Apr172008
06:37:42 pm
06:37:42 pm
Past Role Play Segment - Afterlife
The following was posted on August 2nd of 2007. The title of this role play was Afterlife. Each time there is a ---, that simply means that my post ended, and I waited for others to respond. I will not, however, include the others posts, so you'll have to piece the story together yourself.
"Good morning, Corbin."
The overly-friendly, overly-calm computer voice of a young woman hung in the still air like a retching stentch that caused Corbin to cringe. Another beautiful morning on July te -- oh, remembering the date was not necessary. The rather annoying computer was thankfully their to remind him, just as it did every morning, and would continue to each morning after that for as long as he resided in the multi-level, billion-dollar, tax payer's nightmare they called PROOF.
"Today's date is July tenth, twenty seventeen. The weather today is mild, 82, mostly sunny. Would you care to hear today's news?"
"No," growled the man, still face-down in his pillow.
He was never much of a morning person, and having someone there (or rather, having the voice of someone) to wake him up each day seemed to make it all the more worse. It wasn't that Corbin didn't appreciate all the effort and money that went into his very suffisticated and modern room; upon first observation, he was quite fond of it's sleek color-choice and elaborate furnature. However, these accomodations were not, to be quite blunt, in the very least how he had been brought up. The artificial voice addressing him through some sort of hidden speakers was a little off-setting and put him in a state of unpleasant dismay.
After a short shower (which, no surprise, turned itself on and off and adjusted temperature via voice-activation) and a change of clothes, Corbin wolfed down a bowl of cereal (it was another one of PROOF's luxerys -- room service) and brushed his teeth, ruffing up his messy, white-blonde hair before exiting his room into the Residence Quarters section of the large building (which happened to be on the top floor). Peering down over the steel railing at the multitude of people busying themselves on the different floors, Corbin yawned, wiping the leftover sleep from his slate-green eyes.
A femine attempt at a laugh came from not far behind him, and almost immediately he recognized it. "Don't we look sluggish?"
Corbin turned to face his partner for one year now, a woman a year younger than him, 24, named Airlia. "I could use a break," he replied, half smirking and making an obvious endeavor at stretching.
Airlia approached him, resting an arm on the rail and raising a sarastic eyebrow. "Yeah," she said in a condescending tone, "you sure work hard."
"Hey, c'mon," Corbin said in a happy-go-lucky manor, elbowing her. "Angry citizens, nasty ghosts, back aches, body counts, hauntings, demons... I think we all could use a little vacation."
Just as his partner was about to respond, a man, much older than them, dressed all in black neared the two, eyes narrowed, not a hint of humor in any one of his permanantly-engraved wrinkles. "Don't you have something you ought to be doing?" he asked, though from his stern and deep voice, it was clear he didn't expect an answer.
Airlia nodded a bit too furiously and Corbin turned around haughtily and started descending the stairs (he refused to use the elevatars ever since the incident when one of them got stuck for 3 hours full of sweaty and impatient people). He waited until they were out of earshot of the man obviously in a high position for PROOF, and then said in a low voice to his partner, "Shit, this place creeps me out!"
Airlia merely shook her head.
This 10th day in July had turned out to be, surprise-surprise, like any other. The duo was assigned a job of investigating an abdandon church outside of town, collecting whatever evidence they could (including pictures, recordings, perhaps even a wraith itself), and then reporting back to PROOF. The once sanctuary now lay in near ruins atop a grassy meadow, completely solitary of any other buildings for at least a mile's radius it seemed. It was obvious this place had been abandon long ago when a village still lingered here. Now, even that was gone and Leasing signs for the land were hammered into the ground at all corners, though apparently going unnoticed. The church was grey and mossy and floor boards were uplifted or entirely broken in places, just as the rafters. The pews were somehow haphazardly thrown towards the walls, leaving a big empty space in the middle where Corbin and Airlia ventured cautiously.
True, this place did seem like a hot spot for a haunting...but could it be as terrible as the report they had read about it stated? Corbin at least seemed to think so.
"Ah, I love the smell of dead people in the morning."
The overly-friendly, overly-calm computer voice of a young woman hung in the still air like a retching stentch that caused Corbin to cringe. Another beautiful morning on July te -- oh, remembering the date was not necessary. The rather annoying computer was thankfully their to remind him, just as it did every morning, and would continue to each morning after that for as long as he resided in the multi-level, billion-dollar, tax payer's nightmare they called PROOF.
"Today's date is July tenth, twenty seventeen. The weather today is mild, 82, mostly sunny. Would you care to hear today's news?"
"No," growled the man, still face-down in his pillow.
He was never much of a morning person, and having someone there (or rather, having the voice of someone) to wake him up each day seemed to make it all the more worse. It wasn't that Corbin didn't appreciate all the effort and money that went into his very suffisticated and modern room; upon first observation, he was quite fond of it's sleek color-choice and elaborate furnature. However, these accomodations were not, to be quite blunt, in the very least how he had been brought up. The artificial voice addressing him through some sort of hidden speakers was a little off-setting and put him in a state of unpleasant dismay.
After a short shower (which, no surprise, turned itself on and off and adjusted temperature via voice-activation) and a change of clothes, Corbin wolfed down a bowl of cereal (it was another one of PROOF's luxerys -- room service) and brushed his teeth, ruffing up his messy, white-blonde hair before exiting his room into the Residence Quarters section of the large building (which happened to be on the top floor). Peering down over the steel railing at the multitude of people busying themselves on the different floors, Corbin yawned, wiping the leftover sleep from his slate-green eyes.
A femine attempt at a laugh came from not far behind him, and almost immediately he recognized it. "Don't we look sluggish?"
Corbin turned to face his partner for one year now, a woman a year younger than him, 24, named Airlia. "I could use a break," he replied, half smirking and making an obvious endeavor at stretching.
Airlia approached him, resting an arm on the rail and raising a sarastic eyebrow. "Yeah," she said in a condescending tone, "you sure work hard."
"Hey, c'mon," Corbin said in a happy-go-lucky manor, elbowing her. "Angry citizens, nasty ghosts, back aches, body counts, hauntings, demons... I think we all could use a little vacation."
Just as his partner was about to respond, a man, much older than them, dressed all in black neared the two, eyes narrowed, not a hint of humor in any one of his permanantly-engraved wrinkles. "Don't you have something you ought to be doing?" he asked, though from his stern and deep voice, it was clear he didn't expect an answer.
Airlia nodded a bit too furiously and Corbin turned around haughtily and started descending the stairs (he refused to use the elevatars ever since the incident when one of them got stuck for 3 hours full of sweaty and impatient people). He waited until they were out of earshot of the man obviously in a high position for PROOF, and then said in a low voice to his partner, "Shit, this place creeps me out!"
Airlia merely shook her head.
This 10th day in July had turned out to be, surprise-surprise, like any other. The duo was assigned a job of investigating an abdandon church outside of town, collecting whatever evidence they could (including pictures, recordings, perhaps even a wraith itself), and then reporting back to PROOF. The once sanctuary now lay in near ruins atop a grassy meadow, completely solitary of any other buildings for at least a mile's radius it seemed. It was obvious this place had been abandon long ago when a village still lingered here. Now, even that was gone and Leasing signs for the land were hammered into the ground at all corners, though apparently going unnoticed. The church was grey and mossy and floor boards were uplifted or entirely broken in places, just as the rafters. The pews were somehow haphazardly thrown towards the walls, leaving a big empty space in the middle where Corbin and Airlia ventured cautiously.
True, this place did seem like a hot spot for a haunting...but could it be as terrible as the report they had read about it stated? Corbin at least seemed to think so.
"Ah, I love the smell of dead people in the morning."
---
The presence of another inside the mold-infested church was obvious as the two partners stepped inside, though it seemed less threatening than they had come prepared for. The first thing Corbin noticed, however, was the hot and sticky humid air that filled the stuffy church. It seemed to have been permanantly trapped there, even after they opened the large, wooden double doors. It engulfed the two along with an array of not-so-pleasant smells, most of which consisting of a mixture of mold and dead rodents. It was enough to make the duo recoil in distaste.
Spotting their company, Airlia took a defensive position, drawing her weapon, a high-powered, electric bolt handgun, used to severely stun or weaken a wraith, though which could also be deadly if fired upon the living. As quickly as she pulled it out, she immediately replaced it in its sheath strapped to her right leg, realizing there was no threat. Corbin, eyeing both the man and his partner, appeared dumbfounded for all but a moment, and then, putting his hands behind his head in a stretching/relaxed position, a side grin formed on his not-so-well-shaven face.
Corbin advanced towards the man also working for the Paranormal Response Origin Outreach Foundation, and grabbed his hand, shaking it a bit too forcefully, still grinning. "Not a problem! Hey, it's easy to get jumpy 'round these sort of parts. I'm Corbin, and this is my partner --"
"Airlia," she said, cutting him off and walking up to the two.
She looked the least bit enthused, wearing a blank face with perhaps the hint of a frown, her icy blue eyes fixated on the man named Hadi.
"So, they stationed you here as well?" Airlia asked in a somewhat irritated voice. "Hah," she chuckled in a false and sarcastic sort of way, "so they assumed we couldn't handle it, that the two of us wouldn't be enough!?" The 24-year-old woman shook her head, smiling but not in a pleased sort of way, pacing back and forth. "I should have known accepting you as a partner was a mistake," she said under her breath, eyeing Corbin who's eyebrows were raised, watching her with an infuriating sort of smirk. "This is what you get..." Airlia mumbled, still pacing the old, abandon church appearing rather deep in thought. "When you're partnered with someone who thinks Futurama is God's greatest gift to man, howare they supposed to take you seriously??"
"Hey!" cut in Corbin, though not appearing at all angered, but instead humored. "What's wrong with Futurama?"
"Forget it," sighed Airlia, stopping in place and beginning to set up their equipment -- a digital voice recorder, a camcorder, and an EMF detector.
Corbin, who was watching her with amusement, turned back to Hadi, eyebrows still raised. Whispering, but making an attempt for it to be loud enough so that Airlia could hear, he said, "Don't mind her. She gets like this around guys she thinks are cute!"
Airlia, refusing to look up, just snorted, busying herself with what work they had to do.
Just as Corbin was about to talk to Hadi some more and figure out just what he had been doing here so far, the sound of a car engine caught his attention. Airlia too looked up, eyes meeting her partner's, and then darting back to the double doors. The car turned off and the sound of footsteps approached. They all waited in anticipation, unsure of what to do. Just in case, Airlia was on top of things, already with her hand on her gun, ready to remove it in a moment's notice.
Instead though, a man both Arilia and Corbin recognized stepped in. Gavilan, a detective they had run into a time or two in the very least, was a man with a way of somehow finding all of PROOF's paranormal hot spots to investigate. Airlia rolled her eyes, now even more annoyed, taking her hand off her gun and setting up the camcorder.
"I should have known," she said to Gavilan, smirking.
All Airlia ever wanted to do was her job, and to do it well. Somehow, some way, each and every mission turned out to be not so much how she had expected. Corbin on the other hand looked both delighted and surprised at the (somewhat) unexpected guest.
"Hey, don't forget -- we're the ones given the assignments here, Gavilan. You just followus," Corbin said tauntingly with a bigger grin on than ever.
This place was becoming much too crowded for Airlia's taste. "Dammit, Corbin! Are we going to talk, or are you going to start doing you job and investigating? Where are the Spectral Vision Goggles?"
The smirk on Corbin's face faded after Airlia's scoldding, for he knew she was not only right, but serious. He heaved a small sigh and withdrew the goggles they were unfourtunately supposed to share (considering it was an expensive piece of equipment), and handed them over to Airlia. She grabbed them out of his hand, frowning up at him from her crouching position.
"Tell me you remembered the Wraith Snatcher," she pleaded, talking about the device that was, by means unknown to them (or most of the reast of the PROOF employees for that matter) able to capture wraiths.
Corbin looked away, making a sort of pouty motion with his lips. He didn't say anything.
Airlia grumbled, shaking her head once again, turning towards the other two men. "You know, you can't blame him." she said, mocking her partner. "He has special needs. Heck, I’m not even sure he has a good enough aim to not miss the toilet!"
"Hah-hah," Corbin fake-laughed. "I wasn't aware you had a sense of humor, Airlia."
"Yeah, well I wasn't aware you had sense, Corbin," she shot back, putting on the goggles and looking all the more ridiculous, which lessoned the blow to Corbin quite a bit.
"Oh my God!" Airlia shouted, falling back and gazing around the once seemingly empty church. "This place has..." she took a moment to count, "7 ghosts! A-and...and a wraith. Yes, it most definitely is a wraith!" she proclaimed, throwing off the goggles hastily and handing them over to Corbin to see for himself.
Putting on the large, digital Spectral Vision Goggles manufactured by PROOF, Corbin realized what she had been talking about. "Wow, I didn't expect this place to be so...lively!"
"And yet we're the only ones living," Airlia said in a low and serious tone, looking up at the other two men in what could only be described as fear.
Spotting their company, Airlia took a defensive position, drawing her weapon, a high-powered, electric bolt handgun, used to severely stun or weaken a wraith, though which could also be deadly if fired upon the living. As quickly as she pulled it out, she immediately replaced it in its sheath strapped to her right leg, realizing there was no threat. Corbin, eyeing both the man and his partner, appeared dumbfounded for all but a moment, and then, putting his hands behind his head in a stretching/relaxed position, a side grin formed on his not-so-well-shaven face.
Corbin advanced towards the man also working for the Paranormal Response Origin Outreach Foundation, and grabbed his hand, shaking it a bit too forcefully, still grinning. "Not a problem! Hey, it's easy to get jumpy 'round these sort of parts. I'm Corbin, and this is my partner --"
"Airlia," she said, cutting him off and walking up to the two.
She looked the least bit enthused, wearing a blank face with perhaps the hint of a frown, her icy blue eyes fixated on the man named Hadi.
"So, they stationed you here as well?" Airlia asked in a somewhat irritated voice. "Hah," she chuckled in a false and sarcastic sort of way, "so they assumed we couldn't handle it, that the two of us wouldn't be enough!?" The 24-year-old woman shook her head, smiling but not in a pleased sort of way, pacing back and forth. "I should have known accepting you as a partner was a mistake," she said under her breath, eyeing Corbin who's eyebrows were raised, watching her with an infuriating sort of smirk. "This is what you get..." Airlia mumbled, still pacing the old, abandon church appearing rather deep in thought. "When you're partnered with someone who thinks Futurama is God's greatest gift to man, howare they supposed to take you seriously??"
"Hey!" cut in Corbin, though not appearing at all angered, but instead humored. "What's wrong with Futurama?"
"Forget it," sighed Airlia, stopping in place and beginning to set up their equipment -- a digital voice recorder, a camcorder, and an EMF detector.
Corbin, who was watching her with amusement, turned back to Hadi, eyebrows still raised. Whispering, but making an attempt for it to be loud enough so that Airlia could hear, he said, "Don't mind her. She gets like this around guys she thinks are cute!"
Airlia, refusing to look up, just snorted, busying herself with what work they had to do.
Just as Corbin was about to talk to Hadi some more and figure out just what he had been doing here so far, the sound of a car engine caught his attention. Airlia too looked up, eyes meeting her partner's, and then darting back to the double doors. The car turned off and the sound of footsteps approached. They all waited in anticipation, unsure of what to do. Just in case, Airlia was on top of things, already with her hand on her gun, ready to remove it in a moment's notice.
Instead though, a man both Arilia and Corbin recognized stepped in. Gavilan, a detective they had run into a time or two in the very least, was a man with a way of somehow finding all of PROOF's paranormal hot spots to investigate. Airlia rolled her eyes, now even more annoyed, taking her hand off her gun and setting up the camcorder.
"I should have known," she said to Gavilan, smirking.
All Airlia ever wanted to do was her job, and to do it well. Somehow, some way, each and every mission turned out to be not so much how she had expected. Corbin on the other hand looked both delighted and surprised at the (somewhat) unexpected guest.
"Hey, don't forget -- we're the ones given the assignments here, Gavilan. You just followus," Corbin said tauntingly with a bigger grin on than ever.
This place was becoming much too crowded for Airlia's taste. "Dammit, Corbin! Are we going to talk, or are you going to start doing you job and investigating? Where are the Spectral Vision Goggles?"
The smirk on Corbin's face faded after Airlia's scoldding, for he knew she was not only right, but serious. He heaved a small sigh and withdrew the goggles they were unfourtunately supposed to share (considering it was an expensive piece of equipment), and handed them over to Airlia. She grabbed them out of his hand, frowning up at him from her crouching position.
"Tell me you remembered the Wraith Snatcher," she pleaded, talking about the device that was, by means unknown to them (or most of the reast of the PROOF employees for that matter) able to capture wraiths.
Corbin looked away, making a sort of pouty motion with his lips. He didn't say anything.
Airlia grumbled, shaking her head once again, turning towards the other two men. "You know, you can't blame him." she said, mocking her partner. "He has special needs. Heck, I’m not even sure he has a good enough aim to not miss the toilet!"
"Hah-hah," Corbin fake-laughed. "I wasn't aware you had a sense of humor, Airlia."
"Yeah, well I wasn't aware you had sense, Corbin," she shot back, putting on the goggles and looking all the more ridiculous, which lessoned the blow to Corbin quite a bit.
"Oh my God!" Airlia shouted, falling back and gazing around the once seemingly empty church. "This place has..." she took a moment to count, "7 ghosts! A-and...and a wraith. Yes, it most definitely is a wraith!" she proclaimed, throwing off the goggles hastily and handing them over to Corbin to see for himself.
Putting on the large, digital Spectral Vision Goggles manufactured by PROOF, Corbin realized what she had been talking about. "Wow, I didn't expect this place to be so...lively!"
"And yet we're the only ones living," Airlia said in a low and serious tone, looking up at the other two men in what could only be described as fear.
---
"Fuck!" exclaimed Corbin out of shock and astonishment. "What the hell...?"
He and Airlia both watched helplessly as Gavilan, the police detective, ran off in a darkened room hidden slightly off to the side almost completely unaccessable due to the rows of pews that had been recklessly thrown against the walls. Bit by bit, the two began to understand that these pews might not have been moved by people at all, but rather the restless souls of people which unmistakably still lingered here. They watched, horrified and unsure of what exactly to do. Both had been trained to carefully look after any and all people that could be endangered as a result of the specter phenomenon, but neither was sure what to do when a detective willingly put himself on the line. He too had his own training, and, as they both imagined, it didn't involve running in blindly, chasing after an unexplained and invisible being.
The report and briefing concerning this assignment was clear -- numerous homicides took place in the church involving seemingly random people, all suspected to be done by one man. It happened over a century ago when the church was still in use. Reports were filed over the years by people, usually farmers or even the occassional homeless person looking for a place to stay, and strange occurances were said to have taken place. The church itself was considered extremely dangerous and was now off-limits to the public. Trespassers Will Be Violated signs were placed around the area after the numerous reports were filed to the police department. It was about time, Corbin thought, that PROOF decided to investigate. As it turned out, the eye-witness accounts were all fact.
A piercing scream broke the deafening silence and Corbin swung around to see his partner, Airlia, suspended a whole five feet in the air by supposedly nothing. Her limbs were swinging around helplessly as she attempted to free herself, appearing unable to fight back. Suddnely, the invisible being, no doubt the wraith that remained here, slashed at her stomach, tearing her shirt and causing a huge gouge to open up, spilling blood onto the dusty, old wooden floor.
Panicked, but with adrenaline now pumping, Corbin reached for his own bolt handgun at his side, drew it, and fired blindly into the air where he thought the wraith would be, not wanting to waste any more time by putting on the Spectral Vision Goggles to aim properly. An obvious and out-of-this-world screech rumbled through the large, open room, bouncing off the wooden beams of the ceiling and seeming to echo much longer than it should. The force keeping Airlia up let go, and Airlia fell hard to the ground in her own puddle of blood, coughing and wheezing, her heart racing too fast for her to think at all. She collapsed on the ground, breathing in fast, small, breaths and clinging to her large wound. Her fading eyes stared blankly up at Corbin who watched, wide-eyed and terrified.
He bent over her, puttng a hand on her shoulder. "You're gonna be alright," he yelled, wanting it to be true. "Everything's just fine. I'm gonna contact PROOF and call for backup and I'm gonna take you back myself. Nothing's going to happen to you." His voice grew weak and was trembling. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you..." Tears flooded his eyes, and angrily he yelled, standing, and blinking them away, surveying the room for the now injured wraith. "I'm takin' you out myself, you goddamn mother-fucker!" he announced, pulse racing, adrenaline pumping, and emotion and fear completely taking over his entire 25-year-old body.
Picking up his weapon once more, he found the goggles lying on the ground and hurriedly put them on, scanning the room for the wraith. He found it, a large, dark mass of a being that shifted shape and melted away like gas, hovering in a high corner above the rafters. "Aaarrgghh!" Corbin shouted, taking his bolt gun and firing it upon the demon. The eletric energy inside the weapon shot out in baseball-sized spheres and recklessly fast hit their target in less than a second. The wraith screamed out in agony as round after round was shot at him. His gaseous-like body of dark matter began to swirl and fall apart. Pieces of the being then started to disolve into thin air, until at last the demon was finally gone, destroyed forever. Corbin knew that PROOF wanted to capture every wraith their teams were able to find for their own research purposes, but quite frankly, he didn't care at this moment. All that mattered was his partner. Avenging her took all but 30 seconds, and it gave him a sense of relief.
After destroying the monster, Corbin dropped his weapon as well as the goggles, indifferent to everything else around him, completely forgetting about the detective now, unsure of what was going on in the other room (though one could only imagine), and grabbed Airlia, carrying her in his arms. She had lost a lot of blood and was growing weaker with each passing minute. He knew she would need immediate medical attention, and although he wanted to take her to a hospital himself, he knew that PROOF had their own doctors on hand to deal with these sort of supernatural injuries. Her eyes were closed now and he could feel her slowly fading. Her breathing was coming and going in short, deep breaths now and it appeared as if she was starting to go into shock.
"Shit!" he said in a high whisper, reaching around to his back pocket while still carrying her to pull out his cell phone. Using speed dial, he contacted one of the Ghost Hunting team leaders for PROOF, an agent that was enough of an authority to get things done in no time. "Get some special agents out here now!" he cried into the phone at the first "Hello" he got. "We need backup out at the abandon church! Seven ghosts, one dead wraith." The voice on the other end started to say something, no doubt concerning the precious dead wraith, but Corbin cut him off, angrily. "There's an agent down! I repeat, my partner has been attacked! Agent Liv! I'm bringing her in!" He hung up the phone, not even waiting to hear a response, and jogged for his car, carrying Airlia as carefully as he could.
He suspected the people down in the sub-levels would be a buzz after this. It had come to his knowledge after one year of working for PROOF that there was a lot more that went on in that government facility than meets the eye. Corbin wasn't an uneducated man though -- he knew when to keep his nose out of things, and he figured with information like this about something top secret, even to him, it was better to keep it private and not let anyone know that he knew.
As he delicately sat Airlia down in the passanger's seat, stirring her a bit from her in-and-out conciousness, Corbin met her eyes for a brief moment and almost thought he heard her say something just as he turned away to run to the driver's side, though he never could be sure. Airlia was mumbling a lot out of pain and shock, but through the murmurs and whimpers, he could have sworn he heard her say, "Thanks, dear."
He and Airlia both watched helplessly as Gavilan, the police detective, ran off in a darkened room hidden slightly off to the side almost completely unaccessable due to the rows of pews that had been recklessly thrown against the walls. Bit by bit, the two began to understand that these pews might not have been moved by people at all, but rather the restless souls of people which unmistakably still lingered here. They watched, horrified and unsure of what exactly to do. Both had been trained to carefully look after any and all people that could be endangered as a result of the specter phenomenon, but neither was sure what to do when a detective willingly put himself on the line. He too had his own training, and, as they both imagined, it didn't involve running in blindly, chasing after an unexplained and invisible being.
The report and briefing concerning this assignment was clear -- numerous homicides took place in the church involving seemingly random people, all suspected to be done by one man. It happened over a century ago when the church was still in use. Reports were filed over the years by people, usually farmers or even the occassional homeless person looking for a place to stay, and strange occurances were said to have taken place. The church itself was considered extremely dangerous and was now off-limits to the public. Trespassers Will Be Violated signs were placed around the area after the numerous reports were filed to the police department. It was about time, Corbin thought, that PROOF decided to investigate. As it turned out, the eye-witness accounts were all fact.
A piercing scream broke the deafening silence and Corbin swung around to see his partner, Airlia, suspended a whole five feet in the air by supposedly nothing. Her limbs were swinging around helplessly as she attempted to free herself, appearing unable to fight back. Suddnely, the invisible being, no doubt the wraith that remained here, slashed at her stomach, tearing her shirt and causing a huge gouge to open up, spilling blood onto the dusty, old wooden floor.
Panicked, but with adrenaline now pumping, Corbin reached for his own bolt handgun at his side, drew it, and fired blindly into the air where he thought the wraith would be, not wanting to waste any more time by putting on the Spectral Vision Goggles to aim properly. An obvious and out-of-this-world screech rumbled through the large, open room, bouncing off the wooden beams of the ceiling and seeming to echo much longer than it should. The force keeping Airlia up let go, and Airlia fell hard to the ground in her own puddle of blood, coughing and wheezing, her heart racing too fast for her to think at all. She collapsed on the ground, breathing in fast, small, breaths and clinging to her large wound. Her fading eyes stared blankly up at Corbin who watched, wide-eyed and terrified.
He bent over her, puttng a hand on her shoulder. "You're gonna be alright," he yelled, wanting it to be true. "Everything's just fine. I'm gonna contact PROOF and call for backup and I'm gonna take you back myself. Nothing's going to happen to you." His voice grew weak and was trembling. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you..." Tears flooded his eyes, and angrily he yelled, standing, and blinking them away, surveying the room for the now injured wraith. "I'm takin' you out myself, you goddamn mother-fucker!" he announced, pulse racing, adrenaline pumping, and emotion and fear completely taking over his entire 25-year-old body.
Picking up his weapon once more, he found the goggles lying on the ground and hurriedly put them on, scanning the room for the wraith. He found it, a large, dark mass of a being that shifted shape and melted away like gas, hovering in a high corner above the rafters. "Aaarrgghh!" Corbin shouted, taking his bolt gun and firing it upon the demon. The eletric energy inside the weapon shot out in baseball-sized spheres and recklessly fast hit their target in less than a second. The wraith screamed out in agony as round after round was shot at him. His gaseous-like body of dark matter began to swirl and fall apart. Pieces of the being then started to disolve into thin air, until at last the demon was finally gone, destroyed forever. Corbin knew that PROOF wanted to capture every wraith their teams were able to find for their own research purposes, but quite frankly, he didn't care at this moment. All that mattered was his partner. Avenging her took all but 30 seconds, and it gave him a sense of relief.
After destroying the monster, Corbin dropped his weapon as well as the goggles, indifferent to everything else around him, completely forgetting about the detective now, unsure of what was going on in the other room (though one could only imagine), and grabbed Airlia, carrying her in his arms. She had lost a lot of blood and was growing weaker with each passing minute. He knew she would need immediate medical attention, and although he wanted to take her to a hospital himself, he knew that PROOF had their own doctors on hand to deal with these sort of supernatural injuries. Her eyes were closed now and he could feel her slowly fading. Her breathing was coming and going in short, deep breaths now and it appeared as if she was starting to go into shock.
"Shit!" he said in a high whisper, reaching around to his back pocket while still carrying her to pull out his cell phone. Using speed dial, he contacted one of the Ghost Hunting team leaders for PROOF, an agent that was enough of an authority to get things done in no time. "Get some special agents out here now!" he cried into the phone at the first "Hello" he got. "We need backup out at the abandon church! Seven ghosts, one dead wraith." The voice on the other end started to say something, no doubt concerning the precious dead wraith, but Corbin cut him off, angrily. "There's an agent down! I repeat, my partner has been attacked! Agent Liv! I'm bringing her in!" He hung up the phone, not even waiting to hear a response, and jogged for his car, carrying Airlia as carefully as he could.
He suspected the people down in the sub-levels would be a buzz after this. It had come to his knowledge after one year of working for PROOF that there was a lot more that went on in that government facility than meets the eye. Corbin wasn't an uneducated man though -- he knew when to keep his nose out of things, and he figured with information like this about something top secret, even to him, it was better to keep it private and not let anyone know that he knew.
As he delicately sat Airlia down in the passanger's seat, stirring her a bit from her in-and-out conciousness, Corbin met her eyes for a brief moment and almost thought he heard her say something just as he turned away to run to the driver's side, though he never could be sure. Airlia was mumbling a lot out of pain and shock, but through the murmurs and whimpers, he could have sworn he heard her say, "Thanks, dear."
---
The two, Corbin and Airlia, were gone by the time Gavilan retuned to the main area of the church where the rows and rows of anicent pews lay scattered about in an eerie sort of way. It was dark, despite the time of day, and an odd sort of silence was all that was left of the very-haunted chapel. Ghosts, the souls of the victims of the numerous homicides, were no doubt around, hidden by their own Spectral Plane invisible to the naked eye.
Arriving back at PROOF, Corbin didn't even bother taking the employee entrance off to the side out of public eye, but instead bursted right through the front doors as the quickest way, hurrying past a number of ordinary people waiting in line, probably to solve their haunting issue. Compared to Airlia's state, their problems seemed far less urgent. A few women gasped as they noticed the now unconcious woman in his arms. He didn't even meet their eyes, just ran, gasping for breath, and headed towards the infirmary which sat nestled on floor one just beyond the customer center towards the back and out of site. Rounding a few corners, the now breathless man had the glass doors to the paranormal hospital in site. It was fairly small, just one room the size of an ordinary basement with numerous curtains surrounding different beds and an exam table. It was very clean and housed many expensive-looking instruments that were foreign to most doctors. Opening the door with his back and entering, Corbin gazed around, wide-eyed, until he spotted a doctor over in a lab-like section who turned immediately to face him as he entered.
"She needs help," was all he could say, breathing heavy and still clutching his partner in his arms.
A few nurses ran up to the two with a bed on wheels and took her gently from him, rolling her off to the exam table. The doctor, whose eyes were still on Corbin, nodded, already readying his instruments.
"I am aware of the situation. Now please, I will need you to leave." He pulled up is face mask and turned around, apporaching Airlia on the table and said over his shoulder to one of the women, "Nurse," and she ushered him out of the room, pulling the blinds over the glass windows and returning to help in however way she could.
"A disgrace!" shouted Harold Anchor, the man in charge of the ghost hunting operation and the boss of even Corbin's bosses.
They were inside his office now on the second floor of PROOF. Corbin was immediately taken there after dropping Airlia off. His mind had been racing the whole time and he had not even thought about protocol or his training until now. A part of him regreted being so foolish, yet another part couldn't help but think his actions might have saved his partner's life.
"Ontop of destroying a valuable wraith," Mr. Anchor growled, "you come charging in the front doors like some mad man, holding a very bloody woman out for everyone to see. How are we supposed to explain that? Huh!? You tell me!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Anchor, but I didn't think --"
"That's right!" Mr. Anchor said, interrupting. "You didn't think. And now, because of your reckless and thoughtless actions, our agency is the one to suffor. You think I'm mad? Just wait till the guys in Washington hear about this! Your job isn't the only thing on the line here, Mr. Crane," he said, lowering his gruff voice, "but your very life may be as well."
Corbin knew the government wasn't very merciful when it came to this sort of thing. He knew much more than the average person, and if he were to be fired, they couldn't take the chance of him sharing what he knew with anyone. His heartbeat hammered in his head as he swallowed hard, wondering the future of his career, of his life.
"Is there anything I can do?" Corbin asked hopefully.
Mr. Anchor sighed, relaxing in his large, black chair and fondling a pen ontop his desk. "Go back." he said simply. "Go back to the church and finish your mission. Do not let the report label this as a failure. Do you understand me, Mr. Crane? Have I made myself perfectly clear to you?"
Corbin nodded, frowning, but looking determined. "Understood, sir."
Waking from a deep slumber, Airlia blinked her stinging eyes open to a very bright, white room. Moaning, she rubbed her eyes with one hand and reached for her stomach with the other. She was stopped immediately though by the hand of another, a woman -- a nurse.
"Doctor," called the woman in a steady, calm voice. "Good to see you've made a full recovery," said the nurse in an eerie pleasant tone, smiling down at Airlia.
She had no moniters hooked up to her, no cords, no anything. She lay in bed, half a white curtain blocking her view to the rest of the room, and seemed perfectly fine. Her pain was entirely gone and her strength had somehow returned to her instantly. Sitting up, despite the nurse's attempts to keep her laying, Airlia saw that her stomach was healed as well -- no scars, no surgical incisions, nothing. Confused, Airlia looked towards the doctor who now approached.
"Hello, Miss Liv. I am Doctor Riley. Seems you're alright, yes?"
Frowning and dumbfounded, Airlia searched for words. "What...happened?" Noticing the clock on the wall, she soon realized that only an hour had passed since the time her and Corbin first arrived at the church. She must have only arrived here less than fifteen minutes ago. "How...!?"
"Shh, no questions," instructed the doctor in a cool tone. "You must be returning now, Miss Liv."
Shaking her head, almost believing it all to be a dream, she asked, "Return? Return where?"
"To the church, of course." Doctor Riley smiled, though not in a friendly sort of way, but moreso in the way a teacher must look at a small child in class. "You left valuable equipment just sitting in the abandon church. Now I was instructed to have you return once we were done here."
"What?" Airlia said, partially outraged. "Why can't the backup team just bring it back?" she questioned, even more confused than before.
"We're not your mommy. We aren't here to pick up your toys for you," he said bitterly, still with a thin smile on his lips. "This is your assignment and it is you who will follow through with it."
"I understand now," said Airlia with a frusted smile and sigh, shaking her head in disbelief. "You want me to go back because you know what happens, don't you? You know as well as I do that when a wraith dies, it draws in more. They will come like a moth to the flame and you want me to capture one of them to make up for the one that was destroyed."
"It's not what I want, Miss Liv. It's what PROOF needs you to do," was all he said in a matter-of-fact sort of way.
"Hah, I can't believe this. This isn't here for the people, is it, Dr. Riley?"
"'This' what?" he questioned with the nurse still at his side, staring blankly at Airlia.
"This! This place, PROOF! It's all just one big lie. It isn't funded by the government just to dispatch ghost hunting teams to houses to help people. No, it's not like that at all. You want to study the dead, to risk lives, to sacrafice lives if you have to!"
"We healed you," reminded the doctor, "and that is all that matters. Now leave this room and return to the church immediately."
The doctor's voice was stern and final and he turned around and walked away with the nurse, leaving her and a pile of brand new clothes at her side to change into before exiting the cold, white room. Returning back to the main area of level one, Airlia almost bumped into Corbin, surprised but more relieved to see him than ever.
Embracing him in a tight hug, Airlia began to cry, tears pouring down her soft, pink cheeks. "Corbin... It was horrible. Horrible."
Shocked, Corbin stood there, amidst all the people, hugging her, but afraid to hug her tightly back for fear of injuring her even more. "You're okay? That was so fast... So fast. We're in trouble." He noticed her tears, and seemed so confused. "What's happened to you, Airlia? What did they do to you...?"
She looked up at him with damp eyes, still clinging to him tightly, revealing her healed stomach for him to see. He gasped. "I'll explain on the way back to the church. Now let's get out of here."
Arriving back at PROOF, Corbin didn't even bother taking the employee entrance off to the side out of public eye, but instead bursted right through the front doors as the quickest way, hurrying past a number of ordinary people waiting in line, probably to solve their haunting issue. Compared to Airlia's state, their problems seemed far less urgent. A few women gasped as they noticed the now unconcious woman in his arms. He didn't even meet their eyes, just ran, gasping for breath, and headed towards the infirmary which sat nestled on floor one just beyond the customer center towards the back and out of site. Rounding a few corners, the now breathless man had the glass doors to the paranormal hospital in site. It was fairly small, just one room the size of an ordinary basement with numerous curtains surrounding different beds and an exam table. It was very clean and housed many expensive-looking instruments that were foreign to most doctors. Opening the door with his back and entering, Corbin gazed around, wide-eyed, until he spotted a doctor over in a lab-like section who turned immediately to face him as he entered.
"She needs help," was all he could say, breathing heavy and still clutching his partner in his arms.
A few nurses ran up to the two with a bed on wheels and took her gently from him, rolling her off to the exam table. The doctor, whose eyes were still on Corbin, nodded, already readying his instruments.
"I am aware of the situation. Now please, I will need you to leave." He pulled up is face mask and turned around, apporaching Airlia on the table and said over his shoulder to one of the women, "Nurse," and she ushered him out of the room, pulling the blinds over the glass windows and returning to help in however way she could.
"A disgrace!" shouted Harold Anchor, the man in charge of the ghost hunting operation and the boss of even Corbin's bosses.
They were inside his office now on the second floor of PROOF. Corbin was immediately taken there after dropping Airlia off. His mind had been racing the whole time and he had not even thought about protocol or his training until now. A part of him regreted being so foolish, yet another part couldn't help but think his actions might have saved his partner's life.
"Ontop of destroying a valuable wraith," Mr. Anchor growled, "you come charging in the front doors like some mad man, holding a very bloody woman out for everyone to see. How are we supposed to explain that? Huh!? You tell me!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Anchor, but I didn't think --"
"That's right!" Mr. Anchor said, interrupting. "You didn't think. And now, because of your reckless and thoughtless actions, our agency is the one to suffor. You think I'm mad? Just wait till the guys in Washington hear about this! Your job isn't the only thing on the line here, Mr. Crane," he said, lowering his gruff voice, "but your very life may be as well."
Corbin knew the government wasn't very merciful when it came to this sort of thing. He knew much more than the average person, and if he were to be fired, they couldn't take the chance of him sharing what he knew with anyone. His heartbeat hammered in his head as he swallowed hard, wondering the future of his career, of his life.
"Is there anything I can do?" Corbin asked hopefully.
Mr. Anchor sighed, relaxing in his large, black chair and fondling a pen ontop his desk. "Go back." he said simply. "Go back to the church and finish your mission. Do not let the report label this as a failure. Do you understand me, Mr. Crane? Have I made myself perfectly clear to you?"
Corbin nodded, frowning, but looking determined. "Understood, sir."
Waking from a deep slumber, Airlia blinked her stinging eyes open to a very bright, white room. Moaning, she rubbed her eyes with one hand and reached for her stomach with the other. She was stopped immediately though by the hand of another, a woman -- a nurse.
"Doctor," called the woman in a steady, calm voice. "Good to see you've made a full recovery," said the nurse in an eerie pleasant tone, smiling down at Airlia.
She had no moniters hooked up to her, no cords, no anything. She lay in bed, half a white curtain blocking her view to the rest of the room, and seemed perfectly fine. Her pain was entirely gone and her strength had somehow returned to her instantly. Sitting up, despite the nurse's attempts to keep her laying, Airlia saw that her stomach was healed as well -- no scars, no surgical incisions, nothing. Confused, Airlia looked towards the doctor who now approached.
"Hello, Miss Liv. I am Doctor Riley. Seems you're alright, yes?"
Frowning and dumbfounded, Airlia searched for words. "What...happened?" Noticing the clock on the wall, she soon realized that only an hour had passed since the time her and Corbin first arrived at the church. She must have only arrived here less than fifteen minutes ago. "How...!?"
"Shh, no questions," instructed the doctor in a cool tone. "You must be returning now, Miss Liv."
Shaking her head, almost believing it all to be a dream, she asked, "Return? Return where?"
"To the church, of course." Doctor Riley smiled, though not in a friendly sort of way, but moreso in the way a teacher must look at a small child in class. "You left valuable equipment just sitting in the abandon church. Now I was instructed to have you return once we were done here."
"What?" Airlia said, partially outraged. "Why can't the backup team just bring it back?" she questioned, even more confused than before.
"We're not your mommy. We aren't here to pick up your toys for you," he said bitterly, still with a thin smile on his lips. "This is your assignment and it is you who will follow through with it."
"I understand now," said Airlia with a frusted smile and sigh, shaking her head in disbelief. "You want me to go back because you know what happens, don't you? You know as well as I do that when a wraith dies, it draws in more. They will come like a moth to the flame and you want me to capture one of them to make up for the one that was destroyed."
"It's not what I want, Miss Liv. It's what PROOF needs you to do," was all he said in a matter-of-fact sort of way.
"Hah, I can't believe this. This isn't here for the people, is it, Dr. Riley?"
"'This' what?" he questioned with the nurse still at his side, staring blankly at Airlia.
"This! This place, PROOF! It's all just one big lie. It isn't funded by the government just to dispatch ghost hunting teams to houses to help people. No, it's not like that at all. You want to study the dead, to risk lives, to sacrafice lives if you have to!"
"We healed you," reminded the doctor, "and that is all that matters. Now leave this room and return to the church immediately."
The doctor's voice was stern and final and he turned around and walked away with the nurse, leaving her and a pile of brand new clothes at her side to change into before exiting the cold, white room. Returning back to the main area of level one, Airlia almost bumped into Corbin, surprised but more relieved to see him than ever.
Embracing him in a tight hug, Airlia began to cry, tears pouring down her soft, pink cheeks. "Corbin... It was horrible. Horrible."
Shocked, Corbin stood there, amidst all the people, hugging her, but afraid to hug her tightly back for fear of injuring her even more. "You're okay? That was so fast... So fast. We're in trouble." He noticed her tears, and seemed so confused. "What's happened to you, Airlia? What did they do to you...?"
She looked up at him with damp eyes, still clinging to him tightly, revealing her healed stomach for him to see. He gasped. "I'll explain on the way back to the church. Now let's get out of here."
---
Arriving back at the now not-so-abandon church, Corbin parked his Civic next to one of the black sedans that belonged to the Special Ops team for PROOF. There were around a dozen people there now, all wearing equally dreary black suits and surveying the premises. The various people that came as back-up were holding pricey-looking equipment and gathering readouts, then sending them to PROOF wirelessly to be analyzed. Corbin and Airlia looked at one another as they stepped out of the car, then back at the small crowd that had taken over their assignment. Were they all meant to work together?
Their question was immediately answered though when one man noticed the two arrive and turned to another man in black, this one middle-aged and appearing important, saying, "Sir?"
The middle-aged man, who was probably in charge of their assistance they were providing, looked up from whatever it was he was doing, took one look at Corbin and Airlia, then motioned for his men to drop what they were doing and leave. "Our work is done here," he said in a loud enough voice for all the men to hear. Clearly, he had orders from someone to depart once the two partners had arrived.
Airlia frowned, watching all the men get in their cars, start the engines, and drive away a big hurry, leaving a dust cloud in their trail. "Seems we have a job left to finish..." she grumbled in a less-than-excited voice.
Airlia had explained to Corbin what she remembered and it left him just as confused as she had been. How were they able to heal her the way they did? And so quickly and effortlessly? There was something fishy going on and Corbin didn't doubt it was just one of the many secrets the government was keeping from them. Corbin then had told her what happened to him, about having not only just his job threatened, but his very life as well. After this very long and melancholy ride out to the country, returning to the church was more of an obligation now than anything. PROOF paid very well, and despite however much they both distrusted it or even disliked it, they couldn't deny the benefits either.
Walking back up to the large, wooden double doors, they spotted Gavilan who was still there, wondering what he was up to or if he himself had any encounters. Beginning to breathe more heavily, Airlia fell behind, staying close to Corbin, the memories of what had only just happened sitll fresh in her mind. She could still feel the wraith grab her by the arms and lift her up into the air as she was powerless to prevent it. It was so powerful, so strong for a demon. She remembered almost being able to feel the energy radiating off of it. It gave her shivers and goosebumps just thinking about it.
Grabbing the Spectral Vision Goggles which still lay on the ground, Corbin handed them over to his partner, figuring she would want them more than him now. She put them on immediately, then withdrew her weapon. Corbin did the same, keeping an eye on the still and silent room, awaiting word from Airlia.
"Ghosts..." she said in a low and shakey voice. "Th-three, that's all I can see right now."
"Where did the others go?" Corbin questioned, partly to Gavilan and partly to his partner. "What about wraiths?"
Even behind the goggles, Corbin could see her smirk. "Don't you think that would have been the first thing I would have said? No, there are none...yet."
Corbin picked up the EMF (electro magnetic field) detector which also sat on the dusty floor boards and turned it on. Almost instantly it came to life, the meter reading off the charts. He looked over at Airlia again, his expression that of concern. She only shook her head, indicating that she couldn't see any wraiths, but still, nevertheless, holding her weapon up in defense.
"I have a bad feeling..." Corbin started, his voice still low and his pulse racing. Suddenly, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye -- a ghost or a wraith he wasn't sure -- and opened his mouth to warn Airlia, but she cut him off before he had a chance.
"WRAITHS!" she screamed, almost falling over his surprise. Stumbling over to Corbin, she grabbed onto his shirt in a panic, falling into a terrified state and loosing control over any protocol she could recall. "Dozens of them! Everywhere!! They all just...appeared!"
Corbin and Airlia fell back to one of the walls not closed off by pews, huddling in a corner, terrified and scrambling about to take out ther Wraith Snatchers. They both were in over their heads -- they knew that one Wraith Snatcher was only capable of capturing one wraith at a time, maybe two if they were very weak. But with this many demons lurking about, drawn by the death of their kind, there was nothing they could do to catch them all. Would PROOF be disappointed with them? Did they actually want the two to try and capture them all somehow? Was Corbin meant to have come more prepared and bring more Wraith Snatchers? Was this some sort of test? In their entire year of working for PROOF, the two had never run into anything quite like this before. No amount of training could have prepared anyone for the merciless, enraged creatures from a different realm. They materialized in and out of site, allowing the two to catch glimpses of their large, black, intimidating ghostly silhouettes as they floated around the room with superiority.
"We can't leave again this time..." Airlia reminded Corbin, wanting to flee just as bad, if not moreso than he did.
He nodded, not taking his pale green eyes off the room before him. "I know." For the first time in quite possibly his whole life, he was left speechless.
Their question was immediately answered though when one man noticed the two arrive and turned to another man in black, this one middle-aged and appearing important, saying, "Sir?"
The middle-aged man, who was probably in charge of their assistance they were providing, looked up from whatever it was he was doing, took one look at Corbin and Airlia, then motioned for his men to drop what they were doing and leave. "Our work is done here," he said in a loud enough voice for all the men to hear. Clearly, he had orders from someone to depart once the two partners had arrived.
Airlia frowned, watching all the men get in their cars, start the engines, and drive away a big hurry, leaving a dust cloud in their trail. "Seems we have a job left to finish..." she grumbled in a less-than-excited voice.
Airlia had explained to Corbin what she remembered and it left him just as confused as she had been. How were they able to heal her the way they did? And so quickly and effortlessly? There was something fishy going on and Corbin didn't doubt it was just one of the many secrets the government was keeping from them. Corbin then had told her what happened to him, about having not only just his job threatened, but his very life as well. After this very long and melancholy ride out to the country, returning to the church was more of an obligation now than anything. PROOF paid very well, and despite however much they both distrusted it or even disliked it, they couldn't deny the benefits either.
Walking back up to the large, wooden double doors, they spotted Gavilan who was still there, wondering what he was up to or if he himself had any encounters. Beginning to breathe more heavily, Airlia fell behind, staying close to Corbin, the memories of what had only just happened sitll fresh in her mind. She could still feel the wraith grab her by the arms and lift her up into the air as she was powerless to prevent it. It was so powerful, so strong for a demon. She remembered almost being able to feel the energy radiating off of it. It gave her shivers and goosebumps just thinking about it.
Grabbing the Spectral Vision Goggles which still lay on the ground, Corbin handed them over to his partner, figuring she would want them more than him now. She put them on immediately, then withdrew her weapon. Corbin did the same, keeping an eye on the still and silent room, awaiting word from Airlia.
"Ghosts..." she said in a low and shakey voice. "Th-three, that's all I can see right now."
"Where did the others go?" Corbin questioned, partly to Gavilan and partly to his partner. "What about wraiths?"
Even behind the goggles, Corbin could see her smirk. "Don't you think that would have been the first thing I would have said? No, there are none...yet."
Corbin picked up the EMF (electro magnetic field) detector which also sat on the dusty floor boards and turned it on. Almost instantly it came to life, the meter reading off the charts. He looked over at Airlia again, his expression that of concern. She only shook her head, indicating that she couldn't see any wraiths, but still, nevertheless, holding her weapon up in defense.
"I have a bad feeling..." Corbin started, his voice still low and his pulse racing. Suddenly, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye -- a ghost or a wraith he wasn't sure -- and opened his mouth to warn Airlia, but she cut him off before he had a chance.
"WRAITHS!" she screamed, almost falling over his surprise. Stumbling over to Corbin, she grabbed onto his shirt in a panic, falling into a terrified state and loosing control over any protocol she could recall. "Dozens of them! Everywhere!! They all just...appeared!"
Corbin and Airlia fell back to one of the walls not closed off by pews, huddling in a corner, terrified and scrambling about to take out ther Wraith Snatchers. They both were in over their heads -- they knew that one Wraith Snatcher was only capable of capturing one wraith at a time, maybe two if they were very weak. But with this many demons lurking about, drawn by the death of their kind, there was nothing they could do to catch them all. Would PROOF be disappointed with them? Did they actually want the two to try and capture them all somehow? Was Corbin meant to have come more prepared and bring more Wraith Snatchers? Was this some sort of test? In their entire year of working for PROOF, the two had never run into anything quite like this before. No amount of training could have prepared anyone for the merciless, enraged creatures from a different realm. They materialized in and out of site, allowing the two to catch glimpses of their large, black, intimidating ghostly silhouettes as they floated around the room with superiority.
"We can't leave again this time..." Airlia reminded Corbin, wanting to flee just as bad, if not moreso than he did.
He nodded, not taking his pale green eyes off the room before him. "I know." For the first time in quite possibly his whole life, he was left speechless.
---
"You're gonna need a change of panties after this one's over," said Corbin, nudging Airlia in the side with an elbow wearing an uncomfortable half-smile.
"Corbin," started Airlia in a tone that immediately let him know she wasn't in the mood, "remember how we talked about private conversations and how they're less private in front of other people?"
She was, of course, referring to a previous conversation they had which had taken place ages ago from now it seemed. The two had agreed to meet up at a local bar one Friday night after work -- not Airlia's cup of tea, but somehow Corbin had convinced her to join him. After a few martinis and a whole lot of loosening up, Airlia shared with him an embarrassing story about how once, when she was a kid, she was so afraid at a haunted house that she wet her pants. At the time, the story was hilarious, but now, it just seemed to come back to haunt her and she severely regretted saying anything at all...though she couldn't say she entirely regretted the whole night.
Airlia knew Corbin was only trying to lighten the mood and make it seem less scary for her, but it wasn't him who had blood spilt the last time they were here. "What are we going to do...?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.
"Ask them nicely to get inside their cages?"
Before Airlia even had time to roll her eyes, it seemed their prayers were answered. Like magic, out of thin air, a cluster of small, black, ball-shaped objects appeared before them -- Wraith Snatchers, and more than enough they would need. Once they had completely materialized, becoming solid matter, they all fell to the floor, bouncing towards the two dumbfounded agents. By now, Corbin and Airlia had been through enough and were so relieved that they didn't even bother trying to figure it out. It didn't matter at the moment.
Picking up one of the Wraith Snatchers, Airlia stood confidently amidst the moldy stench of the dark church, gazing up at what little shadows of demons she was able to see as they disappeared and reappeared. This is for what you did to me, she thought, blue eyes narrowed. Corbin followed her lead, picking up a ball for each hand. Although he didn't have the Spectral Vision Goggles on, his aim was better than Airlia's and he would release the ball once one of them materialized in sight. Airlia on the other hand used the goggles to view all the specters in sight, trying to pick out one that wasn't moving too fast to capture.
They both knew the drill from here. It seemed so much simpler though when there were only one or two wraiths to catch. This was unlike anything they had ever known and both their heartbeats thumped in their ears. These creatures, more wicked than any ghost, more feared, more hated, more unknown...they were the epitome of terror. All of Airlia's insecurities began to surface as she felt the room grow ever colder. The mere presence of these demons would lure more eventually if they weren't taken care of. As she watched the ghoulish nightmares swarm around the room, bringing in the darkness of the Spectral Plane, a movie flashed before her eyes of what had happened -- one of them grabbing her, slashing her stomach open, then falling, hitting the floor, feeling all her life draining, her breathing eventually slowing, the pain and agony of the enormous wound that throbbed which each heartbeat -- she was reliving the horror all over again, and suddenly, all her confidence she once had was stolen from her by the monsters who watched them in a cold and eerie sort of way as if planning an attack. Her knees began to shake and her pulse quickened.
Corbin was very in tune with his partner's -- no, with his friend's -- feelings. He had to do something to help calm her down, but what? He was a cheesy and sarcastic sort of guy. What could he possibly do to brighten this very dark situation? "You might want to plug your nose. I just farted." The words were out of his mouth before he even realized.
"You know," began Airlia, lowering the goggles to give him 'that look' with a slightly confusing smile on her face, "you are immature, sarcastic, you make stupid jokes and try to be witty during serious situations, not to mention your mouth never stops moving..." she paused, giving the air of a dramatic effect, her expression changing to something more warm, "but you make me laugh. Not always on the outside, but you do. I admit that, after all that we've been through." In a gesture driven by adrenaline and fear, but also comfort and passion, she placed a hand on his cheek, smiling ever-so-slightly. "I really do have feelings for you," she said in a very low voice, hardly able to keep eye contact with him as she spoke.
After a moment of silence, during which Corbin seemed to be taking it all in, he simply grinned and answered in an equally low tone yet with an unmistakable smile in his voice, “Just shut up and catch the damn wraiths.”
An obvious smile formed on Airlia's lips, but was immediately wiped away as her eyes grew to the size of golf balls and she gasped, falling forward into Corbin's arms as he dropped the Wraith Snatchers to prevent her from falling. It felt as if something had ran into the back of her, and hard. A severe pain shot up her spin and then into her head. Crying out, she nearly collapsed as Corbin, confused and scared, attempted to keep her up, trying to figure out what was wrong. She cried out again as the pain worsened in her skull as she clutched her head helplessly. Tears started falling down her cheeks from the sharp pain and slowly, Airlia gazed up at Corbin in a pleading sort of way, somehow seeming as if she suddenly understood.
Corbin watched as Airlia's brilliant, bright blue eyes faded, fogging over until eventually becoming entirely black, leaving her looking terrible daunting. The roots of her red hair too seemed to grow dark and then black. Even her fingernails and the veins throughout her body darkened. Horrified, Corbin fell backwards, letting her go. But she did not fall. Some other sort of force was holding her up now. Its power was immense and he could feel it like a fire burning.
"Fatua puer. Relinquo locus." She spoke in some other language, not just in her own voice, but that of another -- a very demanding, very deep and dark male voice that haunted the walls of the old church. Eyes glazed and veins pumping a supernatural black blood, she was Airlia no more.
"Corbin," started Airlia in a tone that immediately let him know she wasn't in the mood, "remember how we talked about private conversations and how they're less private in front of other people?"
She was, of course, referring to a previous conversation they had which had taken place ages ago from now it seemed. The two had agreed to meet up at a local bar one Friday night after work -- not Airlia's cup of tea, but somehow Corbin had convinced her to join him. After a few martinis and a whole lot of loosening up, Airlia shared with him an embarrassing story about how once, when she was a kid, she was so afraid at a haunted house that she wet her pants. At the time, the story was hilarious, but now, it just seemed to come back to haunt her and she severely regretted saying anything at all...though she couldn't say she entirely regretted the whole night.
Airlia knew Corbin was only trying to lighten the mood and make it seem less scary for her, but it wasn't him who had blood spilt the last time they were here. "What are we going to do...?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.
"Ask them nicely to get inside their cages?"
Before Airlia even had time to roll her eyes, it seemed their prayers were answered. Like magic, out of thin air, a cluster of small, black, ball-shaped objects appeared before them -- Wraith Snatchers, and more than enough they would need. Once they had completely materialized, becoming solid matter, they all fell to the floor, bouncing towards the two dumbfounded agents. By now, Corbin and Airlia had been through enough and were so relieved that they didn't even bother trying to figure it out. It didn't matter at the moment.
Picking up one of the Wraith Snatchers, Airlia stood confidently amidst the moldy stench of the dark church, gazing up at what little shadows of demons she was able to see as they disappeared and reappeared. This is for what you did to me, she thought, blue eyes narrowed. Corbin followed her lead, picking up a ball for each hand. Although he didn't have the Spectral Vision Goggles on, his aim was better than Airlia's and he would release the ball once one of them materialized in sight. Airlia on the other hand used the goggles to view all the specters in sight, trying to pick out one that wasn't moving too fast to capture.
They both knew the drill from here. It seemed so much simpler though when there were only one or two wraiths to catch. This was unlike anything they had ever known and both their heartbeats thumped in their ears. These creatures, more wicked than any ghost, more feared, more hated, more unknown...they were the epitome of terror. All of Airlia's insecurities began to surface as she felt the room grow ever colder. The mere presence of these demons would lure more eventually if they weren't taken care of. As she watched the ghoulish nightmares swarm around the room, bringing in the darkness of the Spectral Plane, a movie flashed before her eyes of what had happened -- one of them grabbing her, slashing her stomach open, then falling, hitting the floor, feeling all her life draining, her breathing eventually slowing, the pain and agony of the enormous wound that throbbed which each heartbeat -- she was reliving the horror all over again, and suddenly, all her confidence she once had was stolen from her by the monsters who watched them in a cold and eerie sort of way as if planning an attack. Her knees began to shake and her pulse quickened.
Corbin was very in tune with his partner's -- no, with his friend's -- feelings. He had to do something to help calm her down, but what? He was a cheesy and sarcastic sort of guy. What could he possibly do to brighten this very dark situation? "You might want to plug your nose. I just farted." The words were out of his mouth before he even realized.
"You know," began Airlia, lowering the goggles to give him 'that look' with a slightly confusing smile on her face, "you are immature, sarcastic, you make stupid jokes and try to be witty during serious situations, not to mention your mouth never stops moving..." she paused, giving the air of a dramatic effect, her expression changing to something more warm, "but you make me laugh. Not always on the outside, but you do. I admit that, after all that we've been through." In a gesture driven by adrenaline and fear, but also comfort and passion, she placed a hand on his cheek, smiling ever-so-slightly. "I really do have feelings for you," she said in a very low voice, hardly able to keep eye contact with him as she spoke.
After a moment of silence, during which Corbin seemed to be taking it all in, he simply grinned and answered in an equally low tone yet with an unmistakable smile in his voice, “Just shut up and catch the damn wraiths.”
An obvious smile formed on Airlia's lips, but was immediately wiped away as her eyes grew to the size of golf balls and she gasped, falling forward into Corbin's arms as he dropped the Wraith Snatchers to prevent her from falling. It felt as if something had ran into the back of her, and hard. A severe pain shot up her spin and then into her head. Crying out, she nearly collapsed as Corbin, confused and scared, attempted to keep her up, trying to figure out what was wrong. She cried out again as the pain worsened in her skull as she clutched her head helplessly. Tears started falling down her cheeks from the sharp pain and slowly, Airlia gazed up at Corbin in a pleading sort of way, somehow seeming as if she suddenly understood.
Corbin watched as Airlia's brilliant, bright blue eyes faded, fogging over until eventually becoming entirely black, leaving her looking terrible daunting. The roots of her red hair too seemed to grow dark and then black. Even her fingernails and the veins throughout her body darkened. Horrified, Corbin fell backwards, letting her go. But she did not fall. Some other sort of force was holding her up now. Its power was immense and he could feel it like a fire burning.
"Fatua puer. Relinquo locus." She spoke in some other language, not just in her own voice, but that of another -- a very demanding, very deep and dark male voice that haunted the walls of the old church. Eyes glazed and veins pumping a supernatural black blood, she was Airlia no more.
---
Corbin stood with legs like jelly inside the forgotten, old church outside of town. Everything became slow. His heart seemed to only murmur that of a beat. Gavilan was more of a statue to him than a person. And Airlia appeared to be all but gone now as this creature in grim likeness of her stood in her place. His mind, however, was racing, but his lips would not form words. All he could do was stand there, horrified and stunned. His partner had become possessed.
"Vado iam." the voice which had replaced Airlia's sweet, feminine voice spoke, it's otherworldly deep tone carrying through the church much longer than it should have. Corbin stared blankly at her, completely out of his mind, and when he did not respond, the now possessed Airlia repeated in an even harsher voice, "Vado iam!"
"Airlia...?" he cried in agony. "This can't be happening..." He trailed off, trying to hold back tears of despair and frustration.
"You... Corbin," the creature in two voices then said, as if it had not only just discovered how to speak English, but almost as if it were somehow able to delve into Airlia's very mind to uncover his name. "Destroy all of these," it demanded, talking about the Wraith Snatchers, "or we will destroy you." Its voice was unlike anything he had ever heard, and each time the being spoke, it somehow managed to send chills down his spine.
"Give me back Airlia," was all he could think to say, very nearly shaking with fear. Throughout his whole time working for PROOF, or for his whole life for that matter, he couldn't ever recall being this scared. Every sense in his body was telling him to run. But he couldn't. He wouldn't. He wouldn't let himself leave Airlia as a prisoner to this...thing. He knew she would do the same for him.
Outraged that Corbin was making demands it seemed, the demon inside Airlia let out a painful and ear-splitting cry. Nothing else in the world was able to reach the pure intensity and volume that this demon could master. As it roared, every wraith throughout the entire church suddenly came into view, materializing into their full shadow-like forms with fire-like glowing yellow eyes that danced like smoke. They too all joined in a chorus of screeching, their voices filling the church and ringing in Corbin's ears over and over.
Falling to his knees, Corbin desperately grabbed his ears, squinting in pain as he looked over to Gavilan. "Get out of here!" he yelled, trying to carry his voice over the demon's. "Go! Now! Save yourself!" He waved his arms, trying to indicate that he should flee. Gavilan at least had the luxery to run. This was out of anyone's hands now, but Corbin couldn't give up on his partner.
At last, the insane screaming stopped, first with Arilia's demon and then with all the others following. Airlia's dark eyes narrowed as she stared him down in a way almost unnatural for the normal Airlia to look. "Get rid of these." it demanded in the most serious and severe tone imaginable, looking upon the Wraith Snatchers with hate.
Corbin had no choice. He had to agree. But how could he convince PROOF to just throw away their perfect technology at the demand of a demon? "Okay," he nodded, speaking a squeaky voice, cowering on the floor in front of the very powerful, very angry wraith. "I will. Now give me back Airlia." He attempted to make himself sound as threatening as he could to this demon, though it seemed to come out more as a plea than anything.
He wasn't exactly sure what the wraith responded with, but it almost sounded slightly like that of a screeching laugh which ended abruptly. Airlia's veins pumped black blood harder than ever now, giving her the appearance of something like a zombie or a corpse. "No," answered the demonic voices composed of Airlia's own voice and the wraith's. It seemed to Corbin as if this demon was only keeping Airlia not because he needed her but more out of spite.
Anger bubbled up from inside of him and the veins in his forehead began to pulse out. Corbin brought himself to stand up, facing the demon Airlia with a mixture of terror and rage. And suddenly, the idea then occured to him -- perhaps this otherworldly creature was so afraid of these Wraith Snatchers because he himself could be caught within one, even if he was in possession of a person. He didn't know if this was true or not, but it was worth a shot. If he were able to capture a wraith of his nature and power, it would not only make PROOF happy, but would also free Airlia from his grasp.
In one quick motion, Corbin dropped to the ground, snatching one of the many black balls and whipping it at Airlia's chest. Airlia's blackened eyes widened in astonishment and anger as the ball hit her in an explosion of light and sound. The blinding light that seemed to expel the swirling tornado of wraiths circling above, engulfed Airlia's body, sweeping her off her feet and into the air. The darkness inside her seemed to rise up and into the ball, ridding her of the black and purple veins. Soon too, her eyes clouded over and then grew light as they returned to their normal blue color. All the darkness and all the evil was swept out of her and into the powerful Wraith Snatcher. When it was all over, Airlia's body fell limp, and just before she dropped to the ground, Corbin lunged towards her, grabbing ahold of her body and supporting her as the darkness lifted. The ball dropped to the ground once it had captured the angry wraith, and all the surrounding demons, quickly loosing strength they had somehow gained from the mere presence of the wraith that possessed Airlia started to disappear, returning to their Spectral Realm.
Corbin, in tears, held Airlia once again in his powerful arms, gazing down at her, relieved but unsure of her current condition. "Airlia," he called to her in a soft voice. "Airlia...please wake up."
As if in response, Airlia's eyes blinked open and all the lively color flushed back into her face as her eyes met Corbin's. Tears flooded her eyes and a smile, larger than he had ever seen her smile, grew on her beautiful face as she embraced him, lost for words.
As the two shared a tender moment, the Wraith Snatcher that held the powerful demon suddenly lit up and then turned transparent, disappearing entirely. It had no doubt returned to wherever it was programmed to in PROOF.
"Vado iam." the voice which had replaced Airlia's sweet, feminine voice spoke, it's otherworldly deep tone carrying through the church much longer than it should have. Corbin stared blankly at her, completely out of his mind, and when he did not respond, the now possessed Airlia repeated in an even harsher voice, "Vado iam!"
"Airlia...?" he cried in agony. "This can't be happening..." He trailed off, trying to hold back tears of despair and frustration.
"You... Corbin," the creature in two voices then said, as if it had not only just discovered how to speak English, but almost as if it were somehow able to delve into Airlia's very mind to uncover his name. "Destroy all of these," it demanded, talking about the Wraith Snatchers, "or we will destroy you." Its voice was unlike anything he had ever heard, and each time the being spoke, it somehow managed to send chills down his spine.
"Give me back Airlia," was all he could think to say, very nearly shaking with fear. Throughout his whole time working for PROOF, or for his whole life for that matter, he couldn't ever recall being this scared. Every sense in his body was telling him to run. But he couldn't. He wouldn't. He wouldn't let himself leave Airlia as a prisoner to this...thing. He knew she would do the same for him.
Outraged that Corbin was making demands it seemed, the demon inside Airlia let out a painful and ear-splitting cry. Nothing else in the world was able to reach the pure intensity and volume that this demon could master. As it roared, every wraith throughout the entire church suddenly came into view, materializing into their full shadow-like forms with fire-like glowing yellow eyes that danced like smoke. They too all joined in a chorus of screeching, their voices filling the church and ringing in Corbin's ears over and over.
Falling to his knees, Corbin desperately grabbed his ears, squinting in pain as he looked over to Gavilan. "Get out of here!" he yelled, trying to carry his voice over the demon's. "Go! Now! Save yourself!" He waved his arms, trying to indicate that he should flee. Gavilan at least had the luxery to run. This was out of anyone's hands now, but Corbin couldn't give up on his partner.
At last, the insane screaming stopped, first with Arilia's demon and then with all the others following. Airlia's dark eyes narrowed as she stared him down in a way almost unnatural for the normal Airlia to look. "Get rid of these." it demanded in the most serious and severe tone imaginable, looking upon the Wraith Snatchers with hate.
Corbin had no choice. He had to agree. But how could he convince PROOF to just throw away their perfect technology at the demand of a demon? "Okay," he nodded, speaking a squeaky voice, cowering on the floor in front of the very powerful, very angry wraith. "I will. Now give me back Airlia." He attempted to make himself sound as threatening as he could to this demon, though it seemed to come out more as a plea than anything.
He wasn't exactly sure what the wraith responded with, but it almost sounded slightly like that of a screeching laugh which ended abruptly. Airlia's veins pumped black blood harder than ever now, giving her the appearance of something like a zombie or a corpse. "No," answered the demonic voices composed of Airlia's own voice and the wraith's. It seemed to Corbin as if this demon was only keeping Airlia not because he needed her but more out of spite.
Anger bubbled up from inside of him and the veins in his forehead began to pulse out. Corbin brought himself to stand up, facing the demon Airlia with a mixture of terror and rage. And suddenly, the idea then occured to him -- perhaps this otherworldly creature was so afraid of these Wraith Snatchers because he himself could be caught within one, even if he was in possession of a person. He didn't know if this was true or not, but it was worth a shot. If he were able to capture a wraith of his nature and power, it would not only make PROOF happy, but would also free Airlia from his grasp.
In one quick motion, Corbin dropped to the ground, snatching one of the many black balls and whipping it at Airlia's chest. Airlia's blackened eyes widened in astonishment and anger as the ball hit her in an explosion of light and sound. The blinding light that seemed to expel the swirling tornado of wraiths circling above, engulfed Airlia's body, sweeping her off her feet and into the air. The darkness inside her seemed to rise up and into the ball, ridding her of the black and purple veins. Soon too, her eyes clouded over and then grew light as they returned to their normal blue color. All the darkness and all the evil was swept out of her and into the powerful Wraith Snatcher. When it was all over, Airlia's body fell limp, and just before she dropped to the ground, Corbin lunged towards her, grabbing ahold of her body and supporting her as the darkness lifted. The ball dropped to the ground once it had captured the angry wraith, and all the surrounding demons, quickly loosing strength they had somehow gained from the mere presence of the wraith that possessed Airlia started to disappear, returning to their Spectral Realm.
Corbin, in tears, held Airlia once again in his powerful arms, gazing down at her, relieved but unsure of her current condition. "Airlia," he called to her in a soft voice. "Airlia...please wake up."
As if in response, Airlia's eyes blinked open and all the lively color flushed back into her face as her eyes met Corbin's. Tears flooded her eyes and a smile, larger than he had ever seen her smile, grew on her beautiful face as she embraced him, lost for words.
As the two shared a tender moment, the Wraith Snatcher that held the powerful demon suddenly lit up and then turned transparent, disappearing entirely. It had no doubt returned to wherever it was programmed to in PROOF.
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