2004-06-08 Terry Returns!

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Terry Returns!

Summary: Still locked in Johnny's mind, the voices which constantly yell at him start to take over the asylum... at least until an old friend finally reappears.



Who: Johnny_C, Terry_Bogard
When: June 8th, 2004
Where: Domain of the Lost


The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC).
This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved.

Questions should be directed to staff.


Domain of the Lost(#191R)

The world as you know it is gone. All that exists is this one cold room... The walls are nothing but a single tile wall built like the inside of a huge well. The walls streatch upwards until they cannot be seen anymore, just looking up is enough to drive someone mad... In the center of the room rests an odd looking machine, a type of chair, that holds the lifeless form of Johnny C. Coming out of his very flesh are dozens of wires that connect both to the weird chair-like machine he sits in and to the huge row of monitors that have been built around it. Each monitor displays the image of various people in the maniac's life that have had an impact on the boy. All of them are screaming profanities and insults at the seemingly dead boy. One monitor hangs lower than the rest of them and displays nothing but a simple message: SYSTEM FAILURE. Beneath the chair a single cord extends towards the wall but fails short of it's connection... almost as if the device where unplugged...


Something happens in this place given over to Johnny C for so long... something.. else entering the world his mind has constructed. A prescence. Not divine, but certainly spiritual, a pulse of consciousness, ANOTHER consciousness, rippling through the air. And a pinprick of light appears hovering in the air towards the front of this strange chamber, a golden light, bright and burning with power. Slowly it grows, blossoming out into a starburst then a raging torrent, energies whipping around the air and around each other as they manifest. Then suddenly the tendrils are pulled together and coalesce into a form, the form of a man.. crouched with the fingers of both hands splayed lightly to the ground on either side. The golden light fades, plunging him into full vision.. blonde hair rippling around his shoulders as the ki-wind continues for a few seconds. And then.. he falls still, but for the soft rising and falling of his chest, bound as it is under a tight white t-shirt. "...the hell?" The words break from his throat in a soft whisper and he stands smoothly, almost silently as his gaze finds the maniac... a man he once knew, and once helped. "So it's you, huh? You're something to with this..."

Johnny lays still, unmoving. On one of the monitors the face of Mr Eff glances up towards the intruder. "BAH! The boy is gone... this is our world. Our home... GET OUT!" Another monitor, the face of Nailbunny, sobs, "...he's gone... it's all gone... it's all worthless..." The monitor bareing the system message suddenly crackles and flickers. From out of it a very silent sob can be heard.... Throughout it all, Johnny's body continues to sit perfectly still...

Terry's gaze snaps to the monitor as the doughboy appears, his eyes flashing dangerously. With a cold smirk he reaches down to pull tight the leather glove encasing his right hand.. the material giving a soft creak in response. "I mighta known." He sighs and strolls closer to the chair holding Johnny, making his way to the boy's seemingly lifeless side. "What went wrong, kid? Did something go wrong...?" He asks quietly, then turns to gaze once more at the monitors, raising his voice as he speaks the next, "Alright. I don't know what you're still doing here, or what's happened in the last while, but.. this can't go on. Let him go."

Mr Eff laughs, "LET HIM GO??" On another monitor Psycho D-Boy joins in, "It's done. It's over... he's unplugged..." Nailbunny continues his chant, "...all gone... no more... not real... no one..." Suddenly a light shines down from the sky, and instantly the room grows black except for the location the light illuminates. Highlighting the body of Johnny, the body begins to speak with the voice of hundreds upon hundreds of people simultaniously, "It's all gone... don't you see...? No figments... no voices.... no Johnny... we are all there is. There never was anything more. We are in control now. Our plans have succeded. This is our world, and you don't belong. Leave us or we shall have to make you apart of us..."

Terry begins to shake his head before the lights even go out.. when they do he instantly turns his attention to the illuminated body. He listens in silence. "I'm not gonna leave here.. I came to find out what's happening to my daughter, and now it looks like I got a bit more to deal with." He turns around fully, looking at Johnny for a moment before he extends a hand and presses two fingers to the boy's throat, checking for a pulse he knows he won't find... but he has to check. His other hand curls at his side to a fist as he looks away, into the darkness. "So this is where it ends, huh? I guess.. whatever happens, only one of us leaves this place?"

The Johnny-thing laughs, "You fool... this is our hell... there is no leaving... They all left us... they put us here... that whoring bitch of a woman put us here to get us out of the way. The pervert abandoned us. No one is coming.. no one is leaving... it is inevitable... Nothing but a tool for the cat-bitch. That's why he gave up. That's why we are here. The fool is ours, locked away for all eternity like the beast that once lived within us... nothing but trash now, nothing but refuse... but, we are easily amused... should you want a fight so baddly, it can be arranged..." Clearly the walls within this place vanished along with the light, for in the distance an area becomes illuminated. As if nothing more than a prop in a movie, there now exists a cliff face looking over a deep canyon. Standing over the sobbing form of Samantha is another Johnny, this one's skin is black except for two peircing red eyes. Looking down at it's potential prey he says something uninteligible and then vanishes. The Location changes immediatly. Everything within the area now becomes a sort of negative, only the shadows are apparent. Johnny stands where he had a second before now looking normal except for several deep cuts and gashes that somehow do not bleed or come open. Clutching a pair of white daggers the boy screams in rage and turns towards Terry. "FUCK YOU!!! I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING PUPPET!!!!!" Blinkblinking at the fighter, NNY's eyes narrow, "What the fuck is this? Another of your stupid FUCKING TESTS??? HOW FUCKING STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM????" With a scream of rage, Johnny charges towards Terry, somehow levitating as he does so to glide through the air with his daggers posed to strike...

Terry gives his head another shake as he sees his daughter's form crying in the dust, the faintest flicker of sadness.. of anger too.. disappearing almost instantly as he puts it down to illusion. Then his eyes widen, watching this new incarnation of Johnny rant seemingly without cause before springing forward. Waiting until the last possible moment, the blonde fighter spins to the side and drops to a crouch, bringing his fist down into the floor in front of him. Muscles bunch in his arm as the strike is made, and an indescribable feeling of power fills the air.. the grimace on his lips leaving as they part and he cries, "POWER GEYSER!" Before the cry has left that power coalesces into a vast wave of power that bursts up from the floor, manifesting in a slanting column of red-gold that rages up into the air... all of six feet in height, and barely missing the chair with its force. It seems for once the Wolf wants to finish this battle quickly...

Johnny comes to an abrupt halt and crosses his daggers infront of him as a strange sort of shield. The daggers work as he intends, absorbing the energies of the attack... but not quite the way they should. Johnny is thrown backwards and screams in pain as he hits the ground. Pulling himself up he spits out a mouthfull of blood and glares. All of his wounds have begun to bleed finaly. "What the FUCK was that?" Struggling to his feet, he looks down at his weapons in disgust. "Why the fuck are they white? Is this another part of your fucking tests?" Screaming in rage at the black sky he yells, "WHY THE HELL DO YOU KEEP INSISTING ON THE STUPID FUCKING GAMES???? HAVEN'T I GONE THROUGH ENOUGH ALREADY???" Looking back at Terry he chuckles, "You know... you really do look just like him. I'm gonna enjoy ripping you apart piece by piece you fucking copycat..." Holding his daggers out to his side he begins to try to channel energy, but nothing seems to be happening...

Terry straightens up, drawing in a deep breath as he releases the Geyser.. letting its energies dissipate in a fine mist. "That a fact?" He asks the boy calmly, regret in his eyes as he adjusts his gloves one at a time then falls back a pace, setting his feet firmly to the ground and holding his fists up to his body. "I don't know if I'm gonna enjoy this at all.. but..." he sighs, bowing his head.. ignoring the boy as he attempts to channel his energies - but keeping his one tightly controlled all the same, ready to counter. "If I can help you, NNY, I will.. I promise that. Now c'mon." He beckons half-heartedly with one hand, then resumes his stance, watching Johnny with a wary gaze.

Johnny screams in rage once more, "HELP??? HELP???? You want to fucking HELP me???? WHERE THE FUCK WHERE YOU WHEN YOUR LYING WHORE OF A DAUGHTER TOLD THEM ALL TO LOCK ME AWAY??? Where the FUCK where YOU when she lay in the middle of the fucking street FROM MY WOUNDS TO HER BACK BEGGING ME TO -KILL- HER???? I don't need your fucking help! I don't need anything!! YOU BASTARDS AREN'T GONNA CONTROL ME!!!!!" Becoming frustrated with his failed attempts at gaining energy, the boy's eyes begin to tear up. "GODDAMNIT WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING???" Johnny lifts up his daggers and stares at his own blood has begun to drip down his arms and down the length of the blades staining them a deep red. "I don't understand it... this isn't fair..." The Johnny-thing on the chair finaly lifts it's head up and glares at the confused boy. Demandingly it speaks to him, "IT DOESN'T MATTER! JUST KILL HIM!" NNY blinks and stares up at the chair, notcing it now for the first time. "What he FUCK is that?" Shaking his head he glares, "It doesn't matter.... DON'T FUCKING TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!!"

Terry listens with a heavy heart to the first part of this speech, a pained grimace working into his expression. (He's right, I haven't always been there... I've done what I could, but at times it's never been enough...) He shrugs his shoulders suddenly, throwing off his thoughts.. and then shakes his head as the maniac finishes this next tirade, "I'm not trying to control you... I wanna help you. Like I always have." He slips out of his stance, standing normally now.. his hands held loosely at his sides as he looks across to Johnny. "We can fight if you want.. we can do it that way. I'll die, or you'll die, or maybe.. just maybe.. it'll work." He shrugs and lifts a hand, a long sigh brushing forth as he runs a hand back through his dishevelled hair. "Or you fight back against these.. things.. this power, whatever it is.. that really does wanna control you. And if you wanna make that a fight I can help with, then I'll do it... but whatever's hurting my daughter is also hurting you, and so even if I didn't care about you that makes this my business." He shrugs, "It's your choice, okay? But know that I won't just walk away..."

Sitting upon the strange device, the duplicate Johnny begins to laugh. The hundreds of voices within his voice echoing out like an asylum gone mad. "HE'S ALREADY DEAD! The boy is just a memory... WE ARE THE ONLY REALITY HERE!" The bleeding Johnny looks up at the wired duplicate in the device and growls, "I'M NOT JUST A MEMORY YOU MOTHER FUCKING BITCH!!!!" The Johnny-thing begins to laugh once more. "GODDAMNIT!!! Memory, test or not... I'M NOT ANYONE'S FUCKING TOY!!!! FUCK YOU!!!!" Leaping into the air, the wounded maniac charges at his doppliganger only to scream in pain as his body is ripped apart the moment he enters the light surrounding the chair. Still laughing, the creature looks back at Terry and smiles, "Like we said... there are plenty of others we could bring back... perhaps you'd like to pretend to stop the boy before he stabbed your daughter in the back?" As the creature speaks Nailbunny's voice upon one of the monitors calls out once more, "...none of it's real.... he's come unplugged... it's all lies..."

Terry barely stops himself taking a step forward as Johnny makes his lunge and is destroyed... his feet shifting a little as he keeps himself in check. He keeps his breathing steady, regular, and just takes this all in.. until Nailbunny speaks. His gaze looks to the monitor and he gives his head one single shake. "No. You're wrong.. even if that was mostly true, there's part of him that's alive. How else would this all be happening? I don't know what I can do to bring that part back, to make it whole, but.. I'm here now and it's pretty obvious that's what I gotta do." He looks to the thing in the chair, whatever it may be, and lifts a hand, curling it slowly to a fist. Golden flickers of ki ripple around the leather of the glove that sits there, and then works up the bare fingers, curling at their tips and slowly dissipating. "I don't want any of that.. I've got a daughter to help, and a friend to help too... this is more important than your games. This is real.. it's you that's the lie. This place.. it's a cocoon, in here I guess we're all nothing in a way." he lowers his hand, the ki dissipating, and hooks it through the waistband of his jeans, gesturing vaguely with the other hand. "So this is all that matters, right here, right now... it's just us. But when we get outta here, I know for damn sure I'll still be me. How about you?"

Johnny straigtens up and looks down at the fighter in annoyance, "THERE IS NO OUT OF HERE... We tried... NO ESCAPE!!!! WE ARE WHAT IS NOW AND THAT IS ALL THERE WILL EVER BE!!!!!" Suddenly pulling upwards into the black sky, the wires that connect the creature to the chair become like the strings of a puppetier. Moving with all the grace of a puppet, the creature pulls free of the chair and lifts up into the air. Seeming to pull from the very air itself he suddenly rips the daggers of dread out of the nothing. Their hilts, literaly pulling the darkness with them as if attacthed to it. Dropping down to the ground, the beast pulls hard on the blackness flowing from the weapons like cloth and rips them free. Instantly the room changes into bright white void where only the endless ground remains black. Pouring out from the daggers, the boy's body turns completly black and his eyes take on the reddish glow that the memory had worn when it first appeared. However, this isn't the only change. Throwing his hands out to the side, the daggers become larger and longer until they seem to be two huge broadswords with jagged blades. The base of the hilts begin to glow with an odd red light. Stepping off to the side, the chair from before is still clearly seen, more so now that the boy is no longer standing before it. Apart from the background, the chair appears to have not changed in anyway, only the monitors have all grown black leaving only the SYSTEM FAILURE screen still working...

Terry continues to watch quite calmly... even as those knives lengthen to swords he remains standing casually, just watching with a wary eye. Then, breathing a long sigh, he slips slowly into his stance and sends Johnny a nod, "Okay.. so we're going with the games? Or is this really gonna mean something this time? I can fight all day if I have to, I can stay here for as long as I need to, as long as it takes to end this whole thing. I promised a long time ago I'd help you.." he hesitates and smiles humourlessly, "I'd help -Johnny-," the smile gains some warmth now and he tenses fully, every muscle in his body tightly wound, ready for action. "And I mean to keep that promise. Let's go..."

Screaming in rage the shadow-Johnny charge towards the fighter, bringing one sword up to his chest to slice at Terry's chest the moment he is withing rage, with his other hand, he holds the twin sword back behind him, as if he intends to spin once the first blade makes contact. From behind him a single, nearly invisible, strand of shadow runs back to the chair keeping the monster connected...

Terry narrows his eyes and moves the instant Johnny makes his attack, sliding past the slashing blade and throwing out his left hand. Two fingers brace to the flat of the shadowy sword and the fighter releases a sharp burst of golden energy, the white-gold stuff flaring out in the darkness. He then spins with the momentum, going with all the speed at his disposal to come up facing Johnny behind his right shoulder. As his booted feet brace to the floor he hammers his right hand forward, aiming a quick kidney jab then swinging the left in the same rhythm, this punch harder and more direct but aimed for the centre of the boy's back.

Johnny lets out a grunt of pain as his prey suddenly attacks from behind him. Spinning around with his right hand dragging one of his swords behind to gain momentum, he quickly drops to one knee, allowing the force to further swipe the blade down at his opponent. Meanwhile, in his other hand, he twirls the blade downwards to spear the fighter in the head at the same time...

Terry gives a grunt of his own, his teeth gritting as he sees both blades come in towards him. He wasn't ready for the improvements in Johnny's style, and barely reacts in time.. throwing up his knee and twisting his body to catch the edge of the blade in Johnny's right hand, pushing against its flat.. hoping the rough material of his jeans can stall it long enough. To block the other sword he does all he can do, and throws up his right hand.. catching the dark blade on the back of his glove. There is a sharp intake of breath as he feels it sink in, and quickly fires off a burst of ki from his body.. like the cocoon Samantha has learned to forge from his energies but used more offensively, a blaze of gold thundering off the the entire front side of his body, lashing out an easy foot and a half forward, tendrils whipping out for his opponent and curling around the swords blocked by the blonde fighter. The momentum of this attack sends Terry flying back, his hand taking more damage as the blade slices in, though he tries to angle his knee to avoid any more slicing there than is necessary. His jeans gave a nice gash though, and blood does begin to trickle through as he lands back half a dozen feet, the golden mist between him and Johnny slowly fading as he stares through it towards the boy, gasping in a few breaths. "You've got better.. if it's really you..."

Johnny glares, "You know nothing of our powers..." Changing slightly, the shadow-like form of the maniac changes into a combination of NNY's shadow and that of the shadow demons the boy had unleashed before he died. Gripping the swords tightly with taloned hands, the beast begins to cackle. His face twisting and becoming longer, horns seeming to putrude from the sides of his head. Throwing the weapons to his sides he charges head first, trying to shove Terry onto the chair it came from. It's mouth twisted into a hideous grin revealing dozens of razor-sharp glistening teeth. As he charges, the system status monitor flickers once more. Very quietly a single weak voice calls out, "...terry..."

Instead of dodging, trying to get away from that oncoming creature, Terry just smirks and throws himself forward onto the thing's forehead. As his breath slams from his lungs he shoves himself violently forward, grabbing with one hand at the back of the beast. "Nnngh..." he grits his teeth once more and then brings his outflung right fist forward with all the speed and power he can must, slamming his knuckles past his side into the very middle of the beast's forehead, releasing a huge burst of golden ki as impact comes... the punch already having enough force to crush the skull of a charging bull.

Johnny's head makes a sickening crunching sound as a sprey of blood mists out into the air. The creature's red eyes grow suddenly white and the beast looses it's momentum. However, it still tries to shove the fighter back, despite the obvious damage done to it's body. The status screen flickers once more and a scream of pain can clearly be heard coming from it. The beast brings both swords around slowly and goes to drive the blades weakly into Terry's chest. As it grunts from the strain, a dramatic lack in the number of voices in it's breath can be heard...

Terry gasps after the blow is landed, and releases the back of the demon, letting himself be flung back towards the chair. Blood spatters off his right fist as it falls beside him, and as his back slams into the seat he tenses once more, a snarl cutting into his expression, and he kicks both legs up, aiming two kicks simultaneously for the shadowy blades. Only one is dealt with any grace, aimed so the foot should take little if any damage... the other is clumsy, apparently his off-foot as the kick comes in for the blade, but at an angle that would likely see it penetrate thick leather and drive into the flesh beneath.

The monitor suddenly screams, "NOOOOO!!!!" The Johnny-beast stops dead in it's tracks before the swords could penetrate any further and simply stares into Terry's eyes with a blank, lifeless expression. All at once the beast returns to Johnny's normal form and drops like a rag doll to the ground, the monitors each flicker to life and begin to scream inchoherantly at Terry, the sky returns to blackness and the light from above resumes once more, and from the chair itself several wires and cables suddenly shoot out to try to embed themseleves into the fighters flesh...

"Johnny!" Terry starts to push himself out of the seat as light returns, setting his feet to the ground and starting to rise... then, those cables fly out and one gets through, for the bare flesh in his right arm. With a curse, the blonde fighter throws his free hand to the thing and yanks hard upon it, letting another gain access on his left upper arm as he does so. "What is this?" Instead of going for them one by one as they make contact, he closes his eyes, readying for the pain, and kicks off of the chair, moving to stand in one quick and violent motion.

From each monitor a voice calls out.... although the source and emotion behind the voice is diffrent for each monitor, they all say the same thing, "Now you become one of us..." The only one not joining the group is the now static-filled system status monitor, from it begins the quiet sob from before. The wires that connect with Terry's flesh immediatly begin to pump into him the same dark fluid-like shadows that had made up the maniacs body twice now in his battle with the fighter. The shadows immediatly begin to darken the skin and let out the cold feel of dead flesh... One by one each of the monitors either begin to laugh or cry depending on the images contained upon them...

Terry stops struggling for a moment and slips into a meditative state. "You won't take me this easily..." he mutters softly, falling quiet for a few moments then.. he allows the process to continue for a while, ignoring the uneasy feeling and the darkness creeping into him. Then suddenly his eyes snap open and another burst of ki is released, many times stronger than that he used to escape the hold earlier, stronger than that he channelled into his fist or used to create the Power Geyser. This is his pure fighting spirit, enough force to disintegrate physical mass, pure and focused golden energy erupting in every direction from the blonde fighter and whipping his hair out around him. His eyes flash from within the near-white nimbus, and he then focuses the energies specifically onto each wire, each cable jacked into his system, manipulating his ki with little effort... one of the few times he has demonstrated his true mastery since attaining such. His gaze continues to burn with sapphire flame as he goes for each source of darkness one at a time, moving quickly from each to another and working to destroy every single one whilst locked inside the inferno he has created from his astral self. "Don't underestimate me..." he says, quiet and distant, as he works, "When I said one of us would leave here... I meant that. This fight, this battle you've started for my friend... it ends today."

As the wires and tubes are destroyed one after another, the monitors begin to crack. All of them, even the status monitor, begin to scream in pain. The chair itself begins to deteriorate as the golden ki rips through it. Bits of machinery and chunks of metal go flying, but the montiors still continue to display. Suddenly one of them explodes, sending a shower of broken glass into the air. A few seconds later another one goes. Now the other voices scream more in panic than in pain as one by one they become destroyed from the rampaging energies. The system screen now flashes and pulstates and rotates between SYSTEM FAILURE and ERROR... As the onslaught continues the world itself begins to flash and brake apart, random tubing and wires begin to dangle down from the sky as the electronic world begins to fall apart, revealing nothing but blackness beyond...

Terry pushes himself from the chair as the last node is gone, the raging white-gold energy moving with him. "This is it." He says and smirks into the haze surrounding him, glancing past it into the disintegrating world. He pauses then, chest rising and falling once each, smoothly and deeply.. then he draws back his fist, lifting it heavenward as the other hand goes out to the side to compensate. "POWEEEERRRRR-" he holds the syllable, mouth open wide in an earth-shattering roar, his entire body tense and shaking with the effort of storing so much power, and energy, then he hops into the air and somersaults around, his hair flying around him.. and lands. It's a graceful enough landing but the blow that follows is thrown with god-crushing force, the strength behind it frightening enough but the energy truly unbelievable, that entire white-gold field of ki flowing down quickly into the fighter's gloved fist. It all focuses into one point, along with more ki that streams down his muscular arm, and time seems to freeze... everything standing still as the universe itself takes in a breath... and then it happens. "GEEEYSEER!!!" The column that erupts out is gigantic, spreading to encompass the entire area, and everything shudders, the mother of all quakes wracking this dimensional plane. Silhouetted at the centre of the maelstrom is the crouching figure of Terry, his mouth locked still in the cry, his fist pumping yet more power into the floor below him, every ounce of force he can muster - the force that defeated the earthly avatar of Mars, and another thirteen years of training on top of that. This is everything the Hungry Wolf has ever been, is now and.. always will be.

As the world becomes nothing but the raging energies of Terry's Power Geyser it seems that all existance vanishes without a trace. But, as it's glow inevitably fades it seems that things are never quite what they appear. Opposite the infinite blackness of the heavens, the ground is now nothing but the broken, shattered sand resulting from the damage done from the blast. Partialy burried beneath the sand remains a single monitor, the status screen, which is now black is actualy still working upon closer inspection. The screen flickers occasionaly and the display reads beneath the cracked screen, "COMPLETE SYSTEM FAILURE. NO BIOS LOADED. (A)BORT, (R)EBOOT, (F)AIL? :>" After a few moments the screen fills with strange archaic symbols that flash and pulse at a nearly unreadable screen. The pulsating monitor begins to glow with an unearthly light. The light spreads out accross the soil until it fills the entire world with it's warm, soft, bright white... Suddenly the world becomes the cliff NNY had stood on when the maniac had been yelling at the sobbing Samantha. However, now it all seems peacefull and tranquil. Sitting on the edge of the cliff, Johnny looks our over the horizon with tears in his eyes...

Terry remains crouched in that exact same position as all of this happens, his fist still burning with that glow even after it fades from all around him. Slowly the winds dissipate too, letting his hair settle around him.. yet more dishevelled than is usual. He heaves in breath after breath, the sounds gradually becoming less rasping, and a rhythm coming with time as he regains breath and.. himself. Finally he pushes himself up with his free hand, weakly, and lifts the fist from the floor. Only then does it stop glowing. He looks around this new place, finding himself a short distance from NNY.. who his gaze lingers on. After pausing a few heartbeats, the fighter wanders over and sinks to the floor next to the boy, dangling his own heavily booted feet over the edge. "It's over.. it's done." He glances sidelong at the friend he hasn't seen in so long, and lets out a slow breath. "How do ya feel?"

Johnny turns to look at the source of the question and nearly falls off the edge of the cliff in shock, "HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!" Just barely managing to catch himself he pushes away from his long lost friend as his mind again tries to re-assert itself. "Y-you can't be..... no way... y-you... Terry?" As his mind begins to function again he stops backing away and stands up to question the newcomer, "Your part of all this, aren't you... your just another figment... Y-you are, right? I mean... no way..."

Terry chuckles, running his left hand back through his hair. The right stays totally motionless, hanging off his knee with the fingers lightly curled towards the canyon floor below. What flesh there is visible seems to be.. charred, just slightly blackened. "That'd be me.." he says, and smiles at Johnny, "As for being a figment.. I honestly don't know. I guess you could've said that when I first got here, I wasn't really -here-. I was.. back home. Now I'm not so sure..." a frown cuts his brow and he looks down, as with his left hand he reaches for the right and hauls of the glove, which comes away with a little effort and reveals the hand below just as charred as the fingers, and more. As he flips the hand over the palm is revealed to be burnt to a crisp, darkened flesh curling around a red circle within, half-dried blood caking the raw skin.

Johnny's mind hasn't fully reawakened yet, and the memorise of what he had done are only vuagly coming back to him like the ghostly images from a dream. As Terry pulls off his glove, the boy sits back down beside him and stares at his hands wide-eyed. "What the hell happend to you? Looks like you've been trying to fry food without a basket to keep 'em in. You know, if you where that hungy, there's a few places in Metropolis you coulda gotten something to..." Trailing off, the rest of his memorise return. Immediatly the change is obvious. His face drops and his hand cross in his lap, "Oh shit... sorry..."

Terry just winces faintly and pulls the glove back on.. a pained gasp coming as he secures it. "Don't worry about it." He tosses Johnny a crooked grin, "It's not the first time... first time in a while I've used that much power though." With a sigh he then pushes himself upright, "So I guess... I'd better get outta here, and find Sammy. You know where she is? Took me long enough to latch onto her once, I don't know if I could do it again. Not now I'm..." he tails off with a shrug, apparently not wanting to say just what he is right now.

Johnny's frown deepens, "Well.. I don't know what to tell you... I've been stuck here for a few weeks now ever since Sammy and the others..." He pauses briefly wondering how much detail he should be going into, "um... yeah... Cale managed to find me here... and that goddess lady told me that I needed to stay here to help Sammy fight that bastard, but I just don't know what to do... I can't stay here alone, I don't do good alone... I don't even have the doughboys anymore. Sure they where complete bastards, but atleast it was someone to talk to..."

Terry nods slowly, studying Johnny carefully as he speaks.. he pauses for a short time after the boy trails off. Then nods again, more briskly this time. "Right. Well.. I gotta find a way out of here, so what say I take you with me, huh? Seems like neither of us belong here, and we'll do a lot more good being down with Sammy. I'll stay here until this.." he frowns slightly, curious rather than concerned however, "Goddess turns up and then she can help us get outta here." He shrugs, and grins, "Until then, you can fill me in what's been happening and let me know how my kid's growing up... and what happened to Mei."

Johnny blinks, "Sure but uh... who's Mei?"

Terry blinks, and then gives another grin.. more sheepish, lifting his undamaged hand to rub at the back of his neck, "I never filled you in totally on my life, right? Mei'd be my wife..." he looks pained for a moment, then moves to sit beside Johnny again. "I guess if you don't know her then you wouldn't know what happened, all I know is Sammy came here with Jack and I can't find a trace of Meilin... or my son. So.." he sighs and looks out across the landscape, "Let's move on to what you -can- tell me..."

<fade out>


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