Noise turned her head several moments after Tybalt spoke to her. His words had been distorted, as though he were speaking through water.
"I... I'm not... sure." She responded sluggishly. The haze in her mind was making it hard to think. "It could be though." Her tongue felt too big for her mouth and speaking was tiring her out. She looked over at Rail who simply shrugged.
Groaning a little she put a hand to her head and closed her eyes. In vain she attempted to shake whatever was coming over her from her mind but failed. Instead she felt her legs give out beneath her. One second she was falling, the next the man was by her side, an arm under her armpit holding her up.
"Are you alright, young miss?" He asked cordially. His words too, sounded far away and distorted.
"I, I think I need to sit down." She mumbled barely audible.
"We can't have that." The butler tutted. He crouched down and leaned forward extending his arms out behind him. "Please climb up, young miss. We shouldn't tarry while my mistress is waiting."
Noise regarded him for a few moments before reluctantly allowing herself to be carried. The group continued on and Rail came to walk by her sister who she gave a concerned look.
"Kapana?" She asked. Noise nodded, unwilling to talk as she rested her head against the butler's neck. Rail, still concerned, put ah and on Noise's leg and kept it there as they walked.

--------------------------------------------------

Fenrir watched with interest as the young demon began to sway. He was unsure why these symptoms were presenting, but then again, if his memory served him correctly this girl was an old resident, perhaps once banished, which would be a logical reason for these issues.
Once he had her secured on his back he answered Decoda's question and Tybalt's in the same sentence.
"My master is a scientist of the Gray Coven of Angels, Newi One-Wing." He quickened his pace slightly. "Hurry now, we only have a few more minutes to go." Pushign through a door he led the group down a staircase, through a few more hallways until they ended up in front of a metal door.
"My mistress is just inside this door. Please go on in, I will bring refreshments momentarily."
Leaving Noise in Rail's care for the moment he turned and hurried off down the hallway, leaving the group before the metal door. The sounds of a single occupant could be heard if they bothered to listen.

Decoda walked over to Rail, and placed her hand on her shoulder. "I'll carry her for you." She said with a gentle smile on her face, as she scoped Noise up in her arms. She then turned to Tybalt, and nodded her head once, for him to open the door. Since this 'Newi One-Wing' wanted to see Tybalt, it only made sense for him to enter through the metal doors first.

Maraud nodded.
"That would be a good idea. But that handicaps everyone else. To be honest, you and Semira are the only two here who can really fight."
Cryth and Jokan opened their mouths to object, and Maraud silenced them with a glare.
"The boys are one trick ponies, the girl can't use her power at will, Victoria is a mindless berserker, Nadia can at best die loudly. With you babysitting, it would essentially be Semira, alone, against someone that can kill instantly with a single touch."
He raised an eyebrow. "Daring. I like it. Not that you have any other choice."

Tybalt nodded back at Decoda.
"Let's not stay here any longer than we have to. For some reason, this place seems to be having some kind of effect on Noise."
Saying that, he made his way to the door and slowly opened it. He saw a figure in the room and called out to her as he stepped inside.
"You must be Newi One-Wing, correct? It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Tybalt; pardon my rudeness but I would like to ask a quick favor, if you wouldn't mind."
He looked over to Noise.
"She hasn't been feeling well ever since we stepped foot into this place. Do you have any idea what could be doing this to her?"


Hearing the situation put so bluntly, Sauriel was starting to reconsider his plan.
"Hmm...that might not be the best course of action, after all. It might be better if I went in first, then Semira could watch out for the others."
He looked over to her.
"What do you think? I'll leave the final decision up to you."

"Oh, it's just one. It's the whole disintegration-with-a-single-touch thing that is problematic."
Maraud cocked his head.
"Alas, I can only offer advice and I'm afraid I have said my piece. If I remain here longer I may get accused of cheating."
He turned on his heel.
"I have the utmost confidence in you. You have maybe five or six minutes before the finals start. Try to come up with a decent plan of attack. Good luck."
Then he was gone.

Cryth and Jokan looked at each other, then at Squillok's corpse.
Both gulped.
"Er... nothing from us."

Arch cawed, dismissively.
"Wait..." the bed said slowly. "Am I also fighting in this?!"

The bed said nothing.
Then it sighed.
"Sometimes, I really really regret being around you paragon heroic types. I swear it rubs off on me."

Jokan looked at Sauriel.
"How do you feel about this fight?"

Newi stood and moved to Where Decoda stood holding Noise. Taking her from Decoda, Newi left the young demon on the table in the room. She took a few moments to observe her condition.
"I see. I had a feeling this would happen eventually." She said, seemingly to herself. Her hand ran along Noise's right arm, then pressed something near her wrist. A cylinder, half the diameter of Noise's arm and fitting in a slot that went from her wrist to about halfway to her elbow was revealed. Newi pulled the cylinder from it's container much like one would remove a battery. It had an odd swirling design on one side of it.
Noise let out an odd gasp as it was removed from her arm.
"I knew the warp field would eventually become too much for her to handle." She pulled a cord on the wall. "Fenrir, bring me the canisters from lab C-96."
"Yes, ma'am." Came the tinny sound of the man's voice.
"Anrianna, come help me with your partner." Rail calmly moved ot the table and began to speak her gibberish into Noise's ear. Newi made an annoyed sound at the angel's sounds. "After all this time, you still can't speak properly. I suppose the experiment was more traumatic than I had expected."
Finally she turned her gaze to Tybalt and Decoda. "Now then, you two. Who are you?"

Jokan's gaze remained steady.
"I just watched good men with families get slaughtered as expedient cannon fodder. I'm fully aware of our lack of options. I mean, are we going to all make it out of this?"
He emphasized the word "all," making clear how he meant the question.

Tybalt blinked in surprised, seeing that Newi seemed to have a...complicated past with Noise and Rail.
"Ah...right, my name is Tybalt."
Although he had a few very important questions to ask, he forced a smile and continued his introduction.
"There's not really much to tell about myself, to be honest. I'm a wandering adventurer from a faraway land, in search of adventure, knowledge and whatever else I may find along the way. I suppose you probably know about my...unusual heritage by now, so I won't bother trying to hide that."
He looked over to Decoda and waited for her to speak.


Sauriel let out a heavy sigh.
"If I told you yes, would that make you feel better? Unfortunately, I can't say for sure. I can only tell you this: I plan to fight with everything I have, and I expect the same from you. If we combine our full strength and bring down this champion quickly, I truly believe that we can all survive this battle. So don't let your guard down for even a second, understood?"

Jokan sighed.
"It's like you said. I don't have a choice, none of us do."
He looked round at Nadia.
"Stay behind us. Sauriel at the front, me, Cryth and Semira standing abreast, then Victoria, then Nadia and Amelia at the back. Sound reasonable?"

Decoda rustled her feathers slightly, then looked at Newi. "I'm Decoda Darkwing, a fallen Angel." She introduced herself. "I was hoping you could help us, if you can." She added, as she stepped forward. "As you're aware, I'm an angel, and as such, prone to attacks by demons; however, lately, I've also been attacked by fellow angels."

"Well you left Heaven. You should have expected this at some point." Newi said without looking at the angel. "And hanging around a dragon doesn't really show that you're sticking with your old allegiance. Even though you left, that old fool is stickler for that kind of thing."
A side door opened and Fenrir strode into the room carrying a small box. He bowed and handed it to Newi who took it. He then left the room.
"I didn't think there were any dragons left in the world. I've been trying to bring your race back to life. Who would have thought one would come here to find me."
She set the box on the table and opened it. Inside were two cylinders that matched the one she took from Noise's arm. Setting them carefully on the table she selected one with an indecipherable symbol on it and then leaned over Noise and slotted it into the empty space in her arm then snapped the lid shut. Noise's body went rigid and her face contorted with pain.
"Sit down, Anrianna." Newi instructed Rail, gesturing towards the couch. Rail did as she was told then held her arm out for Newi to access. Rail's arm panel flipped up and Newi removed a cylinder from her arm with a lightning bolt on it. Rail seemed to collapse when it was removed from her. Newi then slotted the other cylinder from the box into Rail's arm. Her body went rigid too as her face contorted. But other than that, the two young beings didn't move or make any noise.
"They'll be like that for at least ten minutes." She put the old cylinders into the box and closed it again. She sat down in a chair, and gestured for Tybalt and Decoda to sit. "Now what kind of help would you like me to provide for you?"

Tybalt only caught part of what Newi was saying, but he heard enough to know that he was invited to sit down. He did, still staring in disbelief at Noise and Rail as they lay there motionless and apparently lifeless.
"Noise...Rail...are they...some kind of machines?"
He looked back at Newi.
"Is that even possible? Did you "create" both of them?"


Sauriel nodded.
"I think that would be for the best. Just try not to do anything reckless, let me handle most of the fighting."

Maraud appeared out of nowhere. His face looked ashen.
"Might I speak with Nadia for a minute?" he asked politely, though his voice sounded strained.

Maraud did not look like he was in the mood to argue.
"Suffice to say, Semira, I would not be doing something like this unless it was of sufficient importance - I am nothing if not pragmatic. However, time is short, things are getting very tight and dangerous and right now the last thing I need is time being wasted. I do not wish to carry her off to my lair, or feast on her ruby-red liquor of life - I merely wish for a minute of her time. And by "wish" I mean "if you do not let me talk to her in the next ten seconds it might end up getting everyone in this room killed"."

Decoda sat down beside Tybalt, and crossed her legs. "I wouldn't be surprised to be attacked by demons...fallen angel or not, they'd still attack me. The strange part is the angels attacking me. Most of them would have tried to convince me to return, and not just simply attack me on sight."

Maraud wasted no time.
He pressed his finger and thumb hard against Nadia's forehead, and a split second seemed to last an age.
"Hello Nadia," Maraud's voice said kindly, as time seemed to completely slow to a crawl. "Yes, some vampires - myself included - have the ability to change a creature's perception of time, a perk of immortality. A way of seeing life on the other side of things. However, as much as I would surely love to give you a tour of eternity, this is actually costing me a lot of energy that I'm going to need in large quantities, seeing as I'm quite currently speaking to you faster than any sentient being could understand without this kind of state being in effect. Now listen very carefully..."

To the others, it seemed like Maraud placed his finger and thumb against Nadia's head for about three seconds, then Nadia staggered back, looking white and scared. Maraud returned his hands to his pocket, looking grim.