Pax RP

((This is a coming together of the various intertwining plots of chars I've had for a while, which I want to share with you all whilst I still can.

You can participate if you want to, I'd be happy to have people along for the ride ^_^. Of course you don't have to either, as this'll keep going either way.

I'll also be involving multiple characters, but even so I hope it won't get too confusing.

Just as a point to note, characters not involved in this have their own endings that are not tied to anyone who does appear here. So, if you don't see some chars who you were expecting, don't worry. They'll have their own stories later [with some rare exceptions]))

On Pax, Ana, The Encampment:

Syllak Draco and Tala woke to the sound of early morning birdsong, much to the sivaks chagrin. The silver draconian had never been a fan of early mornings despite har obvious daily workouts. They could wait until after ten, as far as she was concerned anything beforehand was uncivilised.

The werewolf, Tala Lupe, found the five o'clock cacophony almost as unwelcome as her roommate. Tala though had a different reason for being cranky-being a werewolf gave you heightened senses, and her ears screamed at her every time the dawn chorus got into full swing.

The two of them had to get up however once Sallah Kleh, the Horn and Halo's resident fire-lizard popped into existence in their room, chirping happily, her multifaceted eyes swirling a gentle blue.

The werewolf and the sivak found their forlorn attempts to drive out the sounds of the early morning thwarted by a golden, winged reptile pulling their pillows off of the tops of their heads, so they reluctantly arose before beginning to get dressed.

Once that was done-Syllak taking great pains to don her platemail armour properly in as dignified a manner as she could, whilst her friend pretended to closely examine an imaginary wristwatch every so often, they each stood up in order to walk out of their room and check if their host required assistance.

Then something strange happened. The room was briefly bathed in darkness, and the trio disappeared off the face of Ana, with the door to their shared accommodation unlocked and ajar.

On Pax, Ana, an underground cave system:

There was a river of molten lava, setting the cave walls ablaze with a red and orange glow. The cave system and even the channel itself was built for purpose, specifically to accomodate three of Anas particularly unsavoury residents. Two of whom were significantly smaller than the third, judging by the size of the rooms carved into the walls. Two were roughly made for an average sized human, whilst the third was for a creature many times their size. The very same creature that was, at this point in time, taking a lava bath. The Dark Fire Dragon, Furnace.

Sat away from the lake, against the wall, was ES, who'd been rudely awakened by her cavemates splashing and had the air of one entirely unimpressed with the mythical beasts morning antics.

"Do you have to do that now?" Evil Swix asked of the reptile, who shot a withering look at the soft-skin with his burning red eyes. "No" the dragon answered, before baring gleaming fangs "but I've been digging all morning to get this flowing right, and I dug this cave, so you're just going to have to deal with it"

"I know you've been at it all morning" ES sneered back "you probably started the dawn chorus early with the amount of noise you were making!"

"Well, if you don't like it you can always leave" retorted the reptilian, making a lazy arc in the molten rock as he did so "it's not like I'd be begging for you two soft-skins to come back and defend poor, helpless little old me if you did"

"Not that I would if you ever did do something that pathetic" Evil Swix said, and then changed her tone from annoyance to curiousity. The conversation, such as it was, was over. "Speaking of 'us two', where is Fade? She's not in her room anymore"

"She said my home improvements were disturbing her meditation" the black and red dragon answered as he finally began to haul himself up out of the immense heat "so she was going to the surface to finish off"

"Of course she did" ES said, nodding her head in a mildly mocking manner as the nearby giant shook off the droplets of molten rock, before "The darkness is coming for us"

Then they too, were gone.

Up above them, the spot the blue clad assassin had occupied in order to complete her meditation stood empty. Like the others, one second she was there, in the assassins case just beginning to stand after having remained sat motionless for half an hour with her eyes closed, then after a brief flash of darkness she too had disappeared.

On Pax, Ana, The Encampment, The Horn and Halo, CP's room:

The electric mouse was sleeping soundly in his bed, in one of the taverns completely wooden rooms. The dawn chorus of the birds didn't seem to have disturbed him too much, and now almost all the others were away, that which had snatched them from Pax now watched Coolpikaaa sleep from a dark corner of the room.

There wasn't any reason this creature couldn't have any fun whilst being given the opportuntiy to bend the rules a bit after all. Besides, she did so love toying around with him. The creature grinned, although it couldn't be seen, and the flash of darkness appeared yet again in the hero's room.

It appeared with the simultaneous yell of 'SURPRISE!', and the disturbing feeling of being tugged straight down, through his previously solid but bouncy bed. Straight down, and then deposited on a cold floor surrounded by all the others who had been taken to this new place. It vaguely resembled an extremely large, spherical room with benches arranged around the outside. Except for the area straight ahead, where three beings stood.

One of them was unmistakably The Collector, in her dual human/wyven guise, grinning down at the mouse she had just dragged here. Next to her was a being who appeared vaguely humanoid in shape, but glowed yellow and did not appear to be able to make up it's mind over whether it wanted to be male or female. The third did not glow, but instead was wearing a white robe and appeared to be sprouting silver wings from behind his back. He too was humanoid, but he was regarding The Collector with a very strange look on his face.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little hero" she said, addressing Coolpikaaa, with a self satisfied grin on her face "you know, I just couldn't resist bringing you here after watching how soundly you were sleeping. Did you rest well?"

Limbo:

Lungs burning, eyes wild, the electric mouse scurried on all fours backward, the sanctity of his sleep violated. Bed... He had slipped straight through it. What had once been warm blankets and a comfy mattress had transformed into thick jelly that engulfed him, suffocating the mouse while the birds sang.

But he wasn't dead. The burn and adrenaline told him so. That sultry, feminine voice he heard shout on the edges of consciousness could only mean he was somewhere worse.

"I haven't slept soundly since you took over our planet, you- !" Cp growled, rising with force to face The Collector. Half way up he realized they weren't alone, and immediately cut off.

The electric rodent almost did a double take at the strangest group of beings you would ever expect to see in the same room, gathered around him. Furnace, Swix, Fade, The two bouncers from the bar, and even the lizard that lived in the cellar were immediately identifiable. Seperated in a group of their own were three figures- The Collector, an Angelic chap, and and indiscriminate figure. He was fairly certain he hadn't met them before.

What was going on here?!?

Limbo:

The Collectors smug smile wavered at CP's little outburst, as though she couldn't quite make up her mind whether to burst out laughing or start snarling at the rodent. Instead she simply waved her hand (well, snakehead) over towards the rows of benches sticking out of the walls, which seemed as indecisive about what colour they wanted to be as the glowing being was over what shape to resolve into.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear that" the physical embodiment of evil told the electric mouse "but, please do take a seat and enjoy the pre-show. We're still missing a few." The being then raised her voice to the whole room, the notes bouncing around multicoloured walls "that goes for the rest of you as well, take a seat"

The glowing yellow being spoke up here as well, it's voice booming more than C's sultry one "All will be revealed in due course"

"So please, make yourselves comfortable for the next few minutes whilst we retrieve the others." The last voice was from the angelic chap, who sounded melodious, sincere and kind. He put a hand to Limbos wall behind him, as did the indeterminate one and The Collector too.

On the floor, Fade had wasted no time in marching over to the nearest semicircle of seats in order to sit down as instructed, calmly awaiting whatever would happen next. Furnace had reluctantly retreated closer to his blue clad colleague, however, his lowered head and smouldering red eyes regarded the strange trio with deep suspicion. ES had barely moved other than to fold her arms and stare at the darkest being accusingly, before throwing up her arms when she got an unwelcome stare back, spinning on the spot and angrily storming off to join the assassin.

The sivak and werewolf shared a look with each other and shrugged, before both of their jaws dropped open. They were staring at the apparently angelic being in disbelief as the golden fire-lizard circled around the him, singing to him with a beautiful, melodious humming noise.

"I've... never seen Sallah act that way around anyone she's only just met before" the werewolf confessed without tearing her eyes off the sight, nor, for that matter moving from the spot she was standing in. "Nor I" the sivak draconian chimed in just before both pairs of eyes popped out in shock. Sallah had alighted on the mans free arm, and he'd offered her a gentle knowing smile for her troubles.

Apparently waiting around in the middle of the floor was not a good idea, as the next people to come through newly opened portals appeared above their heads. One, a girl with golden hair and equally golden clothes crashed into the bouncer duo, the other was a mass of leathery black scales, black hair, black clothes and pale skin headed straight for CP's standing spot-or where he had previously been standing, depending on whether or not he had already decided to go and sit down..

Limbo:

Coolpikaaa scowled at The Collector, her smug smile, and casual waving dismissal nearly setting him off again. Sorry? That was doubtful. While the others took to sitting down as instructed, the electric mouse remained standing where he was. He needed explanations. Why he was there.. Why they all were there. Especially pressing, the question of what exactly was The Collector's stake in all of this...

The other beings that shared in evil's company also chimed in with similar statements. To be honest, Cp was unsure of what to make of those two. The angelic one especially, who's words almost seemed like they had never spoken a lie, gave off such a peaceful vibe... It was unsettling.

The trio moved after a while, each laying a hand on the wall. Watching them, Coolpikaaa's gaze soon moved to better inspect his surroundings. By mistake, he began to trace the bench's position in regards to the walls of the room- and immediated regretted it. Cross eyed and nauseated, he stepped backwards dizzy. Not even the standard rules of physics seemed to make sense here.

Fed up with the lack of knowlage being given, CP opened his mouth to begin a stream of questions. He didn't get far however, when a thump in the distance caused him to turn and see the werewolf and her draconian friend struggling under a golden woman he was certain he hadn't seen before.

Before he could react, black leathery scales blindsided him too.

The mass of of black scales, clothing and hair coupled with pale skin unfurled next to the yellow rodent, revealing several strange things. The scales only existed on her large draconic wings and tail, whilst the rest of her was pale skin. She was humanoid, and had long straight black hair, as well as a pair of fangs that protruded over her bottom lip. Very close inspection would reveal she didn't have any nails at all, but claw sheathes instead, although you didn't need to look close at all to see one quite disturbing thing about this black clad girl-her eyes too were completely black. Oh, there were slit pupils in them somewhere, but you'd be very hard pressed to make them out. "Oh I'm so sorry!" she apologised to the electric mouse, scrambling away from him so she didn't cause any more damage "are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I? Wait, where are we? What's going on?... Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

The two who'd been flattened by the golden girl rubbed their bruises as she got up off them and dusted her clothes. This girl had slightly overlarge green eyes, tanned skin, and long golden hair. She also had golden feathers that covered the backs of her arms and neck, and did not appear pleased to be here. Nor indeed, to see any of them, as her narrowed eyes and sneer at the draconian and werewolf revealed.

"Well, well, Tala and Syllak, I'd hoped never to see you two again" Harpy said nastily, enjoying seeing them in the pain she'd caused, even though it was accidental. "Believe me, the feeling's mutual, Harpy" Tala retorted, once she'd untangled herself from her friends armour, standing up in order to glare at the golden girl and cross her arms. They didn't get too far with this glaring match of theirs though, as the words of the one who'd just about crushed CP registered in their ears, and Harpy whirled around with an even uglier look on her beautiful face than before. "Blue!" she said sharply, addressing the draconic being "I oughtta-"

"Go and sit down, little girl" the voice was that of The Collector, silken and sultry, drifting over to them and cutting off Harpy's sentence "before you hurt yourself. You'll get plenty more opportunities to make even with your little friend there". Harpy frowned, offered Syllak and Tala a raised eyebrow, Blue a murderous look and CP a mildly confused one purely because he was next to Blue, before marching over to the darkest creature in the room.

"Err, Har-Harpy? I uh, I don't think that's such a good idea..." Tala called after her, seeing the danger, but she didn't exactly go out of her way to stop the feathered mutant. Instead she nervously scratched her back with the arm she had been forlornly holding out as though she could bring Harpy back from the stupidity she was about to embark on. Syllak had finally righted herself and carefully put a hand on her friends shoulder, so as not to touch exposed skin with silver scales. "I think she needs to figure it out for herself" the sivak said, squeezing Talas arm encouragingly. They did however, both back away from the middle of the room so as not to get hit by anyone else. Which was fortunate, as an apparent mass of green plant matter fell down onto the spot they had just been standing on.

Harpy had by now made it over to The Collector, who was regarding her with an unreadable expression in her red pools that served for eyes. "So... you're probably the one who pulled me through into this abominable place:" Harpy said, standing up as straight as she could and looking evil itself in the eye. "Much as I'd like to take all the credit, I am one of three, but I do love your choice of words there, my pet" the Collector said, without a sneer. She appeared to be waiting for something. "Pet?" Harpy spat "I'm not your pet, and where do you get off telling me what to do? Think you're better than people because you can do things like that, do you? Huh?"

It was at this point that C's expression became darker than usual as she regarded the seething mass of emotions in front of her. "Oh, but my dear, you are my pet. A pretty little birdy, in fact, or you will be if you do not get away from me and continue on this monumentally stupid path you just started on" The Collector stated, calmly enough to unnerve Harpy. "now just go and sit down, then-" "Don't tell me what to do" Harpy snapped, poking The Collectors collarbone with a finger. Which was about the point that the entity lost it and a snakes head that had been serving for C's hand suddenly had it's fangs pressing against the golden mutants throat.

"Listen carefully" began C, her voice now dangerously low. "I do not tolerate being spoken to like that, especially from one so deliciously on my end of the board. So take your attitude, and go and sit down. Before I tear you to pieces, slowly, starting with your little finger"

Limbo:

With a bit of hasty shuffling, the dark mass of wings, clothing and hair cleared itself off the tiny form of Coolpikaaa, allowing him to gaze once again on the confusion of Limbo. A bit dazed, he sat up slowly, rubbing the lump forming on his head and sizing up his extremely apologetic "attacker".

The woman looked rather strange, spouting off a stream of such curiosity with otherwise threatening Draconian features. Yet, the more he looked at her, Coolpikaaa couldn't shake the mental image of a woman in clothes far too large for her. Like a normal girl just had parts from a Dragon stuck on...

"Eh?" Coolpikaaa mumbled, then realizing that wasn't much of a first greeting, tried again. "Don't worry... I'm just a bit bumped up, no harm done. As for where we are... I'm just getting here, as it seems everyone else is." He said, pointing to the werewolf, her companion, and the golden girl still struggling to get up.

As for if they had met before... Gah, he was so terrible at faces.

"Err... I'm Coolpikaaa. Cp for short. And you are...?"

"Blue! I oughtta..."

Coolpikaaa looked between Blue and the golden girl and then to The Collector, who just chimed in to tell them to sit down. Much to his amazement, the bird like woman decided to challenge the physical embodiment of evil itself.

It escalated.

Cold waves spread over the electric mouse as he stared. The Collector now held her snake headed limbs to the golden bird's throat. She would be dead before she could think of an angry response, if C wanted it so. Yet, for some reason, she was holding back. This whole time, The Collector had been remarkably... civil. It was yet another disturbing note to this place.

Despite the action, Coolpikaaa briefly caught himself watching Swix instead, as if he could gauge what was truly happening here by her reaction...

"Oh that's good then, I'm glad you're not too badly hurt. But I'm sure I've seen you before, on Blackstar maybe" Blue had managed to get out to CP, then offer him a nod and a smile of thanks before Harpy had stolen their attention. She stared at the scene, as transfixed as the others, although she wore a more saddened expression than horrified curiousity at seeing Harpy getting herself into yet another situation.

Tala, Syllak, Furnace, even Fade and Salah all tensely watched The Collector and Harpy, whilst the lump of foliage seemed to be moving cautiously. There was only one in this room who didn't seem all that concerned, and that someone was Swix. The minion had, apparently, become curious or bored enough that she wanted to test how different the laws of Limbo were-by seeing how far up the wall she could walk. She was about halfway up, vertical, and showed no signs of falling down when CP's eyes fell on her. The Split humanoid craned her neck back to look at the scene below and had the expression of one who was more surprised than concerned. It was enough to make her stop and stare just as much as everyone else though-but she did afford the electric rodent an odd grin when she spotted him looking.

"You will do no such thing" the angelic being spoke up after The Collectors threats, his tone firm rather than pleading "not here, not now, and especially not in front of me. You know the stakes"
The indeterminate one shook it's glowing head at the both of them. "You should know better, Raph, our dear sister here is only interested in herself. You're here to help people, I'm here because I want to maintain some semblance of balance. She's here for her own self interest." the glowing being turned from the angelic one he'd been addressing back to the dangerous Collector "Which won't be met if you start killing the help"
"And which I won't allow" the one called Raph added, whilst both of them fixed C with their own glares.

The Collector stared at Harpy, and the mutant could not help but stare back for long seconds, before the entity let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Words can't express how much I despise you two" she said, clearly talking to Raph and the glowing guy, although she never stopped looking at the golden girl "You've gone quiet all of a sudden lilttle bird, cat got your tongue? Come on, I want to hear what you've got to say for yourself before I decide what to do with you"

For her part, Harpy had been silenced the minute that the entity had gotten her 'hand' wrapped around her throat, partly from shock, partly from rarely experienced fear, and partly from being mesmerised by the pair of glowing red pools that made her think that this was one time she would have been better off just staying away. Harpy tore her own green eyes away and examined the floor before answering. "I'm s-sorry if I offended you, I was just surprised at what happened" she mumbled. "What was that? I couldn't quite hear you" C said, obviously toying with the girl in her grasp. "I said I'm sorry! OK!" Harpy repeated, perhaps slightly louder than she intended.

"Really?" the entity mocked "I don't believe you. In fact, I think I'm going to keep an eye on you from now on-so I can make you sorry later"

The Collector still did not let go of Harpys neck, she raised her other snakehead hand until it was mere centimetres away from the mutants face.

She let go at the same time Harpy started screaming and collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Hearing Blue begin to speak again, Cp turned his attention away from Swix for a moment. "Blackstar? Yeah... That could be it. Where on Pax did you land? Anywhere near the Encampment?"

The electric mouse glanced up at the dragon lady, noting her sudden face of gloom. Following it across the ever changing expanse of Limbo, he again found his gaze on the scene of tension, though with some new faces involved. The angelic, and morphic forms had joined the tussel, and appeared to be attempting to calm The Collector down. While the bird like woman still stood with her neck in critical danger of being clamped, it almost looked like it was going to work.

While he scanned the faces of the crowd, and listened to as much as the trio's conversation as he could catch, Coolpikaaa got an odd feeling something was off. Where was Swix? He had just seen her a secon-

The electric mouse suddenly gave a snort stiffled laugh, then quickly fearing the kind of odd looks he would probably get because of the completly unrelated,(yet all together tense) situation nearby, ducked behind Blue's large wings and proceeded to try and have a hopefully realistic coughing fit. He had finally found his target; the dark clad woman simply standing at an impossible angle off the wall and smiling down right at him like it was no big deal. As far as he knew, Swix had neither wall clinging abilities or suction boots, giving further confirmation to his skewed physics theory. That and completly random antigravity acrobatics were unfortunately hilarious.

A sudden scream caused the electric mouse to peek out behind Blue's massive leathery wings, and quickly fill with dread at what he saw.

"No..." he breathed, looking down at the crumpled form of the golden woman at The Collector's feet. He... Didn't think she would... Cold blooded...

"What did you do?! Is that why we're here?! To let her have her way with us in an enclosed space?!"

On the floor in front The Collector, Harpy held her hands over her eyes as incredibly indescribable pain made it's way from her eye sockets deeper into her head. She couldn't even see her eyelids, just a strangely liquid blackness, and she was terrified that she had just been made blind. The snake head that had been held up to her had opened it's mouth, and the last thing she remembered seeing was a forked tongue shot out at her before the world went dark. That had been a very, very bad idea. The golden girl felt a kick from claws and rolled away from the entity, no longer screaming but whimpering now. The pain was still there however, it just wasn't worth screaming about any longer since it hadn't increased or even pulsed in intensity. It was slowly beginning to subside though. She felt arms gently picking her up off the floor, supporting her and guiding her away from the creature who'd caused the pain. For once, she didn't open her mouth to insert any arrogant comments to the person doing the helping, just allowed herself to be led.

The one who'd done this was the angelic being, Raph, who'd given C a very disappointed look when she'd kicked Harpy away before he walked over to the golden girl. With a fire-lizard on one shoulder he used the other to support the mutant and guide her over to the nearest seat he could see whilst she was in such a state. He didn't even bother talking to the entity, but his expression when he turned away was one of righteous anger.

"Did you have to do that?" the glowing being asked of the dark one, although his tone was more one of a curious note than a disappointed one. He seemed genuinely intrigued as to whether what The Collector had just done was necessary, and why. He got a nasty look, and a shrug for his troubles before The Collector simply walked away from him. It was only then that CP's voice registered in their ears.

"I did nothing she didn't wholly deserve" the embodiment of evil snapped at the electric rodent, not even bothering to turn her head towards him. The morphic one shook his head rather disappointedly and then looked over towards the electric mouse. "No that is not why we brought you all here, in fact, our brother Raph over there would have outright refused to join forces with us if that was the case. No, we brought you here for another reason entirely. That was just a... meeting of unfortunate circumstances that could have been prevented if she hadn't gotten so close. But we're still missing one more, and it wouldn't be fair on her for us to explain until after everyone turns up. Please be patient. Now I'm going to have to go over there and talk to her about that" The glowing yellow being sighed resignedly before following after C.

The rest of them had given a collective gasp at CP's outburst, and suddenly many resigned or confused faces had turned to suspicious ones. Tala and Syllak had singularly taken a step forwards when they'd heard it, Furnaces eyes had narrowed, and after a slightly more detailed examination of the room, Fade had simply remained seated. ES, on the other hand, had to stifle her own little laugh at this, whilst the dragon girl called Blue stood up so very suddenly she nearly trod on her own wingtip. Most of them didn't move from this position, even when the morphic creature gave his little speech, and Harpy was guided away from her attacker. After watching Raph with Harpy, Blue looked down sidelong at Coolpikaaa. "You don't think that's what we're really here for, do you? Because I've had enough of people trying to do things to me that I don't want them to. And uhh, Pax? I've never heard of a place called Pax.... I was in Blackstar until I got here"

Meanwhile the plant matter appeared to have planted itself in the floor, or something to that effect. Vines radiated outwards from the main body like branches, each one with a plethora of spikes and sharp thorns attached. These vines also moved-to protect any gaps that appeared. It resembled a very thick, thorny spider plant.

While a ripple of suspicion vibrated through the crowd, Coolpikaaa darted quickly toward the front. He reached his target just as the angelic being set her down carefully into a chair then quickly parted, an odd mix of emotions on his face. Clearly, the figure looked absolutely disgusted with what The Collector had done, and looked as though he wasn't going to hold back when he let her know. As maddening as it was they wouldn't provide any sort of explanation as to why they had all been kidnapped, this angelic one may have just earned some more credibility, at least in the electric mouse's books.

Now that he was more or less alone with the placated golden woman, Cp began to check her for signs of injury, or at the very least, figure out what it was The Collector had done to her. The birdlike woman no longer spoke, (it was clear she was in some agony), but every once and a while would whimper, out of fear or pain he didn't know. Strangely, aside from being understandably ruffled, the electric rodent really didn't see any signs anything was physically wrong with the birdlike woman. Yet, less subtle clues began to paint a picture.

Coolpikaaa's blood once again boiling, especially now that The Collector had chimed in saying Harpy had deserved it, he opened his mouth for another angry outburst. It was more or less clear now the golden woman had been stricken blind, and the electric mouse wasn't going to stand for that.

But cooler heads prevailed. He would get back at his captors by remaining resolute. The morphic one had just finished a speech, and was now moving away to join the others in private conversation. So, sticking to a new, wiser plan, Coolpikaaa did what his brain told him to do.

He listened to every word.

---
Thinking about what bits of conversation he gathered, Cp moved back to his original location just as quickly as he had left it. He didn't want to stick around near Harpy too long, and be caught eavesdropping, after all. Back where he started, the electric mouse planned to simply think. He needed to try and piece together as best he can.

Blue had begun talking to him again, almost as soon as he returned, but he wasn't really concentrating on conversation anymore. Until, that is, she said something that stuck directly into his brain.

"Yo- You came here directly from Blackstar?!?" he questioned, not believing his ears. Could it be? Among all this mess- a way home? "We're all from Pax... It's a different place... We all got... teleported there almost a year ago! How many are missing? I mean... How many of us do you guys think went over here!?"

On the chair, Harpy braved opening her eyes for the first time since she'd been kicked away from The Collector, but still the oily fluid remained, unmoving. She had no idea who'd brought her over here or where they'd gone, and she wasn't likely to as all she could see was darkness. Harpy blinked, not even sure which way her eyes were facing, yet still nothing happened. She stared at what the embodiment of evil had done to her for a long time, contemplating a life of blindness... and then she saw the tiniest glimmer of hope. The fluid was slowly moving off from her vision, uncovering her pupils as it travelled inside her head. Furiously the avian mutant began rubbing her afflicted eyeballs, apparently trying to speed up the process.

The angelic being called Raph stormed over to the place that The Collector and the glowing being were occupying, the latter talking animatedly with his arms flailing for emphasis, whilst the former barely spoke-both of them conversing far too low to hear. When Raph joined them though, the conversation suddenly became much louder. "What do you think you're doiog?" he yelled at the darkest being in the room "Think that was funny, do you? You think that they're going to trust us after what you did to that poor girl? We're gonna have enough problems with what we're asking without having to take your childish actions into account!." For a being that probably didn't have lungs, Raph seemed remarkably out of breath by this point. And C was quick to take advantage of this by inserting relatively few words that were inaudible unless you were close, but had the effect of making Raphs eyes nearly pop out of their sockets in rage. "I know that!" he continued his tirade "That's still no excuse for what you did! You-you-you-".
It was about this time that the indeterminate being, after looking from the hardened expression of C to the mad one of Raph and vice versa, put a hand on the angelic beings shoulder and, after slight hesitation even touched The Collector the same way. He spoke in low tones as well, not soothing nor calming ones just clear and concise. At the end of it though, C brushed his hand off irritably and fixed them both with a glare full of spite. "Don't forget you two came and asked for my help, dear Brothers of mine" she emphasised the words 'dear Brothers' with an infusion of seething hatred "if you don't want it anymore then I can just leave"
"But you won't" the glowing being quickly retorted with a glint of knowing in his eye "you have just as much stake in this as the rest of us. We knew the fourth of our order would never help, but you would, given the right motivation"
"Lucky for you I'm here then, isn't it, Nero?" the Collector said, waving a hand dismissively before beginning to walk back to her previous position, leaving the other two somewhat bewildered as they followed along. Until Raph stopped and pointed at her retreating back. "Undo what you did to Harpy this instant, Sister , you know as well as the rest of us she's no use even to herself if she's blind"

"Relax" The Collector replied smoothly, putting a hand on the wall where it had been before. "the blindness will pass in a minute or two, I never intended for it to be permanent. You worry too much" she grinned when he couldn't see, and Raph shot her a highly suspicious look from behind before he too put a hand on the wall.

Back by the draconic girl, Blue looked down at CP with an extremely puzzled expression of her own. "Missing? For a whole year?" she repeated incredulously "I don't know how many Blackstarians have gone to this Pax but, there haven't been any fliers or posters about missing people... But then again, time can be different in different dimensions".

Coolpikaaa went silent for a long time, his brain full of so many things just waiting for him to wade through. To sort out, and make sense of.

It had been almost a year since he had left Blackstar. So much had happened in that time, so many adventures, the people who he had met, the things they had established. To now know that home, Blackstar, hadn't even noticed them gone...

He felt an almost unexplainable mixture of emotions at knowing that the universe had simply gone on without them. Though, on the other hand, he could rest easy. No invasion, natural disaster, or bomb wielding madman could threaten home anymore.

Brothers.

As soon as one train of thought left his mind, another came barreling in. The Collector had called the other two beings her "brothers" in what little bit of her side of the conversation he had heard. It was kind of funny how evil itself's own voice prevented some minor eavesdropping. Was it really that much of a stretch that The Collector's family would share similar roles? It was so obvious now that he thought about it. One of them was an angel for Pete's sake!

But again, why were they here? What could be so important to call out the direct beings of Good, Neutral and Evil? Plus... He could have swore he heard them mention a fourth. What could that be about?!

In the centre of the floor, in this spherical plane could be heard a slight crackling, quickly followed by louder tearing. The whole process constantly accompanied by a growing spherical portal making it's presence known within the centre.

Once the portal ceased growing, a woman was pulled through the floor-much to her great surprise-whilst the portal itself disappeared as though it never was.

The woman remained sat upon her knees, her eyes closed and a single hand clasped to her temples whilst long, dark brown hair cascaded over her back. The woman just so happened to be one Laur Doyle, formerly Laur Wilkins, and unused to this form of travel her particular ability was making her feel uncomfortable-hence the hand.
Laur opened her eyes hesitantly, slowly revealing their piercingly bright blueness, to observe her surroundings... and many people whom she had previously met, whilst there were few whom she hadn't. The very strong impression the three unfamiliar beings by the wall gave off informed her this was more than likely their handiwork.

((Surprise!))