A Place More Dangerous Than Chicago (Woof)

Bliss took a sip of her drink. A little under poured, but she did not pay for it. Everyone around her still looked like they over indulged, but the cult of personality surrounding a few people attracted everyone. A few scattered conversations moved around as Bliss made her way towards the back of the gala. A black ornament pulled her natural part to the left side while the rest of hair fell down around her shoulders. Her dress fit snugly around her form, cutting off half way up her thighs. A little more revealing than most others, but Bliss did not come for the entertainment of others. She came for the main event.

Relics from a forgotten time. Antiquity rushed through the exhibits. Some of them stopped in the present and others kept going. Bridging tomorrow and yesterday, turning today into a nexus between two worlds. Or possibly one. Cultist were hard to get information from and Bliss could not buy enough time to decipher through their mindless meddling. "Mitsy, are we good?"

"Um." A less than confidant voice came through Bliss' ear piece. Mitsuko found her way to the bottom level of the gala in a yellow dress with a large amount of puffy frills and green linings running into blue seams.

"Mitsy, you are part Fukuyama. Get that out and not the part of you that doesn't have confidence for days."

"It's not that." One of the artifacts in front of her began glowing blue. "I don't think ancient things are supposed to glow blue. You know I read on the Internet people didn't use to be able to see blue until-"

"Tell it to someone who cares Mitsy; I need to know about that artifact. What is it?" Bliss hit the top of the stair case and began her descent.

"Um. A shield?" Mitsuko leaned forward while the rest of the room began taking pictures.

"Sounds. Well, doesn't surprise me. I'm on my way." Bliss planted her heel at the bottom of the floor and began to move towards Mitsuko. Traffic and popularity, along with simple distance, would take Bliss about five minutes to get there.

"It's almost time." A man with eyes with a deep green swirled around his head. "Is the sacrifice ready to be offered up."

"He's docile." Another man with a tattoo of a hydra along his neck motioned to a crate where the sacrifice they captured would be kept for his sacrifice. "Once the shield begins to awaken, we will take his life." The man pulled a jagged knife from his pack, ready to offer the blood of his sacrifice for greater glory and power.

"Well. Do it."

While the sacrifice began to roll into action, the small form of Mitsuko made her way to the create. With a lack of formal espionage, she really did not know exactly how she would spring the sacrifice from his fate, but she pried the door open. Seeing the form of a man bound with ropes and a bandanna wrapped around his mouth, Mitsuko began to untie him to begin an escape from a certain doom.

Marcus didn't expect this when he awoke. Hours earlier, he had found a nice little building that had a nice comfy brick pillow he allowed his head to fall against so he could sleep. Not the comfiest of all pillows but a hard pillow none the less. And though a night of nightmares and horror when he had finally awoken, it was with the feeling of a tightness loosening around his arms and a removal of something that covered his mouth by a woman in a yellow like dress. Yea that wasn't the morning he usually awoke too, no he thought he was dreaming a nice dream for once but the no surprises kinda ruined that thought. "Um. Mind telling me where I am, location, continent and time.." Marcus would whisper as he heard voices of men a somewhat distance.

This is odd. Have we ever awoken in a box... Oh right.

"You're in Chicago. A cult was going to sacrifice you. Um, because they're a cult." Mistuko helped Shadow out of the box and tried to get him to make his way towards a side chamber where she could tend to Shadow's wounds and take care of any head wounds he received while his kidnap happened. "Your head looks pretty bad. Let me get something for that." At the end of her cosmetic apparel, Mitsuko pulled out a bandage to fit over his forehead. "This will keep it from getting infected. It should feel better soon." The energies Mitsuko put in her bandages dug into Shadow's head, healing most of his injuries within only a matter of minutes. "Hey, maybe we should stay here for a little while."

Walking past the throngs of onlookers, Bliss got herself towards the glass case. The shield shining gave off every detail she needed to look upon it and know her trip her meant something. However, she needed to know who else in this room fit into her meaning. Most of the people took pictures with their phones- meaningless, but not harmful. People spoke about how they felt it was faked by the staff- pompous, but not detrimental to Bliss. Then, she heard a man speaking about the arrival of those who could take power next. That gave Bliss something to investigate.

Taking down a drink, Bliss strode her way towards the back of the room. The large man did not bother her. He had a purpose. The man he gave orders to did not have as much conviction. Bliss wanted to work her angle on that. "That trashcan is glowing." Bliss looked down on the arts with a level of disgust. "So boring. What's up with you?" Before he could answer her, Bliss would take a drink. "You're boring too. Later." Bliss would walk into the back of the hallway, waiting for her mark to follow. Once he took the corner, Bliss took him in the side of the head with a blast. A few moments later, she drug him into a storage room and taped him up. Pulling her phone out, Bliss sent Mitsuko a text to tell her to lay low for a bit.

Mitsuko did not text back. She was with Shadow.

"Oh goodie I'm still here." Marcus would say as he was lead by the woman away from the area. She spoke of how his head looked and he gave a small chuckle. "Nah that's just from me knocking myself out with a brick.. multiple times." Marcus would say as her healing took affect, his own healing could have done the same but maybe he could play out the unlucky fellow. "So, a cult tried to sacrifice me.. I'm pretty sure when they realize I'm missing they will come running so maybe staying here isn't the best bet." Marcus would say, his mind already thinking of a few reasons a cult could be.. Cults. Marcus hated them but now he was right, they needed to get moving if they didn't want to be found. Cracking his neck, Marcus would move past the yellow dressed woman and walk onwards though the hallway.

So we going to kill someone today? Is he going to make a reappearance. Dark referred to a old friend that made a appearance while back during a fight with a plant woman. An old friend that nether one of them wanted to see again.

"Well, yeah, they'll probably get mad, so maybe you should lay low or something. My sister will probably get this whole thing taken care of so, there's not a whole lot to worry about." As Mitsuko took down the bandage, an alarm sounded out through the museum. Mitsuko popped her head out to observe the hall. Panic scattered the room to the far reaches. Men and women pushed their ways out, with one woman grabbing Mitsuko and pulling her from the safety of the antechamber she found to patch Shadow up.

"Get out! I need to hide here. Get out!" Her frantic nature pushed against all attempts Mitsuko made to get back in. "Just run. I need this!"

Mitsuko fell back against the wall of the hall, making eye contact with the man with swirling green eyes ripping the shield from the display case making contact with her. "I-I don't. Um, oh. Bliss?" Five cultist began making their way towards Mitsuko. The woman in the elegant dress locked the door and pressed herself against it as Mitsuko pounded her fist against the door. "Let me in! Let me- oh no."

"So that's the plan huh?" Bliss lifted the chin of the man she trapped in the supply closet after pulling information from him. She ripped a strip of duct tape off and kept him quiet while she went back to work. A full range of incidents ranged out from the main chamber where the display case did a very futile job of protecting the shield. The remaining three cultist ordered a challenge towards Bliss. In exchange, Bliss grabbed two of them by her telekinetics and slammed them against the wall. The man in the middle rushed Bliss with a baton. Bliss obliged the challenged.

Marcus allowed the bandaged to be taken before walking off but soon the alarm went off. Smirking that his disappearance was noted he was about to continue, he watched as his savior was grabbed and pulled away and a woman coming in and holding the down down. Banging soon occurred with his savior yelling to let her in but Marcus, he would do better then that. Melding into a shadow, Marcus would move around the woman and go though the door and around the yellow dressed woman like a black fog before reappearing in-front of her with his mask on. Five men stood in his and her way now. "Sorry my cultist friends. But you kidnapped the wrong sacrifice." Shadow would say in his demonic voice as he unmelded so his fingers could light ablaze in hellfire and he shot a stream of the orange flame in an arc, left to right of the five men. Once done he would stop the flamethrower and stare at his head which was a mess of melted flesh and bone that was soon regenerating back to normal. "you okey?"

While the fires of anguish began to spread, the screams of disgust failed to sound out in agony. "I'm okay, but I don't know why those people are." Slowly, sking began to peel from each of the men. The only thing left of them shook with green energy. Faceless, without any fear or apprehension, lacking nothing short of superhuman strength, the creatures ripped up pedestals from the displays and brandished them as weapons, pressing in for Mitsuko and Marcus. "Don't worry-" Mitsuko began to think of anything of those she knew who could help. "I might be able to text someone to help us. Otherwise I can bandage you up if they hurt you." Right as Mitsuko let her last words slip into the air, a pedestal would fly through the air in the same motion as a javelin towards Marcus. "I bet Bliss can help us."

Walking towards the mid section of the chamber, Bliss pushed her telekinetic pull against the shield. Brandished by a man who smiled as Bliss engaged him, he lifted his shield and get his grip firm. His smile stayed white; his eyes green. Bliss felt her pull turn against her. Lifted from her feet, Bliss flew across the room under no control of her own. "Do you still want to continue?" A swift blow from the shield came down over Bliss' head, blocked by a priceless ceramic vase, no priced at the same price you would pay for any shattered pottery.

"I'm good." Bliss threw a blast at his knee to knock him down. When he took a lowered position, Bliss threw herself in a rotation to give her fist for impact as it impacted into his cheek. Once he hit the ground, Bliss would make her way across the room to put up a defense to keep him from fleeing. His smile grew as he wiped his cheek. From over her ear, Bliss could hear the cackle of an electric rod.

"What the?" Was all Marcus said as he watched the skin peel off the cultist to reveal a green like energy body. One that would prove to make his flames seem ineffective to their body's. "Wonderful, Hellfire doesn't affect them." Marcus would say in annoyance as he listened to his new found company before watching as one threw a pedestal at him. Not moving, Marcus grabbed at the shadows that were around and used them to create a bubble which opened up to catch the object before closing. His left hand rose and a shadow appeared from the mist that he was leaking out of his body, turning into a tendril he would send it at one of the energy beings before being the object encased in his shadow bubble back with his right hand and throwing both forward, releasing the object from it's containment mid throw at another one if the green beings.

"I hope your friend can destroy energy lady... Wait did you say Bliss?" Marcus would ask in his demonic voice as the name brought up a memory of spiders and Nazi's.

A rod shot out from behind Bliss. Her quick feet took her from a standing position, to a quick kneel. The rod brushed by just over her head as an abdomen crashed into her shoulder. Bliss responded by throwing a blast to push her opponent into the wall. A woman with a yellow glow to her eyes fell to the ground, still gripping her rod. A bear hug wrapped Bliss up from behind, lifting her off the ground. Instead of fighting against the grip, Bliss slipped against the fabric of his jacket, allowing her to slide out from the bottom of his arrest. Knowing what hate looked like, Bliss wanted to put some distance between herself and that look. When he accosted her for a second time, Bliss leaned into his armpit and shoved her shoulder up. Followed by a sudden blast, Bliss put enough force to dislocate his shoulder. A sweeping blast of energy would erupt from Bliss' hands, throwing the two odd colored eyed people towards the back of the hall.

"Yes I said Bliss, not miss or hiss, or, well I guess those are the only words that really rhyme with Bliss. And she isn't really my friend. She's my half sister." Mitsuko looked on as Marcus unleashed his shadowy appendages upon two of the energy beings, taking them out of the fight. The remaining four continued to press their number advantage against the two people fighting in the hallway.

While the first two energy beings began to burn with a green intensity, a force of energy would blast the two in the back into the wall. Bliss burst into the chamber where the shield used to be stored, only to see the forces this cult brought with it at full capacity in an assault. While the energy beings continued to fight, Bliss noticed someone took the shield. Looking back, she noticed the two people who accosted her in the hallway fled the scene. It did not make much of a victory for Bliss if she lost the object she came here solely to uncover, but she needed to make sure her half sister lived long enough to continue her use.

Marcus watched as the shadows seemed to have affected the energy beings much better then what his shadows had done and gave a brief smile under his mask. He rose a few more tendrils to shape like large fist from the mist of darkness Marcus had decided to name it. The mist that was just growing in size and circling him then began to take the shape of the large fist. "This Bliss wouldn't happen to be somewhat Asian looking with a ego the size of a nuke?" Marcus would ask as he prepared to throw the fist only to be distracted by none other then Bliss, entering the chamber herself while blasting two of the beings back into a wall. "Don't answer that. I have my answer and my calculations for today warn that it might get annoying." Marcus would say in his demonic voice as he sent the shadow fist at whatever remained of the opposition.

"Oh hey I remember he.. "Whos." "Isn't she that... What was that?" Marcus grabbed at his mask to the inclusion of a third voice, a slight pain rocked though him.

"Who do you think." Marcus would say to himself. Why was he returning now.

Whatever savage shadow broke out from Marcus' form did the trick. Both entities fell to the ground incapacitated before Bliss, drawing her attention to the man next to her half sister. "Neat trick. Mitsy, let's go." A number of rude comments could go from Bliss to Marcus in the wake of their adventures in Argentina, but perhaps the rudest gesture came in the form of her not remembering the man she spent several hours accusing of being a spy.

Staying in the hallway, Mitsuko did not eagerly rush to Bliss' side. "Bliss, this guy helped me from the cultist after I saved him. I think he can help us."

"What's with you guys and picking up stray superheroes. Fine he can come to. You didn't tell him about the shield did you?" Bliss did her best to keep an ear to the door, hoping anyone coming would alert her with the audacity of a bull.

"No, but you kind of just did."

"Fine, you can come, but don't get into trouble and don't compromise my situation. Last shadow guy I knew claimed her wasn't working for the enemy, but I haven't seen him in while. Might be working for this very cult."

After a lack of gracious sentiments moved from one to another, Bliss took off to try and find the cultists before they could escape with the trinket she needed. Or, at very least, she needed them not to have.

Marcus just smirked under his mask as Bliss began her usual, it had been a while senice he had come across the woman after their adventure in Argentina. He remembered well that most of time they were together she simply accused him of being a spy and was the one to knock her out. Fun times. Running up to a easy pace a few centimeters away from the two Marcus would simply listen into the conversation they were having about him and a shield. She then declared that he could come as long as he didn't mess up her plans and also spoke about how he could be working for this very cult but well. In an somewhat annoying way, still Marcus would just play along.

"Alright, I'm happy to kill some energy dwelling cultist. Whats with you and Mutated Cultist?" Marcus would ask as he remembered that Nazi's with spider turning capability's were in their last meeting, now their were energy beings. After her comments or if their were any Marcus would simply begin to follow the two along their way. Letting his mist grow without blockage.