Rahvenholm Investigation.

Wolf follows after the agents as they make their way further into the mansion.

"So, does anyone have any idea where we are going?" he asks, "I mean, we are trying to hide from someone who probably knows this place inside and out. We also don't want to be going back the way we came from at any point either."

Wolf keeps pace with the others, waiting for a reply.

The agents kept moving. Not stopping for a second.

"There is one idea. I think if we can get up to the top of the building we may be able to jump the wall of water or at least get it to bounce us over. I think whatever that thing is needs to know where we are in order to attack, the wall around the house is more that likely just a passive thing," the Leader Explained, "If anything it can't stay up forever. No elemental user can hold up something that big for long."

With that they immediately took the next stairway up. Make a beeline for roof by any means necessary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiyana giggled as she quickly used Zeds body to maneuver through the house. She was still getting use to it however as there were hiccups where who was in control for a split second every once in a while.

"Hmm... you seem to have something in your body that doesn't like me... a shame since I don't plan on leaving it for a long while."

She once again turned to him in the mindscape. Her usual demented look and horrid nature seemed to subside a little.

"I don't want things to get boring now. Why don't you tell me EVERYTHING about you? I may answer your questions if you play along =)" she giggled again "It's not like peoples lives depend on it or anything."

“Myself?” Suddenly, memories began to flood Zed’s head. They took his mind off of the pain and the position he unfortunately found himself in, so he was glad to delve into them, as painful as they may have been.
 
“My parents… died when I was young. I was adopted by a family of rabbits very soon afterwards, and they took great care of me.” The picture of Zed and his adoptive father, a mauve rabbit, sitting in a large armchair and reading comic books suddenly appeared in his head. “He introduced me to comic books, and superheroes. I hoped to one day become a superhero myself...”
 
More memories flashed through Zed’s mind. The moment he first transformed into the Green Star, the days where he and his friends Holly and Dave fought powerful enemies, and the night they had spent talking about their plans after defeating the villainous Rob Scarlatto. These images kept the tears flowing down Zed’s eyes.
 
But not of sadness, nor of fear. But of joy. As dangerous and hopeless most of those days had been, they were the days that cemented Zed’s ideals of heroism, and forced him to become something more, not only to achieve his dreams but to put an end to the dreams of someone evil.
 
“I never wanted my name in the papers, or an action figure of myself. I wanted to help people, and make the world a better place. I… I…” Zed took a deep breath and stared intensely into Aiyana’s face, the same look he had before the possession.
 
“I am the Green Star.” As he quietly announced this, Zed could feel his courage coming back to him. His body was moving against his will, but it seemed like her control wasn’t quite one hundred percent yet. This situation was not hopeless, not while he was still kicking.

“When that crushing hopelessness is looming, I arrive to bring hope. When darkness is imposed on hearts, I arrive to bring light. I am a super hero, and I will save everyone here, I promise.” Tiredly, he looked into Aiyana’s eyes and his expression softened. “Everyone.”

Wolf frowns slightly at the lead agent's response but while he continues to follow the group along as they begin the ascent to the roof of the building. He wasn't sure what to think about this plan of action.

Climbing to the roof was simple enough. Maybe getting over the wall of water outside was possible... assuming it didn't move in the meantime. Unfortunately, that didn't change the fact that they would need a way to get back down to the ground other than falling.

As it was though Wolf didn't have any ideas of how to get the others out of the house. He wasn't so concerned about himself. If push came to shove, he'd get out. So, for the moment, he kept following the GUN agents and thought about how he could help them escape.

Aiyana stared at Zed. Her red eyes showing something that almost seemed like sadness. This dissipated almost instantly however.

"Hmmm... good luck with that. Since your body is mine i don't think you will be doing anything," Zed's body moved swiftly as as she went upstairs. The knife swing with an unknown familiarity that Zed didn't have, "I believe they've ran out of time... heehehehehe... =)"


~~~~~~~~~~~~

The agents on the roof quickly began to pool their gear together. Using rope and lose chunks of brick they chunked it over the wall of water.

"Tie it off to the roof. We can climb across and get over the wall safely this way."

The agents quickly prepared all that was necessary and began, hand over hand, to climb across. Finally the two of them made it and disappeared over the wall. A moment later the others on the roof got a confirmation call on their communicators that the others had safely made it and tied off the rope on the other end.

Quickly they began to ho across and motioned the now conscious Lura and wolf to follow suit.

“No, I won’t. But…” Zed paused to recoil from the unnerving feeling that ran through his body as Aiyana walked and swung her knife. She was right, he had to work quickly.
 
“You’re right. I can’t do anything. On my own at least… But WE can do something.” Zed smiled warmly to her. In spite of everything she's done, deep down, Zed was sure there was a lost soul, tainted through years of neglect and abuse. And he was prepared to walk through a mile of pain to save her.


“You probably don’t want to spend the rest of time sitting in this mansion and… well…” Zed nervously looked away, and quickly moved on from the uncomfortable point he was going on. “I want to help you. Help you find peace, and move on to the afterlife. Leave this world and go on to the next one, where no one will ever hurt you again.”

Wolf had been the last one to reach the roof and from there he watched the agents prepare their escape method while also glancing back towards the way they'd come up in case Zed happened to arrive. Finally, the agents had crafted their way out, and then to Wolf's surprise the agent wasted no time in getting out of there first. Upon seeing this, Wolf scowls at them.

*Huh... They are the ones trained for this sort of situation, yet they are the first ones to flee from it.* he thinks to himself.

He glances towards the last person here with him. Considering all that she had been through Lura appeared to be handling the current situation quite well. He hoped that would last until she got to safety.

"You'd best follow them quickly." Wolf tells Lura, "I'll stay behind just in case Zed and that ghost girl get here before you're clear."

He glances at the agents again.

"Figure they should have been the last to go since their job should be to protect the rest of us... But I guess I'll have to do so instead." he adds.

He shakes his head before looking back to Lura.

"I'll find a way out of here one way or another, so don't wait up. Just make sure that they call for more help once you get clear." he concludes.

With that, Wolf moves away from the ropes, turning his back to the withdrawing agents. He comes to a stop, folds his arms across his chest and resumes watching the roof exit. Sooner or later, he knew they'd have company.

The ghost girl stared at Zed. Her crimson eye's flicking in the dark lighted mindscape. Without a word she turned, resuming control as she exited onto the roof.

"Hmmm... I think I found the rest of my toys =)"

She look on.as she approach the two mobians still on the roof. The knife glimmering in the pale light that was left in the stormy rain.

"Aww.... don't leave..." the voice was Zed's, lace with a female undertone, making it sound as if two people were talking in sync. "I just found you..." she approached the wolf, stopping a few feet away fom him as Lura quickly made her way to the rope.

Zed’s warm expression left his face when Aiyana looked away. “Please, it’s not too late.”
 
But Zed would soon find out, it was, unfortunately, too late. Moments after his proposition was shot down, he spotted both Wolf and Lura on the roof. Thankfully the other agents fled, but that didn’t really make the situation for the last two any easier.
 
“It doesn’t have to be this way!” he cried, feeling his voice fading away again. His strength was starting to fade. There was only so much a body could take, and the mountain of pain he’d already endured was pushing him beyond his limits already. How long would he hold out?
 
Hearing Aiyana control his voice brought a lump in his throat. His voice didn’t sound right, his legs were moving without his consent, and his arm was wielding a knife he desperately wanted to drop. He grit his teeth, refusing to let go control just yet. As she approached the two, Zed desperately tried to move his unarmed hand. He had to pry that knife out of his hand.

Wolf doesn't even glance at Lura.

"Leave. Quickly." he says, keeping his attention on Zed.

He calmly reaches behind himself and grasps his short swords. He draws one with his left paw, holding it in a defensive position with a reverse grip, letting the flat of its blade rest against his forearm. He right paw holds the hilt of the second sword, but lets it remain in its sheath.

"And where do we go from here?" he asks.

Aiyana smiled devilishly as she approach the wolf. Knife at heart level.

"It's simple..." she said, eye's glowing that blood crimson, "We play."

She laughed as she threw her hands up. With woosh and splas the water where the rope was turned into a sharp liquid blade. Rendering the rope useless as lura dangled off the roof in a panic.

"Y'all are more interesting than the other's. I'll ake my time with you before I get- HEY!"

She suddenly called out as Zed's other hand moved. Prying the knife from his ither possessed one.

Zed was attempting to take back control.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside, Aiyana let out a screech of rage as she attacked her host. Her attention now on him as her control lapsed in the outside world.

"Stay down! I will not be stopped from having my way!" Her eye's showed insanity as she lept at Zed. "I'll kill you if I have too... "

Seeing his hand back under his control lit a fire inside of the green wolf. He was not her puppet just yet, there was still a battle here to be won.
 
But things were already getting worse for Zed, as Aiyana turned her attention back to him with an angry screech. But he would not show fear. No matter how much his voice would crack or his knees would shake, he would show no fear! “If your way involves hurting people, I will stop you until I can’t draw breath! You want control of my body?” He held both of his upturned hands towards the attacking ghost, “then tear it out of my cold, dead hands.”
 
Everything was on the line in this gambit, if she was truly focused on killing him, then she’d lose focus on controlling him. Zed wouldn’t have long to act, but seconds were all he would need.
 
Zed regained control, but did not take an instant to celebrate, there was work to be done. He drew his blaster and pointed it to Wolf, the weapon still radiating a bright green light. He had to get his message across as quickly as he could. “You’ll be invincible with this shot. Do what you have to. It may be too late for me.”
 
With that, Zed pulled the trigger and fired and invincibility shot at Wolf.

On hearing Lura's sudden cry of panic, Wolf turns his head to glance in the direction she had been going, only to see that the rope she had been climbing didn't appear to be there any more. Forgetting about Zed for the moment, as his possessor's attention seemed to be elsewhere, Wolf hurried over to the edge of the roof, carefully though as it was somewhat slippery from the rain, to see what had befallen Lura. As it turned out, she hadn't gone far and he saw her hanging from the rope a short distance down from the roof... and a long drop beyond her to the ground.

*Well... if I could fly this wouldn't be a problem. Since I can't, this situation lacks an easy solution... especially since the people with the ropes were the first ones to leave!* he thinks.

"Even if it may not do much good, try not to panic." he calls to Lura, "Hopefully I'll think of something."

As his luck would have it though, Wolf wasn't given much time to think of anything to help out Lura. Instead, he hears Zed speaking to him. At least, he thought it was Zed... it didn't sound like the girl they had all seen earlier... but that didn't really convince him of much under the circumstances. He turns to glance at Zed... only to see a weapon pointed at him. Wolf barely registers what Zed is saying before the shot is fired. There is a flare of light as the shot seems to hit Wolf...

Then the shot ricochets off in another direction.

The impact of it makes Wolf stumble backwards... towards the edge of the roof. The slippery surface takes care of the rest. Feeling his feet go out from under him, Wolf topples off the roof.

"Shazbot!!"

He falls past Lura, twisting around and ending up facing the ground with his arms wide. Upon seeing the ground rushing up towards him, panic washes over him and he closes his eyes.

A moment later, he smacks against an unyielding surface and then slides along it before coming to stop against another solid but uneven surface.

Slowly and cautiously, Wolf opens one eye, then the other.

He finds himself lying on what appears to be a glowing flat surface of... light it seemed. Resting at an angle going up and away from the side of the house, one edge of the surface he was on appeared to have pushed into the wall for support and the opposite end extended out into the wall of water a short distance away. It appeared he'd only dropped down about one floor, or maybe a little more, from the roof.

*Huh... I... hadn't ever really thought I could do something like this.* he thinks, *Yes... it does seem like a crisis can inspire creativity... Just wish it hadn't involved a near death experience for myself.*

Slowly turning his head, but keeping the rest of his body flat and his arms extended from how he'd landed, Wolf glances back up to where Lura was dangling from. Glancing back towards the surface he was resting on, he notes that it extends out under where she was.

"As crazy... as it sounds..." he says, "It's safe to drop... for now anyway."

Aiyana felt rage like no other as she fought for control again. However with the wall of water, her anger, and Zed's sudden burst of resistance she was losing the fight. The necklace around Zed's neck pulsed red as the internal fight raged.

"ShutupShutupShutup! Stop fighting!" Her eye's glowed with hatred. Not stopping for a moment as she attacked relentlessly, "I won't be stopped! I'll kill you!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lura dropped down to the wolf. Her body shook in fear and she couldn't stop shaking as she gripped onto the wolf tightly.

"I didn't sign up for this... I never wanted this..."

She babbled as fear filled her mind. She had obviously remembered everything ftom her time being possessed and controlled. And it was coming back full force with the exposure to Zed's situation.

Zed’s calm expression quickly turned south when Wolf fell off the roof. "NO! WOLF!" He cried in panic and approached the edge of the roof, only for his strength to fade and for him to fall to his knees again. Suddenly, his head began to ache something fierce.
 
Inside, Aiyana is attacking him, her expression growing angrier and more frightening. The pain was reaching his threshold again, and added with the shock that he may have killed Wolf and the horrifying imagery flashing in his head, Zed was reaching his breaking point, but kept his resolve strong. They were all so close.
 
“Yo-you’ll ha-ha-have too.” He stammered, all sense of courage and certainty drained from his voice. Slowly, he crawled away from the edge of the roof. If worse came to worst, he had to get his body away from Wolf and Lura. If they could escape, he could declare this encounter as a victory.

Wolf rolls over onto his back as Lura drops down to join him. The dimensions of the surface he's on shift as he moves, contracting and then expanding out again. Fortunately it remains beneath Lura throughout.

Wolf is surprised as Lura grabs onto him tightly, his eyes widening and his body suddenly going tense. He relaxes again after a few moments as he listens to her.

"I can't imagine anyone wanting to go through this." he tells her, "I don't think any of us were ready for this either... We've just got to try and deal with this situation as best we can now."

Wolf puts his right arm around behind Lura, holding her close, hoping it would be some sort of comfort for her. He looks past her and then notes that the surface the two of them were lying on together had shortened in length. The far end of it no longer reached the wall of water, yet the entire surface remained steady.

He stares at it, rather confused by it.

*Uh... so... this whole thing actually floats?* he thinks to himself, *I really wish I understood how this worked... it's just too much to figure out right now under the current situation.*

Aiyana's screams and yells soon subsided, the necklace stopped pulsing as she faded away.

"N-no... not... now...."

Her went blank as color left them. Without a sound she faded away, her energy completely exhausted. She had struggled so much that she had used up all her power and now had lost all of it. She was more than likely still there as indicated by the soft glow from the necklace but was to weak to do anything.

Zed would the former invasions on his mind fade as well as the pain. The wall of water would also splash down as the manipulator was no more. Even the rain seemed to let up a bit.

Aiyana faded away before Zed’s eyes, disappearing and taking with her the pain and control she brought along. Zed lay on the ground, wondering what was happening. Slowly, he stood up and looked around at the surrounding wall of water come down. Trying to figure out what happened, he called out to her.
 
“Aiyana? Are you there?” While grateful that she wasn’t hurting him anymore, it was unsettling to know that she may be lulling him into a false sense of security. Perhaps a trick to get him to look for Wolf and Lura and save her the trouble. “Look!” he shouted, “I’m not going anywhere.” Sitting back down, cross legged, Zed looked upwards and continued to call to her.
 
“I want to help you. I mean it. I’m not… I’m not angry about the whole possessing thing. We can talk about that. Honest.”

Wolf remains there with Lura, sitting up with her and keeping one arm around her, hoping she'd gather herself soon. He wasn't too sure if he could move around without causing any other shifts in the surface they were currently on. The last thing he wanted was for it to disappear out from under them while she didn't seem capable of taking care of herself.

Then without warning the wall of water that had been blocking them from escaping the mansion suddenly collapsed to the ground dispersed across the ground. Wolf looks around in surprise as it now appeared that the way was clear for them to leave. He then turns his focus back to Lura.

"Hey... if you think you feel up to getting out of here, it looks like we might have a chance to do so." he says to her, "We'll need to head back into the house and make our way down safely, but the water isn't trapping us anymore."

He then waits to see if Lura offers him any reply.

Lura just nods as she holds onto the wolf, wiping tears ftom her eye's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back the roof, the voice of the once rampant ghost was silent. The necklace still glowing softly.
From it however could softly be heard the sound of a piano, playing ever so calmly.

Soon the faded form of Aiyana hovered in front of him. Her eye's glowing ever so hatefully.

Zed looked around the roof, hoping for something to appear, but not exactly sure what. His eyes were drawn to the necklace, taking in the soft glow. Certain that he could hear something coming from it, he brought to his ear. Was that piano? Was someone playing piano in there? Was it her?
 
With Aiyana’s ghostly figure appearing before him, he dropped the necklace and stared in befuddlement. The look in her eyes shot a chill down his spine, but kept his resolve. Showing weakness now would only hurt the both of them.


Zed pat the ground in front of where he sat. “Sit with me, let’s talk it through.” If all went well, he would be able to buy enough time for Lura and Wolf to escape. He’d have to worry about his own escape later.

Looking around again, Wolf sees a window on the side of the house quite close to where he and Lura currently were outside it. He glances back towards Lura.

"You'll have to go first though." he says, "We'll have to go in through the window here. I'll wait here until you are inside. I... don't know what might happen to our platform if I start moving around, so I'd like you to be someplace safer before I do anything else."

Aiyana, begrudgingly, sat across from from Zed. he eye's not faltering from the intense hate she felt towards him. her for was slowly but surely coming back. soon she'd get back power again.

"I will break you as soon as I gain enough strength. or I will just take over your body... that would be fun =)"

she spoke ith a sadistic smile on her face. the rain that fell seemed to ripple around them unnaturally.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lura wasted no time getting through the window and inside. she had an uneasy wobble to he walk as she seemed on the verge of fainting. her water soaked, blood spattered, clothing didn't help with her appearance.

Zed frowned at Aiyana’s obvious anger towards him. Her rage had apparently not subsided. Still this was time to talk, and Zed planned on using every second he had.
 
“And why is that?” he asked, with concern in his voice. “Possessing and hurting people, I mean. Why do it all?” With the irregular pattern of the rain, Zed realized that time was running out. Swallowing hard, he continued in the discussion. “There’s no one here to hurt you anymore, you must realize that, right? I’m your friend here, Aiyana.” Zed held out both of his hands, palms upturned as a sign of peace.

Once Lura was clear, Wolf looks around taking note of glowing platform he was sitting on. Watching it, he lowers his right arm to brace himself so he can climb to his feet. As his arm moves closer to his body, the end of the platform retracts towards him on that side.

He stops moving his arm towards himself and extends it outward again. The platform extends. He draws his arm back in. The platform shortens.

*Huh... that's pretty neat...* he thinks, *I'm gonna have to figure this all out later on.* He looks towards the window Lura had disappeared through. *Now is not the time to play around.*

Wolf braces his right paw and arm beside him and, while keeping his left arm extended just to be sure the platform doesn't move from the side of the mansion, he climbs back to his feet. He slowly moves to the window, watching the platform as he goes. Its edges shift slightly as he walks but otherwise remains in place for the distance he has to cover.

Once at the window, he braces both paws against the frame. He looks down again and sees that the platform was now shrunk down to a small area around him. He swallows slightly, then quickly lifts himself up to climb through the window. As he does this, the platform shimmers and fades away entirely.

Back inside the mansion, his feet touch down on solid ground again and he lets out a breath. He straightens up and takes in a few breaths to calm himself, and he notes that he feels a bit fatigued. He shakes it off and looks over at Lura.

He might be worn out a little, but she looked as though she was on the verge of collapse. With that in mind, Wolf quickly moves over to stand beside her. He puts one around behind her to help support her and also to pull her closer to him, letting her hold onto him or lean on him if she decided to.

He looks at her and tries to smile reassuringly.