Moth Cathedral

Back in Castle Bathory, Cap Au Diable... Elizabeth finaly had the chance to check how her Toy of Destruction was doing. She activated her mirror to let the dark dimension behind the reflection contact whatever area she wanted to see. In this case her focus was on the Impervium Tower. She weaved a spell and the surface of the mirror became like a scrying pool... But the image stayed black... or did it!?

Upon close inspection she actually saw what was around the Impervium Tower... but it was all dark. She willed the image to zoom out... and indeed there she saw her pet robot. Active but floating in somesort dimensional transfer... She didn't recognise the area or dimension it was in or how it came there... and it was still impossible to see if the spell had it heading anywhere.

Elizabeth bit her lip cursing... then made the image shift. "Show me Moth Cathedral!", she commanded the mirror. The image changed and she saw the destruction Tower created on his way through Dark Astoria... Although it was hard to see... the mystic mists where only allowing visibility to about ten meters. Then she could finally focus on teh entrance of the Cathedral. There she saw Tasker showing the PDA to Pious. She couldn't see the image on it... but the guess wasn't that hard.

"These idiots are looking for Tower too... but they will not find it before I do!", the vampire-witch spoke softly to herself... knowing that it would still be hard to pinpoint its excact location and to open a gateway to let it pass through.

Moth Cathedral, Dark Astoria.

Easter Sunday. Day of Resurrection according to the canonical gospels. Not surprisingly, the church now known for it's undead congregation was today, full of zombies and ghosts, no doubt hoping to somehow be allowed passage out of the afterlife and granted life anew. They sung along with the choir's hymns and heeded the moral message of the preacher's sermon. As the music grew livelier, they even danced and rejoiced with the living, stopping to reattach fallen limbs.

Meanwhile outside on the grounds, security seemed to be very tight. It was just before dawn and was still very dark out. Soldiers of the Ancient Order of Swiss Guards held their posts along the perimeter of the church, carrying out regular radio checks at half-hour intervals. Five minutes ago was the last radio check and since then, four of the baggy-bottoms, beret-wearing brightly coloured soldiers had been assaulted and now laid unconscious by the entry gates.

A train of dark figures, each clad in Kevlar armour and long trenchcoats poured out of nowhere, seemingly teleporting in from a ripple in the air. They were armed to the teeth with all manners of magic-imbued bladed weapons, shields, firearms and explosives. All in all they counted up to ten sets of twelve.

"Welcome your majesty" said one of them, greeting a similarly armed woman who had just appeared, towards the rear of the assembly. He stood a head taller than her and spoke respectfully but also with authority. "We have breeched the grounds and are awaiting your orders before taking the building."

"Where are they keeping his body?" asked the woman.

"Elders say, he sleeps in the crypts below, watched over by the Nighthunters and guarded by the twelve. His rite of awakening begins at dawn, your majesty."

"Then we haven't any time to waste" she replied. "We must reach him before the Angels do. History is ours to alter, Shimon!"

"So says the prophecy!" Shimon agreed.

As the woman stepped into the light of the morning service, her face became clear to see. It bore a striking resemblance to Rachel Hunter, better known as the Damsel, wife to the comatose Priest. "Swarm the church" she ordered, "head straight down into the crypt and capture this so-called Priest."

Within minutes, the cathedral was overrun. Zombies and restless spirits alike howled and shrieked in anger, lashing out and striking the invading figures. The church deacons looked on in disbelief, some frozen with shock. The few human churchgoers scrambled to escape. The invaders had clearly abandoned using the element of surprise as soon after, the alarm reached the heroes below and the Swiss guards along the perimeter. Together, they prepared for battle.

In the crypts beneath the church

The Centurion and Storm both looked up, the Timehunter Centurion shaking his head slightly, as if this happened every day and was nothing more than a nuisance. The Nighthunter Storm clenched his fists in anger, golden electricity crackling around his body.

Centurion looked over at him.
"His fate is uncertain at this time, I may be able to help with this matter"
Storm glanced in his direction as he watched the ceiling as if expecting someone or something to burst through it at any moment.
"No...I'll handle this, stay here and keep guard, less people up there the more I can cut loose"

The Centurion sighed softly, so softly it wasn't even noticeable over the noise upstairs
"Is that really wise in your condition?"
Storm grinned, crouching ever so slightly he had time for one last word before flying up the stairs to face the enemy's inside the church
"Nope"
The Centurion could do nothing but smile a little as he watched Storm leave.

Storm flew up high in the church, hovering above the ground he looked around and spoke in a booming voice, golden electricity surging wildly around his body, his eyes beginning to glow a bright white light.
"You have but one chance to leave this place, do so now and you will be spared, refuse...and you face a force of nature, me!"

Damsel watched as Storm headed upstairs to confront the cause of the ruckus. She was too pregnant to really help out so she turned to Glittergirl, her adult daughter from the same future as Centurion. Glittergirl looked from her mother to her younger self, little Hazel, and then to her comatose father, who laid breathing but unresponsive. He needed little life-supporting medical machinery and following assassination attempts by demons infiltrating the city hospital, had been transferred to the safest place for him; his own secret lair, a sacred, weaponised crypt infused with protective and offensive magic.

Glittergirl and her currently yet-to-be-born younger brother Price armed themselves and headed up the long stairway leading to the church. They followed closely behind Storm who was now expressing a request for the intruding individuals to stand down, as was common practice. Price and his elder sister entered the church to a terrifying scene. The place looked like the aftermath of a zombie massacre as the last of the undead and ghostly congregation were blasted into the ether by the magical energy attacks of the intruding forces. Price saw the churchmen frozen at the altar and the innocent churchgoers panicking nearby. "Get the people out of here" he ordered, assuming his usual role of command among the younger Timehunters. "We'll let Storm do his thing and I'll give him support with my trick-arrows. These guys seem to be military-trained, smart, organised and very efficient. Worst of all, their weapons are magic... I hate magic!"

Storm darted to his right, turning in mid-air he landed on the wall, pushing himself off he once again turned in mid-air and landed on the roof, completely upside down now all in an effort to avoid the attacks aimed at him.

He pushed down now, turning and hitting the ground hard, landing on his feet his hair a tangled mess covering most of his face.
"If you seek to harm anyone here then you are not a good person, if you say I am a hero yet you still attack me, then you are a villain."

Storm brought his head up, looking around at his would be attackers, his eyes burning brightly now as smoke seemed to seep from them.
"And if you are a villain....then you will burn!"
His back arched as he clenched his fists, gritting his teeth his eyes glowed a flash of light before beams of heat erupted from them, firing at his attackers.

Downstairs, The Centurion took out a small device that looked like a type of phone, calling a specific number he sought to get in touch with an unknown source.

Storm quickly raised his right hand, his own reflected eye beams hitting a golden energy shield before dissipating.
A thin layer of smoke surrounded his hand, he could feel the heat radiating around it where the beams had hit.
It used to be that he wouldn't have felt a thing.

He looked at his hand for a moment then at his attackers, maybe now was a good time to ask a question or two.
"Why have you come here? What do you want?"

Downstairs the Centurion had finished making his call, he looked down at the unconscious Pious and then at his pregnant wife and young daughter.
He walked towards the doorway, his boots echoing slightly within the room.
Taking out two Impervium Katanas from his back beneath his cloak, he waited and watched for any signs that the intruders were making their way towards the Priest.
No matter what, he would not let them pass.

Storm simply stood silent in awe at the situation before him.
An angel had just appeared before him, telling him to ignore the small army attacking the church and now the angel itself...not something you see everyday really.

"Yeah....I can show you the way."
He didn't know exactly why but he felt an overwhelming urge to trust the entity hovering before him, to believe it really was an angel here to help Pious.

Downstairs the Centurion pressed the side of his helmet, a muffled sound repeated slowly then raised to an audible whisper. He was replaying a particular sentence he had just heard coming from upstairs.
"Hebrew...what going on up there?"

Storm was once again stood in awe at the sight before him, the Centurion even managed a slight smile before quickly wrapping his cloak around him, in an instance he vanished and reappeared with the church.
Taking out his swords he drew a line in front with one as he looked at the enemy's around him.
"Who would like to be first?"

Downstairs, the Centurions sudden disappearance had snapped Storm out of his daze.
"Damsel, is there any way out of here other than upstairs? You need to get you three out of here to safety, we can handle this mess."

Cupping his hands together he brought them round to face the stairs, firing a bolt of lightning upwards hoping to hit any intruders coming down.

Storm mouthed the words "War horns?". Pausing for a moment he moved closer to Pious, turning to address the soldiers now.
"You...were sent here to attack him, why? For what purpose would you want to harm him?"
Storm began connecting the dots in his head.

They knew who Damsel was but saw her as an imposter? And they knew of Pious but even then they said he didn't look like his normal self.
If they worked for who he thought they did, this could either go well for them, or very, very wrong.

Downstairs Storm looked over the three to see if they were ok then let his gaze rest on Pious, a small smile appearing on his face.
"...What took you so long man"

The Centurion Slid his blades back into their hilts. His face remaining emotionless.
"Price...she was a casualty of the battle, understand? What happened was an accident, we'll talk about it more later, once this is over and done with."

Storm smiled and tried to reassure the priest.
"Calm down man, there will be plenty of time for that later, Yes, we know about the invasion, even stopped a few of Emperor Cole's little death squads here and there.."
He looked at the stairs again, becoming a little more agitated.

"We need to get your family to safety, move them out then if needs be deal with the army upstairs, can't imagine our little ruse lasting too long, and once their leader figures out what's gone down we're gonna have a heck of a fight on our hands."

Upstairs the Centurion surveyed the damage to the church, cosmetic at worst, easily fixed. Resting his gaze upon Glittergirl, he turned and looked once more at Price.
Some things however, are not so easily fixed.

Glittergirl and Price headed back downstairs once the church leaders and their congregation had been lead away into the care of Sister Mary Stevens. Once down there they saw their father stood by a pregnant Damsel and armed for battle. "Don't worry Dad" said Price. "We've taken care of it. They're all gone."

Something didn't sit right with the way he'd said that and the Priest actually picked up on it. His gaze lingered on the boy for a while before looking back to his closest friend and ally. "All right I'll heed your advise Adam. I'll take the wife and kid home. Speak to Altair if you need to reach me, she'll know where I am." He looked once again at the young Price before opening a nearby door that seemed to lead to nowhere. "The Praetorians are going to be a problem Adam. Alert the Nighthunters of my return and tell them I'll be in touch very soon." Without further ado, the man and his family stepped through. Door shutting behind them.

Moth Cathedral, Dark Astoria.

Wednesday. The reverend Pious Hunter was still severely weakened from his power-siphoning ordeal at the hands of Lord Memphis. He was successfully captured during a friendly spar with the battle-hardened Ray Hammerfall and had to be rescued by his faithful Nighthunters. Of course he was already comatose and remained unconscious for three months until the recent Praetorian Invasion. Now, he was in the churchyard practising his meditative forms of prayer. His silent mutterings were like words of magic slowly returning to him to fighting form. He would need his strength if he was to return to lead the Nighthunters once again this Wednesday night. The city was in a bad state following the invasion and there was much work to be done.

The sound of police sirens woke the priest up from his meditative state. Whatever ruckus was being caused it wasn't far off. In fact it sounded like it came just from the nearby neighbourhood. He calmly rose and was about to take off to investigate before something catched his attention:

An average male climbing the wall of the churchyard, he clumpsily fell down and ran, his panicked state implying that he was trying to avoid the trouble. As he drew closer the Priest recognized him: Ray.

Ray was looking backwards in his sprint to make sure he avoided his pursursers, the moment he turned his head and saw the priest staring determined at him, he put his heels in the ground and stopped abruptly, not many meters away from him. For one long moment that seemed to go on forever, the two simply stood in silence, Pious' look growing more and more serious with each second that went by then suddenly he was alarmed as Ray made a motion to break the silence:

He put up his hand for a receving high figh:
"What's up, P. It's been a while eh?"

Priest ignored the high five as he was in no mood to celebrate the approach of Talos Island police sirens in his clouded and foggy hometown of Dark Astoria. He wondered what in God's holy name this troublemaker wanted from him this time, dragging along so much heat; probably for entering Paragon City illegally.

"What do you want Ray?" he stated plainly. "And why, for the sake of all things good, are the Talos Island police chasing you onto my church?"

Ray frowned and held his hands out defensively:

"Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't do ****. Ok? These guys just came up an' started askin' questions and then wham! We're runnin' all over town an' stuff. Totally like that movie I got at home, y'should check it o-"

He was cut off as he turned his head at the nearby sirens. He then turned back to the Priest, trying to sound as genuine as he could in his request

"Look, P. I -really- ain't 'ere t' cause trouble. Aight? I'm just 'ere t' see someone. Help out ol' Ray eh? for ol' times sake"