Shades Die Twice (Shade Reborn)

”Hyperion...You fail to disappoint.” He sounded amused, almost happy that someone among them was thinking, someone was willing to do what Mike did. The Lych worked with many people, and did not believe that The Doctor was willing to answer. Isaiah did not care and so he left it go. Michael, on the other hand would not be talked a circle around, nor did he wise to be ignored. He was observant and he was persistent. This is the one that he wanted there. The others were great, but this was the one. After the moment of silence, the voice came after the radio again.  

”Every person in this room has a destiny. Eternal suffering at the hands of a curse, because they could not bring themselves to force their son to live with it. A group of misfits that find their salvation in the following of a cult dedicated to eternal nothingness, trying to save a broken man  but failing. A man marked, his very soul marred by the presence of a beast shrouded in black.” The room fell silent again. Likely longer than the man had intended, but he needed that moment. Not for dramatic pause, but to bring up a courage he did not possess a moment ago. Something that reflected in his tone of speech. When the man spoke again, his jovial voice turning into a more darkly humored one, but one that oozed an assured confidence.

”The point of this group is to do all that I’ve stated. But to the ends of looking upon the face of Gods, Beasts, Curses and Powers beyond. To smile at them and say “No.” while we slowly rip away our lives from their helpless hands. Reclaim what is OURS and not THEIRS. To free ourselves...the way we will free society from these false idols.” His dark amusement seemed to be less of a game, but more of an objective. This made everything come together, the crux of the entire thing was dependent upon individuals whose fates had been predetermined or decided for them. ”This is not necessarily about power for power’s sake. It is about control. We control our fates. Not our Beasts, not our Gods, Not our Curses and certainly not our false heroes and Inner Demons. We determine our destiny, our actions and our lives. Not them. With the power of this organization, we make that possible. With the people in this room, and the resources of everyone here collectively and with the foundation that I’ve laid here on the corpse of a brilliantly mad-woman’s mission.”

”We actually have a shot.” The food that was placed before everyone semee dot be a good enough quality. From that moment, Lazaroth waved his hand with closed eyes and a smirk, allowing them men and women to retreat away to a different place.

  "Are there any other questions that you'd like answered. Now that I've had to lay that bare before you, there's truly little else that I have a desire to hide."

Never fail to disappoint. The statement was interesting, clumsy almost, but it made enough sense. Michael chewed over his pasta while waiting for an actual answer on the matter. Hearing that this man knew about his…corrupted with The Black Beast was enough to show he was a dangerous man. He knew things that he shouldn’t, or rather things no one should know save for the titan. Did he give away that information? A sudden, intense anger bubbled within him and threatened to explode but he managed to quell it as well. Still, his jaw grew tense and eyes briefly flickered with nether that threatened to lash out.

As things came together, so did this man’s mission and what he really wanted. Not ruled by their demons? That anger loosened and so did the death grip on his jaw, followed by a chuckle working from his throat. ”I have no idea who the fuck you are or why you know so much about us but you have my interest. ” He admitted that despite still not liking the person that was essentially holding so many cards at this point. ”I’ve always hated those self-righteous hypocrites masquerading as heroes. I’ve wanted to see them humbled, but doing it with my own two hands is even better,” Even recently he met a hero that made his stomach churn. The kind of person that spoke the right words but he felt that they were false.

”I wouldn’t mind smashing a few of them to bits.” It was hard not to rejoice in the destruction of such fake, nauseating people. The only heroes that truly came to mind were three and they were…close to him. ”so what false idol would we start with? Pitches like this always starts somewhere, so who would we be bringing down to earth on this crusade first? What false god needs to be ripped from the face of this earth?” he asked, now curious but cautiously so.

”Well that’s the beauty of this group. It offers entire Autonomy to the individual members based on a few tenets. Though the only 2 that are mandatory consist of “Don’t disobey a Shade superior without a good reason” and what the gentlemen in the streets like to say “The Snitches get Stitches” haha. Ah the evolution of language!” The voice immediately transitioned, or rather rebounded back to Mike’s question about what was going to be their first agenda. “As you are all considered my associates- should you accept- and the first tenant is really the only one that applies to you. Keep a secret. Other than that we’ll operate on autonomy and keep in correspondence to gather intel and decide our first “Joint operation”. As far as the day-to-day tasks of the conglomerate organization...you can leave that to me.”

”One of you will actually meet with me in person! This will be an insurance police, of sorts. As all of you in the room are far more capable than me, one of you will know my identity in order to keep myself in check. A mutual respect for myself and the remainder of my peers. Of course this identity is to be a kept secret between us gentlemen, but that’s neither here nor there.” His long winded explanations had been winding down to the final pieces of this “meeting”. He was truthfully tired of talking, and wished to be able to discuss or even entirely depart the venture in favor of other more pressing pursuits. He was certain that the others were bored of his talking.

”Recruitment and autonomous activity are first in line. Business as usual as they say! But this, gentlemen is what I offer you, and the exchange is your unyielding secrecy so... ”
At this point he waited for any takers. He let them think of the possibilities. The sheer manpower in the room was formidable. They had common folk for infiltration through Legion, they had The Lych ruling the political schemes and with Mike they had not only a powerful enforcer, but an aspiring man who coveted power to free himself from his own fate. Together could leave here and with enough time they could do this on their own, without this digital phantom. But it seemed to already have a plan, and it seemed to have fair fail-safes in place. It all seemed to be a decent idea, however it was something each individual had to decide. Mike seemed like he was in on it, but it seemed like the phantom required actual confirmation.

Autonomy? Well, that was an interesting word but Mike had to wonder how far that autonomy would extend for them. That was followed by not disobeying superiors, which meant any smuck above him could tell him to do whatever. Well maybe they could learn what telling him what to do got them. As for snitches getting stiches, well that was just part of secret organizations and with how secretive the boss was being it should have been the most important of rules. Finally things moved from boring rules to the more interesting question or rather his question about what they wanted to start with. Gathering intel and acting autonomously, one of which he planned to do without anyone’s permission. Especially the permission of a person he had never seen before in before and knew almost nothing meaningful about.

”One of us will actually get to meet you? Well now that’ll be interesting. One knows an important secret and the rest are left rather ignorant of the whole thing,” Despite how his statement would have sounded, there didn’t seem to be an judgement within his tone. More intrigue in what this person was thinking. Potentially sowing mistrust within his ranks perhaps but that inherently came with a group that was meant to drag heroes from their lofty pedestals.

No matter what his intensions were, they had quite the force gathered just here. All they could offer the man for their undying secrecy, well that was interesting. ”alright I’m in. You’ve gotten my interest for now. ” Was all he said, though he didn’t elaborate what he meant for now and instead took a few more forkfuls of his pasta and just looked to the others to see what they were intending to do now.

“I will...trust his judgement.” The Lych said after a moment of contemplating the situation, and hearing Mike give his temporary support to this. He was being truthful as well. He never trusted Zell’s judgements because they were never in Zell’s own interest, they were needlessly selfless or overly convoluted. Michael on the other hand seemed to hold his own persuasion of “self-interest”. Mike was also a powerful ally to have and rely upon. He wasn’t quite sure of this Legion or the Isaiah fellow, but they didn’t matter to him. This could increase his influence and his power within the world, and keep his secret at the same time. He had other reasons for joining in, eyes to keep on people for reasons that were...perhaps sentimental at best.

”I think I speak for Legion when I say that this is too good an opportunity to pass up. We’re in too.” He said as he began to press the nearly cleaned plate away from him. He then cleared his throat and seemed to press a cloth against his mouth, dabbing up the remnants of his meal.

”Fantastic! This is the beginning of a wonderful partnership! Haha” The voice came across the radio. ”I’ve plagued enough of your time! Lazaroth will resume getting you all ready to go after you’ve enjoyed your meals! Gentlemen, it’s a fine day where History is being made! Unfortunately I must go, but don’t worry. I’ll be meeting one of you soon enough. Ta-ta!”

The radio went silent as The Lych seemed to eye the occupants of the table. Within a few seconds, Lazaroth came forward and picked up the radio ever so gently, then quickly seemed to toss it over his shoulder. It became obscured from view, but then….nothing. There was no crashing, there was no shattering or breaking of the old radio. It was simply gone. Lazaroth smiled and clapped his hands together.

“My name is Spyros Soren. But I am known as Lazaroth. I am a Lieutenant. I serve as a functionary and intermediary between Shade and the Shadow Council, the upper most eschalon of the order. That is you…” The small Titian said as he cleared his throat, his voice seemed to lose some of it’s monotoned nature, but was still a little mechanical in it’s own way. He withdrew from his heavy black cloak a small rectangular device, and held it up for everyone to see. ”You three are considered to be equals with The Doctor, hand selected by him, and by his very words any authority he has over you is purely ceremonial. You have no orders to take, but are expected to be available once a month to discuss matters regarding artifacts, individuals and anomalous things that have caught the interest of the group. You are all encouraged to recruit your own, loyal Lieutenants to serve the function I do, which is primarily as a bodyguard, witness and clerical worker to file your reports and endeavours with the organizations’ channels. That being said...whenever you are ready I would love for Genbasti to show you the resources that have been offered to you within this hideout.

”Yeah, yeah. I’m here. Whazzup Council?” He asked, the man was round, rotund and rather large. He had to be seven foot tall and looked like a beach ball with muscled legs and bingo-winged arms. He looked hardly mobile, let alone capable of handling himself in combat. His arms didn’t even reach around the front of his stomach. He was dressed in a large green spandex suit that seemed to have a white stripe in the middle that outlined his circumference.

”Genbasti, You’re to show the Council to the Abyssal Pit. The shades shift.” Lazaroth said with a smile, his balck tattoos on the right side of his face beginning to glow a strange silver color as his hair turned it’s regular raven colored hair. Lazaroth followed the remainder of them as the large man took them through a series of hallways, doors opening for them as they weaved and wandered through the dark, almost dreadful areas of the technologically adapted complex. It seemed as though they went miles beneath the earth’s surface before they arrived in a pitch black room. Genbasti stepped out and immediately his body began to have smoke rising off of it. The smoke began to wisp before it turned oddly luminescent, his footprints leaving cyan colored luminous prints behind him as the mist from his body slowly seemed to mix with the air, and provide a dim light for the area around them.


“This is the Abyssal Pit.” He said, slowly revealing a large series of perfectly rounded tables that curved just enough to provide an outer circle for a large dormant device in the center of the room. The room itself was tried and platformed, providing each council member with enough workspace whenever they were needed to be here, notes or otherwise. It seemed business oriented, but each station was outfitted with something different, something special to each member’s personality.

”From here, the Council will make whatever decisions they want. Then Lazaroth will make sure that they are carried out...like...well….I guess anything. If you think something needs done, just state what you need done. Then have someone else agree with you...I think? Well you basically say you think what we should do is this. If someone seconds it then your word is law and we do it. ” He said, once more proving he was little more than the large form that occupied entirely too much space. The Abyssal pit was then illuminated a little more as The Lych walked in, and the same with Isaiah. The technology in this place was incredible, and the magical artifacts and runic markings everywhere to prevent scrying and detection. This had to be one of the most secure places on the face of the planet.

A large gemstone was suspended in the air above them, and the walls around them were smooth and perfectly circular, without any crease or edge. Small beveled protrusions came five feet off the ground, slanting at a 45 degree angle with glowing handprints on them, and random tech suspended upon the comfy looking chairs.

One by one they gave into the pitch, though he wondered what they were hoping to get out of this. What gain could be gotten from this venture, though perhaps that would show with time. Which meant he had to look closely at these other two people and make sure they didn’t bleed him dry of whatever he could offer. From what little he knew about his grandfather, it was enough to keep a high guard around him. The other was a mostly unknown factor. All were in agreement and this Phantom person excused himself from the conversation entirely, leaving them with Lazaroth and whatever else was planned from here on out. This left a temporary quiet quickly broken by their server, who explained what part they had to play in this group and what their duties overall were.

”Shadow council? Well isn’t that interesting,” Michael muttered to himself, imagining what he could pick for a lieutenant and the like, though not many people came to mind. Not people that he would want to put into this kind of life. He licked his lips, chewing on the lower one and worked through the many ideas that came to mind. There was someone he could look into, but only when this was done. ”I didn’t know we were working with One Piece characters,” Michael noted, recalling having looked into that piece of media at some point, though the most noticeable thing about this unknown man was just his whole physique. They were supposed to be lead somewhere, called The Abyssal Pit and the three of them walked off to see what this pit was all about.

Hallways lead them to a rather dark place, lit only by strange glowing smoke. It put the young ethereal on edge, though he didn’t seem to make any moves and instead just looked around as it became a little better lit. Perfectly rounded tables set before them with workspaces for each of them. Something that Michael could appreciate, though his mind was now moving a mile a minute as a result. Whoever this Doctor was had quite the resources. ”You’ll do anything I want so long as someone else seconds it? Well isn’t that interesting,” He chuckled, hands now buried into his pockets. ”for example kill The Lych?” he looked questioningly at the Lazaroth, a certain almost dark humor tinting his eyes now.

”Not that I would ask something like that. That’d suggests I’m still bitter about that time you tried to kill my dad and I’m not,” He was bitter. One of the few people he cared about in this world and some boney shit he was related to tried to murder him. There was little keeping him from trying to enact vengeance upon him. ”So do I need the others to give the go ahead to send you on an errand? Because I might have an idea for someone to be my first lieutenant.” Michael then added, looking around and then waiting for confirmation.

Mike had immediately spoken about killing Lych, and yet the politician didn’t even seem phased by this. It was actually more of a surprise that he didn’t think Mike was going to go right to this measure due to the rocky history of their past. Lych continued to look over the suspended object in the room, as if awaiting it to turn on. Rather he was inspecting it, but couldn’t come to any definitive conclusions at the moment. He finally turned to look at Mike after he had spoken, only to very plainly state his opinion.

”I’m sorry, which of your dads did I try to kill? It sounds like an experiment I would try but I’m not sure I remember...” He asked, emphasizing a dichotomy between Mike and himself. While Mike very likely held a grudge, The Lych hardly remembered minute and miniscule details such as Ouroboros or Thanatos. Likely to Mike’s irritation as well he seemed to emulate Mike’s accent and poked at his pronunciation. The Lych’s corner of his mouth curled slightly and he looked back to Lazaroth, as if looking for confirmation on what Mike had asked of him.

”With the subject in question being part of your council, I’d imagine such a target would require all other four members of the council to make such a thing possible. Though any internal fights you two may have are not ours to question.” Lazaroth started with his arms crossed, his voice beginning to sound more akin to how it did when they first met. He looked to his fellow Lieutenant.

”Why me? He just called me a fuckin’ One Piece character.” Lazaroth’s eyes seemed to narrow for a second, causing the large green man to grumble as he stepped forward and looked to Mike with a groan. ”What Errand do ya need run?”

”Errands and simple tasks are easily distributed as you wish. Typically your Lieutenant will make such a thing possible. However all of us are at the council's disposal. Including you Genbasti.” Lazaroth’s voice was corrupted by the annoyance he felt, his tattoo going from silver to a slightly greyer shade, his silver eyes shifting and settling on the large man and his goggles.

”I’m doin’ it, I’m doin’ it. Calm the fuck down.” He grumbled as he looked back down at Mike, nearly towering over him.

”Are you but for me it was only tuesdaying me here?’ Mike questioned, grinding his teeth together and arms crossing over his chest, fingers digging into the flesh of his forearm. It made sense that would be his reaction. Their family had a certain history for things afterall. ”I could say both however. Though there’s only one I’d consider actually trying to kill you for, the one you didn’t make if that jogs your memory old man,” Those with even the slightest sensitivity would feel the radiant nether and hostility radiate through the room. As if he were a step from violent action, though that violence was held back to keep from what could be called friendly fire. For now, anyhow.

”So if I wanted to deal with things myself I could? That’s good to know,” Conversation turned towards the person he called a One Piece character and he seemed to take umbrage with that. Not that Michael was torn up about that himself. ”we can order whatever Lieutenant to do whatever we want. Now that’s interesting. Well, I just needed one of you to fetch someone for me, or contact them.  I could do it myself but my means of fast movement are quite deadly to humans,” Michael explained, giving a small shrug of his shoulders.

”He's got the run of LA and Vegas, goes by the moniker of Phantasm. I’ve been following him for a while and I like his work. Think he might be useful for a lieutenant in this kind of work, we both would benefit from working together,” Michael explained this to the massive man and waved him off. ”I’m sure you can do that,” He leaned against a hard surface and just sighed, testing to see if these lieutenants could say no to his requests.

“Yes I did. I’m so glad you noticed.” Lych said in a direct reply to Mike, a small smile on his face as if he were genuinely pleased with himself. Because he was genuinely pleased with himself. He made a pop culture reference successfully, and while to some people it may have been cringy, to him it means he was an ancient undead being that could still fit in. It was the small victories that mattered.

”Yeah-yeah. I’ll go round Phantasm up.” He said before looking to Lazaroth. The Ti’tian seemed to be rather annoyed with the strange look he got from the round man. It was noted, but then suddenly the question was bored from nowhere. ”You Laz, can you teleport me to L-”

”YOU KNOW THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!” He snapped quite quickly, causing the large man to groan and lumber away. Isaiah seemed to squirm his way as well, following the lumbering man as he was exiting the room and heading to the elevator. After a few moments there was the beep and before long both Isaiah and Genbasti leaving sight of the remainder of the party. The tension in the room was palpable, and even Lazaroth could find himself uncomfortably stuffy with all of these people around.

”I did try to have Sean killed. This is true. I had a goal in mind and that was a requirement. It is no longer a goal, no longer a requirement. Not because I don’t WANT that same goal, but because the methodology of achieving that goal will bring pain to the only family I have. If you still keep a score you want to settle... you’re more than welcome to step up and try.” The Lych stated as plain as day. It wasn’t an antagonistic tone, or a genuine malice. It was almost as if he wanted it to be out of the way, he wanted things to be past this. But of course with his curse, Michael could never truly succeed. The very thing that kept the Lych here was a desire to die, to end his servitude.

”Whatever your gripes are with each other, ya’ll will be far fuckin’ stronger together. Find some peace with your past for your own damn sakes. Or at least put up with each other’s existence.” Lazaroth said with his tone and his voice being far less mechanical or off toned. Now it was as if he were truly back to the way he was, in his entirety. He seemed to lean back and stretch out a little bit, letting out a sigh.

The man who Zell had called his father spoke and each word that came from his mouth managed to irritate Mike more and more. What was it with that man and how he spoke that fanned the flames of anger within the ethereal? That growing irritation managed to even rouse the dark mark within him, something he bore ever since Th Black Beast attempted to consume his world not so long ago. ”I’ll spare myself the effort for now. Something tells me any deaths I inflict on you won’t stick. Though if you threaten Sean again i'll have to make the college try at destroying you,” Michael stated, trying to let go of whatever anger was welling up within him. If this were a long game kind of deal, well he wouldn’t want to rush things. Everyone had their weakness, even the most perfect seeming of immortals could be killed given the right circumstance.

”Though Lazaroth you should know this by now. I’m very good at holding grudges against people who wrong me,” His lips curled into a smirk, seemingly relaxing regardless. ”so how long do you think your friend will take? He able to teleport or is this one of those deals where I have to wait?” he questioned, not that the concept of waiting was utterly terrible. ”don’t know what my allies can do exactly so just guessing here,”

”You really are Zell’s. You didn’t seem to understand a word I said.” Lych muttered to himself as Mike seemed to move past, then setting his eyes to the Ti’tian. The Lych seemed to disassociate from the conversation as a whole and seemed to linger over towards the one curved desk that seemed to be more ornately decorated towards his particular tastes. It was tough with a being of death known as Hyperion and the big bad reaper both in the same room. But he was fairly certain this was his space. Once there he would sit in the chair and recline slightly as random lights began to float in front of him, showing random data and information. As his eyes moved, so did the information, as he turned his head the information shifted and moved out of sight. He began to grumble about the technology of the day as he began trying to learn how to understand and operate the high tech system.

The Ti’tian didn’t seem to react at all as Mike approached, and made his statements. The young man just stared, almost as if he were just being polite and making eye contact while Michael talked. Truth of the matter was he didn’t give a flying ferret what the council did, or if they even went to war. He was just trying to help people help themselves. Mike then asked about how long it would take for the person to come back with their new recruit.

”Well Hyperion. Since we are miles beneath the earth’s surface and the doors only open so fast, he’s probably on the second level by now. Then he needs to go to L.A and FIND this guy. Once he does that he needs to convince this guy to come here. This will take a little bit. If he doesn’t agree to join us, we administer an amnesthetic drug, or we turn him into jelly. The whole “recruitment process” is about a day long. With Genbastic’s power though? Probably 8 hours.” The explanation was more half hearted and rather lazily done, but it was the personality of the Ti’tian as they knew it. They were vengeful, they were lazy and they were just generally pathetic to most things. When they were in the position to have to explain something they seemed bothered or put off by it. This one just so happened to respect Mike enough to be willing to at least refrain from belittling speech or overly inflammatory dialogue options.

”So you’ve got some time.”

”Old men like to hear themselves talk don’t they?” He said rhetorically to Lazaroth, an almost amused smirk playing across his lips. Not that Mike enjoyed being compared to Zell, because there were many things he would have rather been compared to. Granted the irony was lost upon him, so instead he listened to the time it would take to get that first lieutenant. ”the process sounds rather quick. Guess I’ll just have to entertain myself until then,” So he picked out the table that looked like it was meant for him, sitting down and pulling out a cellphone to shoot off a few texts. ”I doubt he’ll take too much convincing. When it comes to humans he’s quite easily motivated with profit. Moneys king with so many people, even those that claim some kind of moral superiority,” A fact and rule he had learned within his time living among humans.

Enough pieces of paper could dictate the end of a person’s life and he loved it. How tawdry people’s lives could become. No money could mean the ruin of a life, and enough could lead to that same end. Life truly meant nothing when it came down to it. ”Doesn’t feel like we walked miles though. Your company must be that enthralling, ” Michael noted with a chuckle, putting his phone away. ”so will I be needed for anything else here or can I do a little business while we wait for my new recruit?”

Mike had made the statement that the organization must have been that enthralling. Lazaroth rolled his eyes at the fact. The Elevator had taken them a great deal of the way, however it was still at least a fifteen minute run time. Especially since the doors were designed to only open so fast. It didn’t help that Lazaroth’s power was directly associated with travel and distances. He had chalked it up to Hyperion’s sense of humor and then resigned to listen quietly.

”You’re literally my superior officer. I’m not in the position to say shit if you got business to do.” Lazaroth said with a slight smirk and a shrug. He then proceeded to step aside and cross his arms, learning with his back to the wall. He didn’t really much care what happened here beyond his personal agenda. His head cocked to the side and he placed a finger up to his ear and smirked. Isaiah was gone, The Lych seemed to be already working out how to manage the technology, while also accessing files on certain individuals. His monitor began to blink slightly as he began searching through a variety of files on different anomalies, including files on himself, Silus, Mike, Sean and Zell. Then he spent a lingering time on the one older brother known as Shael.

”Legion is already mobilizing out to spread the word about their new orders to gather information. It’ll decrease the scope of their criminal activity and vengeful spirit vibes, but hey...all of us make sacrifices.” Lazaroth announced after a moment, then looking over to the remainder of the participants, be that Mike and Lych, or just Lych.

”You could. I thought we were close enough you could talk a little shit to me,” Michael smirked, though perhaps there was some truth in that.  Of the people he spent time with ruling over The Abyss, this male was one of the few he didn’t hate and perhaps was one of the few he grew to like. Michael liking someone was a rare happening. Rare enough that he didn’t throw away such a liking because they were once on opposing sides, and Silus had spared him after that. Regardless, he sat down and began typing on his phone. Answering small texts from someone he had helped learn about phone only a few days ago.

Lazaroth made an announcement about Legion, which he nodded along to without saying anything. Their person was out getting Phantasm, though he had the feeling they would accept him the moment they knew what he had to offer. Old money always held a certain power even among those with lofty goals. ”decrease the scope of their criminal activities? I wonder if that’s an ideal thing for them or even us?  Well I’ll just have to pick up the slack if that’s the case won’t I?” It sounded almost fun, if it didn’t also sound like he had to a bunch of work. Knocking off or convincing multiple players in the underworld had its own issues.

With his texting seemingly done he rose to his feet and seemed to think to himself. ”There some kind of portal blocking magic going on around here?” He questioned, thinking through a few spells he knew to do just that. ”I mean running a few miles wouldn’t be an issue but I’m feeling a little lazy,” regardless he didn’t feel as if he were going to have an issue getting where he needed to and back within time.

“In this chamber? No go. This facility was designed to contain anomalous individuals and artifacts from Misanthrop, The Mana Cannon and even Subject 7732, Archon. That being said, this place is well guarded from intrusion. Unfortunately the most secure way to do that is to block things both ways.” Lazaroth explained, hoping that Mike could understand why making portals and teleporting in this region would not be possible. Even if he could, they’d need to adapt and alter things so that it was impossible next time. Improvising, adapting and overcoming was part of the territory. Lazaroth was paying attention though there was a need for explanation of how things worked.

”You don’t have to walk miles. We are MILES under the earth. The elevator there takes you up. Then you walk a bit, and then you go through the large ass double doors. Then ya can teleport out.I could walk with ya to shorten the time.” Lazaroth said, offering to utilize himself as a more fast-traveling companion of sorts. He figured that if he had the gift to speed things up a bit, he might as well. He didn’t hate Hyperion, despite the fact he knew he was kind of a douche. Well he wasn’t the problem, the fact his mother favored Hyperion over him was the problem once upon a time...but not anymore.

Lazaroth pushed his back off the wall and started to walk towards the elevator doors, pressing the button with his elbow before crossing his arms again. It didn’t take terribly long, two minutes of wait for a mile-long elevator wasn’t bad. By the time they both stepped onto it, the elevator seemed to slowly rise. The speed of the elevator wasn’t changed, but what was a 6 minute elevator ride on the way down, was only two minutes before the doors opened, allowing them to step out of the ground level floor. They would walk a few steps before reaching automatic doors. While they seemed to open, it was apparent that the next door was only a foot away from the one they had entered. As Lazaroth stepped through the distance seemed to distantly expand the sixty feet away that was the actual length of the hallway. It was like this for each door, and Mike likely learned the trickery, knowing that he needed to step through the door before Lazaroth.

”Alright here we are. The Gate. Pleasure to be of service.” Lazaeoth said with a scoff, pressing his hand on the door, the door seeming to identify with his hand and opening without issue, not even a need to utilize the Ti’tian’s strength.