Darius fell back with the other, part way down turning and firing his gun into the puppet. The strenght of the creature was astonishing, Ethan had been sent flying past them moments ago, Darius poured more rounds into the creature. Soon his assault rifle gave a click as the last of the rounds were shot off. Darius pulled the magazine out and looked up in time to see Ann sliding down past him, Darius quickly banged in a new magazine and cocked it and started firing again, making his way backwards whilst doing so.

Darius saw the puppet quicken it's pace, it was practiclly ontop of him when it swung it's arm around. Darius stumbled back in his attempt to dodge and was on the floor, the puppet had sent it's arm into a wall sending debris all over the area. Darius scrambled to his feet and ran to the door, seeing bear trying to break it down. Ann, Claire and Ethan unable to fight.

The puppet steadly made it's way towards them, "We need it open," Darius said, notable fear in his voice. Darius kept firing down the hall, even though it was ineffective, it was the best idea they had at the moment, and he hoped that it was atleast doing something.

Claire continued to swim through the darkness in her mind. The light was drawing closer and she had found a new resolve thanks to the words of Andrew. She could feel the denzens of the facility reaching out to her, trying to pull her back down into the darkness. She continued to press onward, fighting against the darkness which threatened to overtake her. As she drew nearer to the light, she could hear the voices of her companions. She still could not make out what they were saying, but she could tell that they were in trouble.

Claire felt something wrap around her leg and it pulled her back down into the darkness. She struggled against it but it was too strong for her. As she was about to give up again, having resigned herself to her fate, a hand reached out to her from the light. She grasped the hand and felt a rush of energy surge through her.

"Ann?" The word escaped her lips, but her mind had not yet escaped the abyss it was in.

The thing on her leg released it's grip and she swam upwards with renewed energy and spirit.

((OOC: Blackmane, I know we have different guns, but please just go along with what I say in the last paragraph, eh?))

IC

The Puppet came closer, and the group was cornered. Ethan lifted his blade again, and tried once more to charge the evil spirit. He couldn't tell the Puppet's condition, but he could see the Puppeteer was slightly injured. Unfortunately, it was nothing major; he kept getting closer.

Ethan swung the blade into it's neck, but it once again stopped partially through it's thick skin. He quickly pulled the blade from it's neck, and watched the black goo disappear into an invisible mist that flew off into the air. Ethan grunted, and this time he poked the sword into the Puppet's stomach. The sword was taken from his hands, and absorbed into the Puppet's stomach. It pulled back, and slammed it's fist into Ethan, causing him to fly back again.

Ethan cursed, and started to panic. The Puppet's arm outstretched as it did before, and grabbed Ethan by the neck. Starting to choke, Ethan tried to swat the arm away. But it did nothing.

Steam started to come from the Puppet's skin, and it let out a vicious sounding scream. It threw Ethan to the ground, and grasped it's stomach. The silver sword made it's way through the black goop, and fell to the floor. Ethan scramble to grab it, and was knocked away just as he squeezed it's handle.

Weak and tired, Ethan got to his feet once more. As he got to his feet, something fell from his pocket. Confused, he looked down to see his extra clip of silver bullets. He remembered that the ghosts couldn't take his sword, all that time ago when they transported to the lower levels. He had no clue how he managed to miss them. He grabbed the clip, and threw it to Darius.

"You're up, Darius." He said, but still ready to attack.

"Oh, for god's sake don't tell me THIS is it? THIS is all we're going towards?" I muttered to myself, looking around the deep cavern. The walls were far away from me, and the center had a giant platform on it. Sitting in the center was a conspicious sitting Male figure, it's mouth was moving slowly and almost in a chant. Quickly I realised just what the hell it was, reactions speeding ahead of everything else I reached for my rifle.

Of course, my hands grasped onto nothing and I just scowled to myself, turning around. The giant metal doors that would've barred anyone else's way were nothing for me of course, I just walked straight through it. Sighing a little I moved up the hall, straight into another one of the Facility's crazy traps. Falling through the floor yet again I wondered where the hell I would appear this time.

Opening my eyes from their clenched fear I looked upon a scene of utter terror to my destroyed heart. There I was, it was me, I could see that much; or at least my body. It was quite obviously full of glee at the fact of what it was doing, or attempting to do, which was kill my friends. With utter destruction I watched them fight furiously against it, but absolutely nothing was happening. As Ethan threw a few magazines of silver bullets to Darius I brought my hand to my chin.

Being dead was an interesting experience, I'd give it that much; staring off into the present, past and future with little wonderment. As I felt my feet fade through the floor I growled and tried to stay up in my position to no avail. As I fell the last thing I saw was Claire, to her I yelled:

"Stay safe hermanita! I shall be with you again soon!"

Stay safe hermanita! I shall be with you again soon!"

Claire heard her brother's voice calling out to her. She stopped her ascension through the darkness in her mind and began to frantically look around.

"Andrew!!!!! Were are you?!?!"

She called out in her mind but the words escaped her lips as a whisper. Ann's hand was still pulling at her and she started to resist. Her body reacted to what she was doing in her mind and she attempted to pull away form Ann. She was reaching out into the darkness with her other hand.

"Take my hand hermano!!! Come with me!!!! I need you!!!"

The words in her mind escaped her lips as well, this time loud enough for everyone to hear. Claire was becoming a little frantic now. She knew she had to help her companions, but she wanted Andrew back and thought this might be a chance to save him.

No reply came from the darkness and she called out again.

"Andrew where are you!!!!"

Falling back through the darkness I heard my Sister's words ring through my ears, "Andrew! Where are you!?" After a few moments I heard more frantic yellings, "Take my hand hermano! Come with me! I need you!" Pulling towards the distant voice with my remaining strength I heard one last thing from her lips. A frantic sobbed voice said, "Andrew, where are you!" With the last of my grunts I pushed towards the voice again.

Reaching a barrier of concrete, or perhaps stone, I pushed my hands against it and flew straight through. Right into a scene of terror, just like before. Darius was taking aim for my body, while Claire was almost fighting against Ann who was dragging her along. Blinking my eyes a few times I thought about the scene and what the hell to do. I could tell from what I'd learnt in the light I had a few choices, moving towards my body I decided on one course.

Making contact with my old skin I saw the thing stop and shiver, stepping back with a rigid face. I could see straight through my body and onto the harsh ghost inside, it glared at me and I quietly said, "Get out of my body and bother me no more." It slowly moved back out of my riddled corpse and it fell to the ground with a thud. The spirit flew out under my feet into the ground, I watched as my body flashed suddenly.

There lay my arm, cut savagely from my body, I realised what had happened, "The bastard cut me apart, he's using parts of my body to turn into puppets... This would've been one of the weaker ones, goddamit," I muttered to myself. Yet obviously loud enough for at least one person, turning around I saw Ethan staring at me with his strapped eyes. Smiling and giving a small wave I said, "Well, Andrew's dead but I'm still here I guess."

Blinking a few times I actually thought what had happened, "So... Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?" I said to Ethan, while moving towards Claire. I quite obviously knew that they wouldn't be able to see me, so I moved beside Claire and whispered in her ear, "Hermanita, I'm here, but I don't know how long for. Anything to say, now's the time," moving back a few steps I looked at Ethan again.

"Well, Ethan, maybe you can explain why there are voices emanating from nowhere? Or did someone else want to take a wild guess?"

Darius caught the magazine of bullets and Ethan said, "You're up, Darius" It was smaller then the extended magazines he uses. Darius pulled out the current magazine from his gun and rammed the one Ethan gave him into the gun. Darius cocked the weapon and took aim at the puppet. Darius was about to pull the trigger when it just dropped.

Darius lifted his finger away from the trigger, "What the hell just happened?" Darius asked suprised. Darius was hearing voices in the air, after hearing, "Well, Ethan, maybe you can explain why there are voices emanating from nowhere? Or did someone else want to take a wild guess?" it finally hit Darius, "Andrew?" Darius asked, "Is that you?"

Claire continued to resist, frantically looking for Andrew. She couldn't see him in the darkness and she started to let herself sink back down.

"Hermanita, I'm here, but I don't know how long for. Anything to say, now's the time," She could hear Andrew's voice, but it wasn't coming form the darkness. It seemed to be right next to her.

The light started to grow brighter and washed over her. Claire found herself standing in a hallway with the rest of her comapnions. Ann was holding her hand, feeding her energy.

"Thank you Ann." Ann released her grip and Claire looked around.

Andrew had spoken to her but she couldn't see him. She looked around the area for some sign of Andrew.

"Well, Ethan, maybe you can explain why there are voices emanating from nowhere? Or did someone else want to take a wild guess?" It was Andrew's voice, but she couldn't see him.

"Andrew?" Darius asked, "Is that you?"

Claire started to feel worried that it might be another trick. Her eyes went black ad she reached out with her power. She could feel the emotions of her brother, though they seemed to be distant. It was at that moment she knew what was going on. Andrew was a ghost. She felt saddened by this but at the same time she felt better knowing that he wasn't gone. Claire also felt revitalized. The energy that Ann had pumped into her had made her feel alive. MIxed with the words spoken to her in the abyss she felt ready to take on whatever would be waitng for them.

"Although I can't see him I can feel that it is really Andrew." She was speaking to the group.

Claire moved closer to the spot where she could feel Andrew's emotions eamnating from and reached out her hand. The area felt cold.

"Andrew i'm so happy to see.... I'm happy you're here. What can we do to help?"

For the first time since entering this place Claire felt a glimmer of hope. Perhaps a way to bring him back lay in the depths of the facility. And maybe Andrew would know what it was.

As Ethan threw the Silver to Darius, and prepared his sword for attack, the Puppet abruptly fell to the ground with a thud. The black goop seemed into the ground, leaving only Andrew's ripped arm on the ground. Ethan frowned, instantly realizing what that meant. There were still more Puppets to be fought. As he walked over to examine the arm, he saw an all-too-familiar face.

Ethan laughed to himself, the kind of "I'm freaked out, but this is awesome" laugh with the crack in the middle of it. He saw the slight glow around Andrew's body, and frowned when he finally realized it was Andrew's spirit trapped in the facility.

"Well, Ethan, maybe you can explain why there are voices emanating from nowhere? Or did someone else want to take a wild guess?" Andrew had said.

The others around the room had hear, and reacted to Andrew's voice. Ethan chuckled;

"I guess that means they can all hear you. I'm just the one who sees you. The voices would make a simple answer; other spirits here. You haven't seen any trapped souls on you current plane, have you?"

The mental strain was tough, but the metal bolts were finally giving. Slowly they rolled out of place and fell to the floor with a loud clang. The metal door toppled over into the next room, kicking up dust and god knows what else into their air with a shroud of dirt. Quickly I turned back to the rest of the group, ready to rush them all out of the hallway and away from the puppet. Instead of a tainted monstrosity, I was greeted by a glowing smoke, a manifestation of Andrew.

His message was clear, but I was too overcome with joy for myself and for Claire. She knows her brother was still with her. A few tears trickled down my cheek, but no one could see through my visor. My spirit and my morale was enlightened, at least for now. The deaths of Jian and William were almost completely forgotten.

"Andrew... I can't believe it. It's great to see you again. Where are you? What have they done to you? Is everything alright? We can find you. We can get you back into your body," I spotted a severed human arm in the pool of black taint where the puppet once stood. I quickly realized what had happened. "Well, a body." I said, croaking a bit, the crying stuffing up my throat and words.

I walked over to the black pool, the taint burning away as I stepped. I picked up the arm and held it in front of my visor, examining it closely. Several burns, lacerations, and bites were lined up and down the arm and hand. Whatever was happening to him wasn't any fun at all. Perhaps Adam was right about the tap dancing poltergeists.

I was right about the tap dancing poltergeists. Adam chimed in.

"Andrew, we have to get moving. I'm sorry to tear you and your... er... hermanita away from each other, but we have to get out of here. Something wants us dead, and quickly. If you want, I can absorb you into my body with Adam for the time being." As the words escaped my mouth, I could here the giggling of a young woman, distorted with an almost radio delay.

Tables, chairs, cups, and all sorts of items were being tosses and strewn about in the next room. Several mugs were thrown out the door at us, but never hit a single one of us. Books began to fly, pages being torn out of their bindings.

"Give us a [censored] break!"

Everything blanked out as I saw a small girl, appear in the room; obviously no one else could see her. Not even Ethan. "Ah, okay, something tells me-" as things started flying from their positions I took a quick breath. "Oh, this is [censored]..." I said to myself, quickly turning to fully see the small girl. She was wearing a pure black dress, with blood red hair running down her shoulders.

Gulping down a yell of fear I quickly said, "I think you all see some of this, well... Your right, let's get the [censored] out of here." Noticing a small exit I bolted straight at it, falling down into the floor yet again in this crazy hell-hole. "Not again..." I groaned, dissapearing into the darkness again.

This time it was different though; I saw the group through an almost silver barrier. Scowling lightly I stared at my friends and Sister, hoping that they wouldn't do anything stupid.

Darius wondered what would happen if any them died, or what had happened to Jain and Edward, have their spirits been let loose, carried on to where ever they go, or been kept here and are waiting somewhere, twisted or otherwise. Darius knew for certian, even if Andrew was here, it may of made Claire feel slightly better, but Andrew did not belong here if he was truly dead and would need to go on, or risk being twisted like many other ghosts here.

Darius nodded at what Bear said, the need to move on, staying any longer risked another ambush. Darius looked around, hearing the giggling of the women, followed by the room next to them having the furniture and other items thrown around. Darius lifted his arm up to cover his face when he saw the mugs coming at them, yet no one were hit. Soon it stopped, Darius looked down at his foot, a broken piece of one of the mugs there, shattered when it hit the wall near them.

Darius looked back up, "Should we move on?" Darius asked, "Before anything else happens to us."

OOC: Sorry for not posting.

Micheal had been able to fight off the ghost, but his head was still messed up by the encounter. Micheal looked around to see body parts all over the place and thought, "What the hell happened while I was out?" Micheal was then answered by a familiar voice in his head. Micheal thought, "Andrew? But how?" Micheal then said, "It's good to know that you're still here, even if you are in an intangible state." Suddenly, Micheal ducked as mugs started coming at them. Micheal turned to the others and said, "I'm still waiting for some 20 foot tall abomination to show up."

Andrew, we have to get moving. I'm sorry to tear you and your... er... hermanita away from each other, but we have to get out of here. Something wants us dead, and quickly. If you want, I can absorb you into my body with Adam for the time being."

As soon as Bear spoke the words, the objects in the room began to take on a life of their own. Mugs and plates flew through the door, just missing Claire and her companions. The furniture in the room lifted off of the floor, some of shattering as it pounded into the walls. Other pieces were still hovering menacingly in the air, as if waiting to attack

"I think you all see some of this, well... Your right, let's get the [censored] out of here."

Andrew spoke the words and suddenly he was gone. Claire could not feel him anymore, and the sensation of him being ripped away, shocked Claire for a moment.

"Should we move on?" Darius asked, "Before anything else happens to us."

Claire reached out to get a sense of where the poltergeist was. She wasn't prepared for the intense wave of hatred and mal intent that washed over her. It slammed into her and nearly took control of her. Claire pushed back with her mind and steadied herself. Reaching out, she found she could not pinpoint the exact location of the spirit. The emotions it was emanating were just to powerful and seemed to be coming from a large area of the room.

"Darius, I have a feeling this thing's not going to let us off that easily."

Claire continued to reach out and tried to find the spirit. She focused on it's emotions with all of her mind Claire found that she was still unable to tell exactly where the spectre was. But she had narrowed it down. It seemed to be in front of a doorway on the far side of the room. The area of emotion was wider than the doorframe, but Claire had an idea. Quickly removing three of the silver shurikens from the bandolier, she threw them at the area. The light glistened as the metal stars flew at their target. Two of the stars impacted the wall on either side of the doorway, imbedding themselves in the drywall. The third was directed at the center of the doorway. A loud, shrill scream of pain echoed about the room as the shuriken sailed through the doorway and into the darkness beyond. The furniture that was still floating in the air, dropped to the ground and crumbled with the impact. Claire didn't know if she had killed it or if it had just vanished. But at least it appeared to be gone.

"Of course, I could be wrong." Claire gave Darius a surprised look.

Claire waked in to the room to retrieve the shurikens for the wall. As she reached the center of the room, she could see what appeared to be blood dripping from the stars. She stopped and immediately drew her swords Claire smiled when she suddenly remembered the words spoken by Micheal earlier.

"I'm still waiting for some 20 foot tall abomination to show up."

Claire hoped it wouldn't be that. And judging from the size of the room, it wouldn't be. She was smiling because it would be a chance to blow off some steam.

The blood continued to ooze from the shurikens and formed into two pools on the floor which quickly began to take on the shapes of lickers. Claire could feel the familiar sensation of the primal rage and hunger which accompanied them. The second they materialised, one of them skittered up the wall and began to cross the ceiling towards her companions. The second stayed on the floor and it's tongue lashed out at Claire. She didn't sense it in time and was unable dodge it. She barely managed to get her arm up in time, and the long serpentine tongue, coiled around her wrist. Claire slashed upwards with her other sword and severed the tongue. It loosened form her wrists and fell to the floor. Her blackened eyes glared at the creature and she smiled.

"Ah - ah. No tongue!"

The licker howled in pain and hissed at Claire. Claire could now see that the inky darkness was starting to form in the corners of the room in front of her. Glancing about the room she could see that it was forming in the other corners as well. Four of the soldiers rose out of the darkness covered floor and began to raise their weapons. All four of them preparing to fire at Claire.

"Darius, I have a feeling this thing's not going to let us off that easily." Claire had said to Darius, who nodded in agreement, "What has?" Darius watched as Claire threw three of her shurikuns. Darius flinched as he heard the scream, if they couldn't see it, they sure could hear. The furniture dropped to the floor with a crash. "Of course, I could be wrong." Claire added after with a suprised looked to Darius. He was also shocked at what just happened, he brought himself together again, "Doubt it..." Replied, "Still other horrors to awaits us."

Darius looked back behind the group, to see if anything was there, even if it was what had just be driven off, he wouldn't of seen it anyway. Turning back around, Darius could see Claire had gone in to retrive her throwing weapons. Soon the two lickers came along, one passing Claire, the other lashing with it's tongue at her. Darius raised his rifle and stepped into the room and started to shoot at the creature heading towards them. The licker jumped down onto the floor as rounds hit the ceiling. In retaliation the licker sent it's tongue at lighting spped and wrapped it around Darius' rifle. Darius gripped it tightly as the Licker pulled upon, the strenght pulled Darius forward and he landed on his front and his gripped loosened on the weapon. The licker threw the gun across the room, slideing under on of the upturned desks.

"[censored]," Darius said picking himself back up and raised his head to see the licker pounce on him. Darius was oinned to the floor, using his arms to keep the creature's jaws away from him, the licker decided to use it's tongue and wrapped it around Darius' neck. Darius moved his hands to the tongue, trying to pull it off as it was slowly crushing his wind pipe. Darius could feel the sharp barbs on the tongue as he gripped it trying to pull it off, digging into his hands and drawing blood, "G.. get.. it... off," Darius croaked, the terror seen on his face.

As Claire and Darius talked, Micheal stayed towards the back, looking around for any enemies. Micheal thought, "There hasn't been anything trying to kill us yet." Suddenly, Claire threw several shuriken into the darkness, and something let out a pained scream from the blackness. The blood pooled foward, and two lickers formed from it, hungry for flesh. The first went past Claire, while the second attacked her. Micheal watched in shock as the licker was able to get past Claire's defenses and wrapped it's tounge around her. At the same time, Darius was busy fighting off a licker that had knocked away his gun.

While Darius was fighting for his life, Micheal turned to see Claire cut off the licker's tounge and dispatch it, only to be attacked by four soldiers. Micheal yelled, "I'll help Darius, you guys cover Claire!" Micheal unleashed an entire clip into the licker's hide, killing it. Micheal then ran over to Darius and said, "Are you alright man?" while handing him his rifle.

Tensing my whole body as I watched the others begin to fight I scowled a bit. The soldier beings were obviously going to be a small problem, the lickers were pretty much 'out of it'. Scowling I pushed against the invisible barrier that stopped me from getting to it, as I even tried to move I couldn't do anything. Pushing out with all the strength in my mind I fought against my constraints.

After a few seconds I managed to almost feel a gripping being upon my mind, gritting my teeth I moved against it. Pushing outwards at it, getting all my strength into demolishing this thing that was stopping me. Fighting against it took forever in my mind, but it couldn't have been more than a few seconds in the reality of life. With a final push against it I felt the invisible barrier shatter, I fell straight through it onto the ground of the room again.

As I raised my head I noticed one of the soldiers almost away from the group, an invitation I was happy to take. Remembering what other ghosts normally did I quickly got up and ran towards the mechanical being. I leapt for the thing and it almost knew I was coming, it tried to jump out of the way but I managed to touch it's side.

My fingers made contact with the cold metal, but instead of just bouncing off like they should have... They went into the cold substance, melding with the being's personality and memories. Although, as I watched the thing's short memories I realised all it had done was sit dormant in this place since it first was activated. It made me sad in a way.

But as I fell into the thing's being more and more I realised I was merging with what was left of it's soul. It seemed like it had some human compotents about it, such as a heart and brain at the very least. As I felt myself become more and more with the robot I realised that I was melding with it completely. I quickly yelled out one thing:

"Nobody shoot the robot that's the furthest away from the others! If you do, I'll haunt you for the REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

A few lickers lay dead, mangled messes of dark, rubbery flesh strewn bout on the floor. Their blood looked like the taint I had seen the puppet use as a body, and much like the cold, dark look of the soldiers, they too may have a tainted interior. Claire's remark put a smile on my face, almost making me burst out laughing right in the middle of this violence.

"Adam was the one with all of the one-liners in our group, I'm sure he won't take too kindly to having a woman take his rightful place." I said, smiling. The glowing visor covered his expression. I raised my hands, the blue light glowing brighter as I focused on the closest two soldiers, hovering my palm in front of them.

"Don't shoot the furthest soldier or I will haunt your for the rest of your life!" yelled Andrew. He appeared to have taken over the empty husk of a being, much like Andrew tried to do to me.

"I'm not sure having you haunt me will be all that bad. Maybe you could get your sister to keep you company, I'm always bored sitting around the house alone. Now I have the ghost of an annoying Mexican man and a personal chef."

With a small push, the light from my palms escaped into a distorted cloud of energy, toppling the front two soldiers over and stopping their gunfire. Their assault rifles slid across the ground, making one of them discharge a round into the wall beside me. Ethan stood ready next to me, his broadsword drawn.

"That sword's good on flesh too, right? Cut one of these [censored]s in half!" I yelled, turning back to Ann.

"We don't need any energy right now, start attacking. Make sure that Andrew isn't hit. Concentrate fire on the last armed ones." As the words escaped my mouth, the ble wall dispersed, making us, and the soldiers, vulnerable once more.

Darius gasped for air as the Licker's tongue loosened from around his neck. Micheal putting many holes into the creature, it now lay on top of Darius, the blood pouring on him. Darius pushed the licker off of himself and unwrapped the tongue from around his neck.

"Are you alright man?" Micheal asked, Darius nodded, "Just a slight sore throat." Darius replied, giving a weak smile. Darius took his weapon back, and nodded a thanks. Darius quickly checked the rifle for any damage. The bolt had been stuck half up, Darius tried quickly to unjam but failed, he'd work on it after the battle. Pulling his pistol out Darius prepared himself to help finish off the rest.

Ummm... No easy way to say this guys, but I don't think I can continue with SCAR anymore... I'm really and truly sorry, I loved RP'ing with you all and all that... It's just, I'm beyond tired now and I don't think I can get into the flow of this story again... Yet again, I'm truly sorry, I hope to RP with you again at some future point.

Close requested by Francois