling him to the brim.

Thor grinned widely in the back of Tomas's head. "Oooooh, how divine."

Tomas ignored the sickening presence, concentrated on sending the eavesdropper off. He was more concerned about the man being a spy. Maybe some kind of double agent sent here to gather intel behind the Temple walls. Well Tomas would have none of it, and if he were in a worse mood the guy wouldn't have teeth left. He merely glared at the figure before him, like an imposing angry god from on-high. And this god was tired of having things turn dreadfully sour.

[Magnus Blade]

"O-okay..." the man said fearfully, getting up from the floor and sped off running as fast as he could, ignoring his pain to escape for his life.

Vivian watched the fool run away out of sight and turned to Tomas. "...Heh, that was worst than what I was going to do to him. Eh, but I can't blame him. Ever since I told him that I surprise for him a month ago, which I lied so he could leave me alone, he's been easedropping on me ever sense..."

[CaptainRasmot]

Tomas looked at Vivian oddly. "He shouldn't even be at the point of eavesdropping, for all you know he could be spying on you for the people who threaten to kill your father." Tomas grit his teeth and nearly let out a hiss. "I was about ready to kill the bastard . . . the hell is on my mind . . . " Tomas shook his head and held one palm to his temple. "Let's get out of here . . . before i over-stay my welcome." Tomas finished in an exasperated sigh.

[Magnus Blade]

Vivian looked at Tomas before she started walking. "Well, let's just try to relax. Thinking about it any further will just make things worst. Let's just start walking." She said starting to walk ahead. She stopped and forgot that she left her lance in the room. "I'll...be right back."

Vivian ran back in the room and grabbed the lance. She ran back out next to Tomas. "You'll never know when something will happen." She said smiling.

[CaptainRasmot]

Tomas nodded and walked beside Vivian, running a hand through his hair to clear some of his thoughts. "So you've lived here your whole life? Not saying that's bad just wondering." Tomas looked up at the ceiling and gave a slight chuckle. "You know, i'm not fully American, or whatever they're calling it now at days. I was born in greece since my mom and dad were in the navy." Tomas seemed to go slightly blank and return back from the blank stare. "They were actually part of a research team, traveling the seas to measure the effects of the Maverick virus on ocean life and all that. Did you know, despite all that happened, nothing affected the sea life. In fact there are aquatic creatures down there that live in harmony." Tomas chuckled and shook his head. "My mother and father beat this into my head when i was young, telling me 'You truly don't know the world until you've explored the inner depths.' As though i was going to join them out at sea or something."

His blank face returned and he tried to register faces onto the figures of his mother and father, trying to put them into his mind. All he drew were ambiguous shadows wrapped in more darkness and solitude than they should be. What were his happy memories were seemingly erased from his mind by all the horrible memories. He remembered seeking out the information and finding it on a disc. The people he loved and called family were blown up by the chunk of rock known as Force Metal. The biggest discovery was founded on the death of his parents. Oh the deep irony behind it all.

[Magnus Blade]

"Well, I lived here for 10 years when Scar kidnapped me. He didn't like having me around Arc Valley, the devilish, sinister place he once resided in so he just casted me out on my own. I was only 6 at the time but the Wind Master found me in an alley of Abel City and carried me all the way to the Temple. Seeing as how returning to my father was going to get him killed, I've lived here ever since." She said with a smile. "And your parents sounds like great people. Are they still living? My mom was killed in a Maverick raid and all who is left is my dad." she asked.

[CaptainRasmot]

"My parents were part of the greatest discovery on this planet . . ." He said slowly and stopped suddenly. " . . . they were both on a ship, monitoring the sky over the pacific . . . dangerously close to the rim of the quarantine zone." He wrung his hands silently and started walking again. "We were living in Neo-Tokyo at the time. The country made a truce with America, we can put troops there and they cover up the secret. In essence not even Abel City knows about the base." Tomas sighed and put his hands behind his back. "Then one day, it happened while i was in school. That meteor made out of Force Metal crashed down into the ocean . . . crushing the ship my parents were on in a nuclear explosion. The Force Metal of course survived the impact and explosion . . . but my parents?" Tomas looked ahead, he thought he could see the shadows of his parents fade away. "Vaporized."

[Magnus Blade]

Vivian listened to Tomas up to the point where he said his parents died. She remembered how it was to lose family so she understood how Tomas felt yet she felt sad for him. The image of the Mavericks killing her mother still haunts her. "I'm sorry...I know how it feels." She said to Tomas.

[At the Entrance]

The Man from before ran outside quickly still fearing for his life. Behind a tree, the dark robed figure grabbed the man by the neck and dragged him back to the gates of the temple. "You. Why are you running?" The Dark Figure asked the man. He was shaking with even more fear. "I....I'm running from...some guy and....V-Vivian." He slowly replied. The Dark Figure choked the man harder. "Oh? I'm guessing you were spying...And if you can escape from two people catching you, then you'll make an excellent new spy for me if you can prove yourself because if you can't....heheh, you'll see...So, what did you hear?" He asked the man.

The Man was more scared than ever now. His entire face was covered with sweat. "I...I only c-c-caught only a b-bit of what they were saying...." The man replied to the Dark Figure. The Dark Figure was angered by the response and grabbed his neck tighter and tighter. "Hmm...That wasn't the type of answer I was looking for. Useless. Just like the other spies I try to hire. Very well, prepare to receive my judgment!"

The Dark Figure's eyes turned to the Phoenix Eyes. The Dark Figure's Right Phoenix Eye turned Dark Purple and he stared in the Man's eyes. The Man had all his bad memories replayed at once. It was so much stress on the brain, he could not take it. "AUUUUAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" The man screamed in pain. Suddenly, the inside of his head burst open and his brains splattered everywhere, on the gates, on the walls of the temple, and on the ground.

The Dark Figure dropped the dead remains of the man and walked off. "Such a waste of time. And here I thought I could find the perfect spy. Useless, every one of the pathetic fools..." He said as he made another portal from his hand and he jumped into it.

[CaptainRasmot]

Tomas nodded slowly and looked ahead "it's fine . . . i just wish i had more time with them . . . perhaps i would've made them proud one day." He sighed and looked ahead as they walked. "Perhaps maybe i have made them proud despite what has happened."

As they walked out of the Temple they spotted the dead body of the man he had beaten to a pulp earlier. Tomas's eyes widened and he dashed ahead to the dead body. He cursed as he observed the damage done and stopped suddenly. It was unlike anything familiar to him, there was no burn, no mark of explosives. It was just as though his head had popped off like an over-filled balloon. He kept looking at the wound and spotted where the blood had made an outline. There was another figure who was here, someone who made this happen. Maybe it was a biological weapon? He heard of stuff like this happening, how it could do things to one's body.

"Shit . . . whoever was here . . . is gone." He had subconsciously looked around for who did this but hadn't spotted the figure.

[Magnus Blade]

Vivian was shocked to see the same man from before...dead. "Now I feel bad for hurting him...Look at his neck. The person who did this was choking him..." She said as she saw a deep hand print and fingers on the man's neck. "Either someone choked him so hard that his head exploded, or--" She paused as she couldn't really think of the other reason. Another meaningless death just occurred and yet she felt powerless but of course, there was nothing she could do about it. It was over and done with.

Vivian called out to the monks of the temple. They came rushing out the gates to see the blood everywhere and the dead body. One of the monks walked up and examined the body. "Oh my...What in god's name happened here...?!" The Monk asked. Vivian shook her head, showing that she didn't know. The Monks just sat there, puzzled. Vivian looked at the man and into his eyes that were still there...well, what was left of them. She saw fear, confusion, and pain in his eyes. "His eyes were...like mine when that man looked at me with those eyes. I wonder why he didn't kill me..." She said still looking at the dead body in shock.

[CaptainRasmot]

"You obviously didn't piss him off." Tomas got up from the bloody body and checked his hands, blood was there. "One problem we do have however is how this guy gets around . . . obviously he can be anywhere but how does he do that? Tunnels through the dimension? A scientist would have a hard time figuring it out." Tomas observed what Vivian did and looked into the eyes and poked one watching it decompose in seconds. "Interesting . . . he's decomposing faster than normal . . . like his body was burned from the inside out . . . not enough to leave traces." Tomas found a stick and prodded it into the blood and pulled it out to watch the stick melt away slightly. "But enough to make the blood hot enough to make the body decompose quickly . . . in a way he's getting rid of the evidence . . . no blood on his hands."

Tomas stood up and checked the foot prints, the grass upon closer inspection looked like it had been burnt. He used a new stick and got the same result as the earlier blood. He furrowed his brow and looked at the comparison of the sticks, one was decomposing faster than the other and that was the one in the grass. At leas he now knew that whatever the character uses it was some kind of unique energy.

"Tell me . . . what forms of energy have been discovered here in Abel City?" Tomas looked at Vivian and the monks. "Ones that can raise temperatures or eat away organic matter?"

[Magnus Blade]

Vivian got up and looked at Tomas. "Pretty much both if you ask me." She replied to Tomas. She took another look at the body, then looked over at the grass. "He's obviously after something if he's been hanging around this Temple. There's really nothing special here so...why? Maybe Master knows something but he's in a conference right now..." She said, still puzzled.

The Monks carefully stationed themselves at the remains of the man. "We'll give him a proper burial. Who could have done such a thing...?"