Rude Awakenings [Rory]

[Rory Ashe]

'The' Rory, as the overseer soon realized, was actually THE Rory. As in, the flesh and blood Rory, the master of death, the harbinger of war, the bringer of pain, the picker of marigolds... Rory had to kill an entire village to get that last title... That was besides the point, the thing was that Rory had somehow escaped from his side of the Pit and was now standing directly over the real Freya. This was not good at all, and worse, everyone knew it was really Rory except for one person apparently... Freya.

As soon as he touched the quivering red head, a leg shot out and hit him in the shin. Immediately Rory lowered his gun and took a step back, shouting out several words very loudly; though none of them could be heard over the blaring sound. From the movement of his lips though it looked as though he was speaking english, and several of the words looked as though they started with an 'f', 'b', or 's'. This was definitely the real Freya; how did he know? Well, it wasn't the first time that foot had hit him...

Finally he had found her though, after everything he had to go through... Though it looked as though she had gone through a lot worse. Rory slid the rifle sling over his shoulder and holstered it before kneeling down beside Freya. Unlike her, he wasn't plugging his ears, not that it didn't hurt him, but that he couldn't hear. A small trickle of blood could be seen out of each ear, sometimes unnaturally powerful hearing was a bad thing.

Rory's concern was Freya though, he had to snap her out of this right now, he had to give her some hope before they completely broke her. So after kneeling down, he softly reached over and began to pull her arms away from her face (avoiding her legs this time), so that she would be forced to look at him. After he pulled her arms away he knew she would probably doubt he was real, and he couldn't talk to her, so how to convince her it was him?.... With a soft smile, and making sure she was still watching him, he pulled the collar of his shirt down to reveal a... hickey? Well, that definitely should do it...

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

After everything Freya had endured, it wasn’t that surprising she didn’t know this was the real Rory. She was almost in a daze, unable to tell real from illusion. Everything seemed real now. Each gruesome death she’d seen forever burned into her memory. She just kept seeing it. Over and over, as if her mind was on a never ending cycle. But she care not open her eyes to try and forget them. If she did, she might see new, terrifying images…

She couldn’t even recall kicking another Rory, if that said just how bad of shape she was in. The movement she’d made had somehow happened with her out notice. But really… Could you blame her for being a little out of it? She had probably a hundred torturous images of her boyfriend dead fresh in her mind! There was only one way it could have been worse. And that was if she’d been forced to see mutilated bodies of her sister as well. Honestly, she would have been totally and completely broken if they’d decided to murder both people that were most dear to her.

Something tore her away from her dark and twisted thoughts. Strong, gentle hands had a hold of each of her wrists, slowly trying to pull her arms away from her face. Rory was smart to assume she’d fight, the woman thrashing, and trying desperately to bring her hands back. He’d also notice that she was cold to the touch. Icy, actually. Distress had caused her body temperature to plummet, like it always did when she was near her breaking point.

Finally, though, her eyes opened, forced to look at whoever this was. Rory..? No. Not her Rory. Another copy. Another copy that would try to kill her or play more mind games. Best not to fight, right? She stopped resisting, but her whole body violently grimaced as that terrible sound assaulted her ears. Her trembling only got worse as the whole blunt of the sound made her head pound, black spots appearing in her vision as she just waited for whatever would happen… It wasn’t what she expected though.

A…. hickey…?

Freya didn’t move, except for her violent trembling, for several moments. That sound was doing a bang up job disorienting the woman, because, for a few horrible moments she didn’t seem aware of what it actually meant, or, that this was the real Rory.

She continued to stare at him, before finally…. Everything clicked. Her eyes widened slightly, before she suddenly threw her arms around his neck, burying her face him his chest. She didn’t need to say anything for him to know what she was feeling. Terror (Something she’d never shown around Rory before now.), pain, anguish, and pure relief…. It would probably be like being able to read her mind.

Rory, the real Rory, had found her.

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

The first time Rory had gone through the Pit, so many years ago it was almost exactly how it looked today. It was most likely the same overseer as well. They had tried the sound torture, but eventually Rory just muscled through the pain. They tried sensory deprivation, keeping him in the dark, but he just found it relaxing. They starved him of food and water, but he just used the time to fast and meditate. They tried to use holograms and illusions to scare him, but he just used them for reaction training. Everything they did, Rory would turn it into a positive that worked for him, they could not break him.

To the agency, it seemed that their prisoner Rory Ashe had no fears, and apparently no weaknesses that could be exploited. He was a rock, a stone fortress of emotions, the more they hurt him, the more he enjoyed it; until they the day they hit a nerve. Rory has never and probably will never say what they did that finally got to him, but once they found it, everything else fell out of order. They broke his grip on reality first, then made him question his senses, then they eventually made him realize he had no control over the situation; and broke him.

When it finally happened Rory was terrified, absolutely terrified and drained to the point where he couldn't do anything. It was easy for them to brainwash him after that, but ever since that day Rory hasn't had a very good grip on his sanity... Then again, he may actually have a better handle of his emotions than any other person alive and simply appear insane to the common man. Regardless, Rory knew what it was like.

So when he saw the look on Freya's face, he knew exactly how she felt as she threw her arms around him. He could only imagine what it took to break her, and to see her this terrified made him regret ever having been seperated from her at first... He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, very tightly, as the sound blared on...

"Damnit, seperate them now! We cannot let them be together! Rory knows how to open the door in that maze and he will use her as his key!" The overseer shouted in the small control room, immediately all the soldiers went to work.

Rory stood up, pulling Freya to her feet and motioning for her to cover her ears from the sound; revealing the blood coming from his own ears. Holding onto her hand he took a step back and slapped his hand against the white wall of the Pit and mouthed very slowly "Fake". Then motioned toward her and began to mouth out very slowly "Raise the he-" Just as he was motioning for her to make it as hot as she could, the lights went out and stayed out as the screeching sound in the room got louder. They were going to do everything they could to seperate them...

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

Freya and Rory were very different. While he could get through most situations without any emotional reaction, Freya couldn’t help it. She got angry, upset, happy… She couldn’t keep her emotions out of it. So, obviously, while Rory had been plowing through the Pit like a bulldozer, remaining as emotionally unattached as possible, Freya had cracked.

When Rory had found her though, it was like having cold water dumped over your head, shocking your whole system. The damage was still there, obviously, but it was like she was finally awake, as if everything before had been a dream. Freya was reminded that all of it had been an illusion… But how could it have felt so… so real?

He had a plan though, she knew that much, as he stood, forcing her to her feet. Reluctantly she released her grip on his neck, doing as told and covering her ears once more. In the process she noticed the blood. Great… She’d forgotten about his freakish hearing, no wonder he wasn’t ‘bothered’ by the sound, it’d blown his eardrums.

It was hard reading lips she decided. Very hard. It took her a moment to figure out the first word. Fake. Okay. Fake walls. That didn’t make sense. Oh well, moving on. Raise the…. That was all she got before the lights turned off. Since this was Freya, she knew what the last word was without any help. Heat. That’s what she did, after all!

The sound got worse.

Her hands couldn’t block it out now, the sound so bad she was pretty sure her vision, if it wasn’t already pitch black, probably would have gone dark for several moments. Though it wouldn’t be heard, or seen, the woman whimpered in agony. Rory, even without his sight to see her, or hearing to realize the sound was worse, would probably know what was happening from her violent shaking and almost doubling over.

Focus, Freya…. You need to raise the temperature! Dammit, it hurts though! It’ll hurt even more if you don’t raise the temperature! They won’t stop unless you two do something about!

That thought alone made Freya push through the pain. It was a horribly slow process, the sound scrambling her thoughts to the point that, for several dreaded moments, nothing happened. Finally though, finally the temperature started to climb, higher and higher. Every few moments it would falter a little, then continue it’s ascent. It was probably due to Rory being close to Freya, and holding on to her, that he went without being roasted alive, her much cooler body temperature actually saving him from the fate.

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

Freya and Rory were not only different in the ways that they had approached the Pit, but when it came down to it, they were absolute polar opposites in more ways than one. Sure, parts of their personalities do mesh quite well, they are both aggressive, both violent, among a few things; not to mention because of the amount of time they had spent together, they had picked up traits from each other. However, when it came down too it, they were completely opposite when handling situations.

When an exciting or dangerous situation occurred, Rory often handled it calmly, cooly, and with surgical precision. Though he seemed like he was a loose cannon, if you watched his actions you would see that they were all very well thought and you could see a plan behind everything he did. On the outer layer, he handled most situations with an almost school boy glee.

He enjoyed what he did, he talked way more than he should, he harrassed his enemies before killing them, he joked, he laughed, and he insulted. It was all one big party to him, or so it appeared on the surface, but the fact never changed that he was ALWAYS in control of EVERYTHING that happened around him. To put it incredibly simple, Rory was a manifestion of war itself. He was cold, brutal, relentless, and unforgiving; yet he was also calm, cool, calculated despite the chaos around him and a plan could be seen through the confusion of battle if you looked closely.

Freya on the otherhand was the complete opposite, she was brash, bold, and hot-headed; pun intended. She wore her emotions on her sleeve for everybody to see and she handled almost every situation with what seemed like a very distinct strategy for Freya; burn it all. Where Rory was like a precision knife right in the spine of a single enemy, Freya was like a damn warhead. You dropped her into a situation, and everyone and their grandmother's dog would be taken out.

To say it simply for Freya, she was the manifestion of chaos itself. in all her actions, in all her deeds, she enjoyed and sought after violent chaos. On a side-note, as a manifestion of chaos, it seems only fitting that she's also a woman... Coencidence? Highly unlikely...

Regardless, it was these different approaches that seemed to bring them together more than anything. Rory kept Freya's fury under cheque, showing her how to plan before you act, while Freya kept Rory's boredom from every appearing; because a bored Rory is a very, very, dangerous Rory... It was also these two different types of personalities that helped, or hindered, them inside the Pit; as was clearly shown now.

Rory could feel the temperature begin to fluctuate, she had gotten his plan, but it wasn't rising fast enough. As soon as it would rise, it'd suddenly drop too, no doubt the sound and the stress from the situation was giving Freya a hard time to find control. On top of it all, as the heat began to rise, not only was it dark and a mind numbing sound was screeching out, but it began to feel as though the walls were closing in; if Freya was claustrophobic it would likely only add to her panic.

As mentioned before, Rory's true skill was his ability to find weaknesses in powerful mutants. A side effect of that skill was that he also learned what helped mutants control their powers. Long ago he had realized one thing that applied to all mutants, all fighters in general, focus was everything. You had to reach an almost serene state between letting your emotions run wild, and completely constraining them. A sort of... happy place, which was one of the reasons Rory meditated frequently.

Right now, it seemed Freya would never be able to make the temperature go high enough to do what Rory had planned. Suddenly an idea struck him. He still had Freya by the hand, so he pulled her to him in the darkness, wrapped his arms around her, and pressed his lips to hers. Kissing right now probably seemed absolutely crazy, but Rory was a crazy man... Crazy like a fox...

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

Rory hit the nail on the head. For every similarity they shared, there were a dozen differences. Freya and Rory really were polar opposites, but that was exactly what made them so absolutely perfect for each other. As the saying goes ‘opposites attract’, and in this case, it was true. The two balanced each other.

It wasn’t that Freya didn’t have the physical strength to do what Rory had asked. She could. It was just finding the focus. Even when Freya was angry, she could find the will. Now…. Every time she tried, there were those images in the back of her mind… Taunting her, weakening the control she was already struggling with. Thankfully, she wasn’t claustrophobic, otherwise even this small amount of control would be impossible.

Wait.. Was Rory seriously kissing her?

Yes. Yes he was. And Freya was beyond confused, and she wouldn’t blame the Ghosts watching if they were too! What was Rory trying to accomplish? Sure, they had some pretty bad timing when it came to their attraction to each other, but he’d never kissed her in the middle of a fight! Or sort of fight… Anyway! That wasn’t the point! Him kissing her was the absolute LAST thing she expected right now!

Freya didn’t notice her body temperature climbing for several moments. When she did…. Realization struck. She could feel the heat again. She could feel how low hers was, and quickly adjusted it. She could feel Rory’s. And she could feel just how weak her attempts to raise the temperature were before.

And…. She knew how stupid she’d been before for letting them get to her like that. It made her angry. Extremely angry. And it was that anger that made the temperature skyrocket. It’d been climbing before, but…. Well, Rory had called her a warhead before. This was a very good example of why.

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

"It's working sir, she's trying to use her powers but she can't." The agent said as they all watched Freya and Rory intently. Though it was totally dark in the Pit, all of the cameras had night vision, so they were able to see them both clearly.

"Excellent, keep it up, we will break them apart it seems. Send someone in to... grab... Rory..." The overseer leaned closer to the screen and slowly stopped talking as he watched what was happening; everyone in the room seemed intent on the cameras.

Were they... Kissing? Really? In the middle of a situation like this? Maybe the overseer had underestimated the cleverness of Rory and Freya...

Down in the Pit, Rory simply pulled Freya closer to him, holding her tighter against him as he continued to kiss her in front of the agents and the world. It seemed insane, absolutely crazy in fact, and he could even feel the apprehension in Freya as she kissed him back. Then he felt it, a slight jump in the heat and Freya's body suddenly burned to the touch.

When he opened his eyes, though didn't take his lips off hers, he could see her glowing in the darkness from the heat. It was working. Once again, this just went to show a prime example of how there was a plan behind every action Rory made, and how much Freya wore her emotions on her sleeves. It also showed how well they meshed together... In more ways than one.

As the heat skyrocketed, all the lights suddenly came. After a few moments the lights came on, completely unexpected to both Rory and the ghosts. After a few more minutes as the heat rose even more, the sound began to "flicker". It would be screeching one moment and silent for a brief second then back to screeching. The heat was beginning to destroy everything, though Rory didn't stop. She had to burn this place down and it would take more than this.

Rory turned and pressed her against the wall, kissing her even more passionately as the sound get even louder in between all the flickering. Despite how frantic Rory was kissing her, it was hurting him, hurting him a lot. The pain was intense but he couldn't stop now, and honestly, he didn't want to.

Inside the control towere, a small crack appeared on the glass from the heat, several of the soldiers stepped back, "She's melting all the wires sir, the system is beginning to go haywire, most of the holograms are failing.... If she keeps this up the Pit will be seen..." What the soldier meant by that, was referring to the "fake walls" Rory had pointed out earlier.

The overseer though, was had walked toward the window of the control tower that overlooked the Pit. Slowly he raised his hands up, focusing directly on Freya, he had to get her to stop... and now. Down in the pit, the sound continued on screeching but something new had come. If Freya opened her eyes, it would look as though she was kissing a very dead Rory who's skin was peeling off of his skull and an eyeball was hanging from it's socket. Worse, holes and blood could be seen spattered all over him, the overseer was going to try and make it impossible for Freya to keep her lips on Rory's...

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

What was happening… Was a little twisted. Rory was giving her the strength to push through the horrors she’d seen. To, literally, melt the entire place. At the same time, the power it would take to do this would probably kill Rory. And, singling out the area around him to keep him safe had managed to evade her thoughts… Probably because of the way he was kissing her.

It was a little insane, that he was making out with her in the middle of the battle field…. With the enemy watching. At the same time, it was absolutely hilarious. It was almost like Rory was taunting them. That reason alone was enough to make Freya cooperate…. If she hadn’t felt like cooperating before. But considering how she just melted when he kissed her like this, she had no reason not to cooperate.

Higher and higher the temperature climbed, for two reasons. One, because it always got hot when he passionately kissed her. Two, because he’d basically told her to make it as hot as she could. She was unaware of the danger she was putting Rory in as she matched his intensity.

Suddenly though, that awareness came to her. Shit. She might accidently kill Rory. She actually stopped kissing him, pulling away to focus on lowering both of their body temperatures. His to the ‘normal’ body temperature, and her own just enough that she wouldn’t roast him(Mostly because he could live with hers being a bit high. Meant less strain on her with all this multitasking.) As her eyes opened though….

Freya froze, the temperature fluctuating. By some miracle though, she managed to hold it. At least keep it at where it had been. She was pale though, deathly pale, and not from exhaustion. It was almost like a spider web affect on glass. One well aimed blow, and instead of shattering, the glass barely held up, a complex web of cracks across the entire surface. Dangerously close to the breaking point. Any more hits, and CRASH, she’d break into a million pieces.

She shut her eyes, forced them shut. Dammit it, all the images were back with a vengeance. Slowly she mouthed a single sentence. ”Get them out of my head.” Taking forced, even breaths, she still kept the temperature even. She knew she wouldn’t be able to raise it anymore. It took everything she had just to keep it at this insane temperature as is. And she didn’t know how long she’d be able to hold it now….

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

Despite how insanely high the temperature was getting, the Pit strangely seemed to be staying the same. The white walls weren't turning black, there were no heat waves, yet despite it all the guns on Rory's back were beginning to melt. His was dripping out of it's sheath, bullets fired off without a sound as the heat exploded their primers. It seemed as though everything was going to melt, yet everything in the Pit stayed the same.

Perhaps it was insane that Rory was kissing her, hell, it was insane even to him, but it wasn't without cause. He knew that everytime he kissed her, she naturally seemed to get a boost in her powers. Everytime he kissed her, she gained an amazing amount of focus (while being insanely distracted...).

It was probably the only way to get them out of here at this point. Come to think of it... Why couldn't all battles be like this? He kisses Freya and they win? That would be amazing... Maybe to beat Darkside he'd have to have make love with her... Now THIS was a war!

Suddenly it began to happen, the walls didn't darken, but they began to flicker. The blaring sound that had been going on for hours suddenly stop, likely still leaving a ringing in her ears, though Rory couldn't hear at all. The white walls flickered again, it was obvious that THEY were a hologram too. Between the flickers you could see that they may were really in a massive black room. As the walls began to flicker more rapidly, it appeared as though this was going to work.

Then suddenly the heat dropped rapidly and the walls became solid again. Rory opened his eyes just in time to meet Freya's and see her horrified expression. She had stopped kissing him and let go, forcing Rory to take a step back and look down at himself. He looked fine, there was no blood, no loose skin, then he caught a few of the words Freya mouthed... Something about her head...

She had a headache? Most likely true but that wouldn't make sense for her to say that... She had a pretty head? Well, that was very true but completely irrelevent under the current circumstances... Suddenly it donned on him, the overseer was in her head! She seriously needed to learn how to mouth her words better, perhaps it was that French accent of hers... Regardless, Rory also noticed that the heat also suddenly dropped around him, he wasn't so hot it hurt anymore. What was going on? Great, she was protecting him.

When Rory looked back up, she had her eyes shut, perfect. He slid out a small pistol from its holster, the only gun he had that hadn't melted yet. This was up to Freya, only she could beat this thing and she couldn't do it if her attention was divided between him and raising the heat, so... BANG the gun shot echoed down the now silent pit walls. That oughta focus her attention on the task at hand...

"DAMNIT!" The overseer yelled as he felt Rory die. That was his only scapegoat in tormenting Freya. The glass on the watchtower was suddenly covered with cracks, and metal began to drip from the ceiling. Most of the agents had left now, but the overseer refused to give up. This was a fight between him and Freya now, mind against mind... He slowly walked up to the cracked window and raised his hands again, focusing soley on Freya. Ye can't do this, jus' stop. If ye stop they will let us go Freya. The voice of Rory resonated in Freya's likely still ringing ears, she would also likely feel as though a massive migraine was coming on. The overseer was attacking her mind directly, causing her untold pain... It was only the overseer and Freya now. One of the most powerful mentalists in the agency, against one of the most powerful mutants alive...

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

If it weren’t for the whole ringing in her ears…. And messing with her head…. And the terrifying image…. Okay, basically if this stupid mentalist hadn’t been involved, Freya would be dangerously angry at this point. Trying to ruin her image of Rory… That was just pathetic. As it was, everything that had happened was weighing down on her.

It was silent in the Pit, her ears still ringing from the assault they’d been forced to endure. That silence was suddenly broken though… A loud bang, so loud it felt like it’d been fired right by her ea- Wait…. Her eyes flew open just in time to see Rory drop. The weapon in his hand. Rory had committed suicide...

Now… NOW it was personal. She didn’t know why he’d done it, but he had. And it her mind come to the sudden conclusion that the Ghosts had done this. Yeah, a little crazy to blame them when none were around, but that was Freya for you. Reason meant nothing to her.

The temperature had jumped pretty quickly before, but it was nothing compared to now. Her skin turned the color of molten as it climbed. It wasn’t intentional, this was merely a physical manifestation of her rage. If you had the choice to be in this room or jump into a volcano… Most people would pick the volcano. If that said just how extreme it was getting.

Rory’s voice…. It made her waver for a moment, before only getting worse. How dare they… ”You coward! Is that the best you can do?!” Yes, bad idea to taunt the enemy, but this was Freya we were talking about. You tell her not to do something, she had to do it…

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

The walls of the Pit began to flicker once more as the heat skyrocketed. They rapidly changed to different shades of grey, green, and blue as the flickered faster and faster. Suddenly there was loud *SNAP*, like a breaker shutting off, and the walls disappeared. What they revealed was a massive room with a dome like roof with one door leading out of there, and the tunnel that Freya and Rory came from on the opposite side. It almost looked a little like the cerebro back at the mansion, a very dark and twisted Cerebro.

At the far side of the room, suspended over the tunnel that Freya and Rory came from, was a large observatory deck with a massive window that overlooked the room. Standing in front of the window was a single dark figure, and considering the situation, was obviously the overseer. The window that he was staring out of was no longer cracking but actually melting. Drops of molten glass began to thin the wall that protected the overseer from the heat outside.

The man wasn't giving up yet though, he took another step forward and stared straight down at Freya, raising a single hand toward her and placing the other hand on his own temple. The overseer dropped all the illusions now, and was focusing strictly on causing the most severe mental anguish he could to Freya. He was attacking her mind directly, finding every pain she had ever felt, and making her experience them all again.

After a few moments passed though, he hadn't been fast enough, a piece of the window melted enough that it exposed a hole between him and the Pit. The intense hit filled the room, and his screams could be heard even outside. The numerous cables that held the observatory deck aloft suddenly snapped one by one. So if the heat hadn't killed the overseer, what happened next would. The observatory deck's main supporting cable melted through and snapped, sending the entire deck crashing onto the ground in a heap of glowing red metal.

Instantly any pain that Freya had felt would be gone... it was over, for now at least. The Pit had been exposed for what it truly was, and destroyed. The man who had trained thousands upon thousands of soldiers and ghosts, was dead. The mental training grounds of Darksides fighting forces was gone forever. Though no physical punch had been thrown, a huge blow had been dealt to Darksides army... Now for the general...

A slight groan came from the ground as Rory stirred. Slowly he began to wake up and push himself to his feet, despite the insane heat in the room, "Tha' is the las' time I ever play with telepaths..." He mumbled as he began to pick himself up. It seems death didn't stop his disdain and sarcasm...

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

And…. There it was. The real room. And… Far up above her… was the great illusionist. Finally. She got to see the face of the man who’d caused all this. And finally she’d get her hands on him…

The temperature continued to climb just as the illusionist extended a hand to mess with her head once more. All the while, Freya just stared him down, her expression dangerous. She was tired of being messed with, and it was time for him to die As she mentally prepared herself for more images he’d try to plant. That wasn’t the case. Instead, there was just pain. Searing pain.

It honestly felt like her head was splitting open, to the point where her vision went black. She stumbled, but wouldn’t give up. She kept the temperature up, this time focusing on the glass. Melt it, and he was gone. But God…. If that didn’t work in the next few seconds, she’d probably black out. Thankfully…. It worked. The pain vanished the moment the glass melted, and she let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t stop though. Not until she as damn sure he was dead.

The observation deck crashing to the ground was pretty good proof he was dead though… So she let the temperature start to return to normal. It was at a barely tolerable level when she heard Rory stirring behind her. Quickly she turned to look at him, and, when he was on his feet… slapped the back of his head. Not hard of course, it was just a tap, but it spoke volumes. ”Don’t you ever do that again.” She hated it when he died to begin with, but suicide?! After a moment of glaring, she threw her arms around him. ”Please.” She added that last part only when he couldn’t see her face.

The temperature continued to drop, going from barely tolerable to just hot, to warm, to normal.

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

With the overseer now dead, that left only a few key figures left in Darksides army. The army itself was like a snake, endless and unbeatable. Like a snake though, if you cut off the head the body would keep moving, but eventually die. The overseer was one of those 'heads'. That only left the general, who was also in this base, the master, who was likely at their main base in Asia, Darksides commanders (who were always at his side), then Darkside himself. So while they were one step closer, there was still a long ways to go.

As Rory stood up, he looked around that giant, dark, metal room. The holographic walls were gone, he could see the door to the exit, so that meant that Freya must've won! Suddenly he felt a soft slap against the back of his head, and immediate scolding from Freya. Just as he turned to face her, his face was filled with fiery red hair and her arms were tight around his neck. At first he was a little taken aback, but quickly, and comfortingly, wrapped his arms around Freya.

"Sorry alainn, ye seemed a lil' distracted so I decided ta... Remove said distraction." A slight laugh accompanied his explination, as he looked over her shoulder he saw the heap of metal at the back of the room that used to be the observation deck. The metal was still glowing red despite how cool the entire room had become, "And I'm guessin' it worked..." Like it was mentioned before she definitely was a warhead... Funny how 'warhead' and 'redhead' were spelled so similiarly...

After a few moments of hugging Freya, he pulled away, only to gentle place a kiss on her lips, "I dunnit know wha' ye saw in here lass, but ye have ta remember tha' whatever ih was, ih was fake... A'righ'? Dunnit let ih ge' ta ye." He placed a hand gently on either side of her face as he spoke to her, looking her directly in the eyes as if to show that he was alright now. Though he didn't know what she had seen, he was guessing it likely involved him. The Pit had it's ways of showing a person the things that would affect them the most, Rory himself still had nightmares of his first experience in it.

Rory softly kissed her again before pulling away for the final time and making his way toward the large steel door out of this hell hole, "Come on alainn, we have some food ta kill." There was a bit of silence as what Rory said sunk in, "I mean a general ta eat... Kill... Whatever." Rory was starving, and it was beginning to show. Who knows, if he didn't get food soon, he just may eat that general... Interestingly enough, he never did tell Freya that he wouldn't kill himself again.

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

Rory always worried Freya when he died. Because…. She never knew if he’d come back from it. Expected him to, yes, but what if he’d reached his limit? What if, he just didn’t wake up one time? It was a terrifying thought. And after all those horrible images she’d seen… It only made that fear worse. So, could you blame her for just wanting him to hold right for a minute?

Freya couldn’t help but chuckle at his response shaking her head against him. Distracted? That was an understatement. ”Yeah… Distracted…” Well, at least his suicide had given her the motivation to destroy the entire room. His mentioning it was almost like praise to her, the woman smiling even though he wouldn’t see it. ”I might have gone a little overboard…” Considering the observation deck had collapsed over the tunnel they’d come out of. Guess that meant they’d basically have to find another exit.

Normally, she might have gotten frustrated with him for just one, gentle kiss, but right now all she wanted was to be comforted. Maybe Rory should have warned her about this place before they started this whole adventure. At least then she might not have been quite as traumatized by the ordeal. None the less, she stared at him for a moment, that same fear still in her eyes. Finally though, she nodded. A small part of her though reminded the French woman that, no matter how many times she told herself it wasn’t real, she’d probably never get over it. The woman, who never had nightmares (Other odd sleeping habits, yes, but never nightmares), would probably be plagued for years from this experience.

Returning the second, and last kiss for now, she reluctantly followed him to the only exit, stuffing her hands in her pockets in a slightly annoyed way. Not at him. At this whole thing. When he mentioned food though, that instantly became her newest annoyance. Neither of them had actually eaten since this whole adventure started…. That’d been over two days ago. Curse Rory for mentioning it…. ”Dammit, Rory. Why’d you have to bring that up?” Before now, she’d been able to forget about her hunger…. ”You still owe me breakfast….”

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

"As a general rule o' thumb, when fightin' the agency... ye can never, ever go overboard." A slight smirk spread across his face as he glanced at the destroyed observation deck. It was true, agents were like cockroaches. Not only did they vastly outnumber you, but short of a nuclear explosion, they were horribly hard to kill. That's why Rory always double-tapped when he killed an agent. After all, if the first bullet to the agents head brought him down, it's not like he will mind you putting in thirty more bullets for good measure. Safety was always Rory's number one concern when committing acts of violence and aggression.

When Freya suddenly cursed out loud, it startled Rory ever so slightly, but then made him smirk. As much as he had heard her swear, he never could get used to it. It was always so weird to hear a dirty word come out of such a sweet mouth, "I dunnit know wha' yer talkin' 'bout." Rory said, slightly coughing to mask what he was saying, obviously trying to get out of cooking breakfast; having forgot about that agreement he made with Freya.

After a few moments of walking, Rory came to the only door out of the room and opened it. On the other side of the door were a network of hallways that looked very similiar to the ones in the Pit at first glance. Though, the walls were a darker metal, rust could be seen at the seems of the metal plates that made up the walls, and the entire aura of it all felt... Real. Not only that, but instead of bare halls, there were doors here and there along every hallway and a strange rumbling noise could be heard from deeper in the base; this was definitely the real thing.

Immediately Rory knew where he was, and where to go. First he needed to find the armory, to get him some new weapons since Freya happily melted his... Next, he'd need to find the clone production facility, which was right by the training bay. The general was most likely to be in one of those places, "There's something I need ta tell ye before we go on, so tha' ye dunnit ge' blindsided in wha's comin'." Rory said as he lead Freya down hall after hall.

"The General's suit looks somewhat like the other ghosts, bu' ih is very different..." Rory had no idea that Freya had already fought the general, "Ih's probably one o' the mos' powerful weapons tha' Darkside has created. Ih augments the powers of whatever mutant is wearin' ih, and the suit itself changes depending on the person's powers and personality." Rory paused for a moment, "Aye, the general is a mutant..." He answered the question that she undoubtably had.

"Also, the more ye use yer power agains' the suit, the more immune ih becomes ta tha' power. So dunnit try ta melt ih, ye'll have ta ge' creative in attackin' the general." Rory paused for a moment as they came to a crossroads in the halls, trying to decided which way to go. After a moment, he chose the left hall, "Lastly, I'm gonna be doin everythin I can ta ge' the general outta the suit so tha' I can put ih on... It was my suit first afterall." He said with a slight wink, likely explaining why he knew so much about it.

"Lastly, and most importantly, whatever ya do, DO NOT... Oh look, here we are." Rory stopped in front of two large metal double doors and pushed them open. Inside it looked almost like a massive Wal-Mart, except instead of groceries and clothes, every aisle had every different kind of weapon you could imagine. Aisle after aisle there were guns, swords, rifles, rockets, mounted weapons, thrown weapons, staves, shock rifles, stun rods, everything you could possible imagine, "Merry Christmas..." Rory said as he slowly stepped inside, a trance on his face. You could practically see the thousands of ways Rory could use these to kill people running through his mind. The only other time Rory had an expression like this on his face was when he and Freya were... well... you get the idea...