//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Part 5 // Story: Six wishes for six elements // by Malcolm Merlyn //------------------------------// "Run fools! Run from Merasmus!" The insane wizard boomed as everything that wasn't nailed down, ranging from desks, plates, tables and people were thrown all over the place, a literal tornado of sorts forming within the RED base. Pyro tried to stop him, only to get slapped about a few hundred feet by a cane as the wizard porcceded to Medic's labratory. Said German doctor was currently on "coffee break" after he had dropped off his reanimator. By coffee break, I mean hiding in his closet in his room after hearing (and seeing) Merasmus teleport straight into the base and slap Pyro across the entire room who landed straight on the trigger of his flamethrower, the effect was hilarious to anyone who wasn't Pyro. He flew and soared across the room out of control, bouncing off the walls like a pinball machine. "Ah, good night Irene!" Engineer commented as he saw Merasmus throw a metric ton of bombs at Demoman who was promptly blasted against a large, bulletproof window (which thankfully happened to have been flying-people proof as well). The Scotsman slid down comically while attempting to mutter something in his already incomprehensible slurring. The Texan looked over back into the labratory and found just what would be completely useless at this current event. "Merasmus demands your souls!" The wizard announced. A massive miasma of light surrounding the awfully tall wizard before randomly flickering out like a broken light. "Or... you can just give me the blood.... you know..." "Ummm... why do you want BLOOD?!" Scout asked as he held onto his baseball bat tightly. "And who's blood?!" "Don't play dumb with me city boy!" The wizard replied angrily as he hit Scout upside the head with his cane. "Where is the BLOOD?!" "What the bloody hell is he talking about?!" Sniper asked as he clutched onto his kukri. "You cannot have ze blood Vizard!" Medic said grinding through his teeth. It took ALL the convincing in the world for Litvyak to finally agree to give him a blood sample. He never got Slade's blood or Steve's blood which meant that the only sample he had was all the more valuable. Who knows when he was going to see anyone one of those three again? Though something in the back of his head always told him... he wasn't quite done with the talking unicorns just yet. But frankly, a hunch he had in the back of his head hardly mattered when there was some psycho wizard running around and conjuring up enough bombs to rival a nuke in terms of sheer explosive power. "You cannot stop me MEDIC!" Merasmus retorted as he slapped the doctor with his staff, sending the German crashing against the wall before sliding down, his glasses dramatically falling off of his face as they shattered upon impact with the ground. He was out for the count. So would be the rest of the team as they all tried (unsuccessfully) to stop Merasmus. The only man left standing would be Engineer as Merasmus swung his staff once again, sending Heavy flying right into Soldier and Scout who all landed in a most undignified heap upon the ground, Scout having the misfortune to be on the bottom of a 300 pound Russian, a bulletproof vest, a 200 pound American, a minigun and a rocket launcher. "Now stop right there Wizard!" Engineer threatened as he cocked his shotgun, aiming it straight at Merasmus' head. Merasmus hardly took this seriously when all things considered, grenades, rockets and 400,000 dollars worth of minigun fire really didn't stop him. This shotgun? It could knock down bears but you know what? Engineer might as well as have brought ping pong balls to fight the wizard with. "Engineer?! You think to stop me? Give me the blood and Merasmus will not feast upon your souls!" "No way Wizard! You want the blood?! You gonna have to go get past me first!" "Not something a great magician like MERASMUS cannot do!" The wizard said as he leapt at Engineer with his staff, intent on hitting the Texan upside the head with it. Tentatively, Engineer made sure his back was to the shelf of several bottles. At the last moment, he leapt straight out of the way, landing right on top of the heap that formed Heavy, Soldier and Scout. In the case of Merasmus the (mediocre) wizard, he had hit the cabinet causing several glass bottles to fall comically upon his head, each one of them ending with a musical note as it struck him. The last one splashed him full of a certain yellow liquid... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..........." Unfortunately... that wasn't exactly the only thing that fell off the shelf that had contained any form of liquid. Several of Demoman's whiskey bottles fell straight off, pouring all over the ground... and Pyro... with his new jetpack happened to have dipped a wee bit close to the alcohol flooded ground... What happened about two seconds later. _________________________________________________________________ [Wall Rose Maria, local time 8:00 AM, Scout regiment headquarters] "Careful boys..." The scout sergeant said as the two scouts gingerly carried the box, flanked by two more guards who frantically looked around. Behind them, Armin walked along, trailed by two more guards. The regiment had just acquired the box and it's contents a mere two hours ago. A disturbance resulting severe damage to a building within Wall Maria had caused the regiment to investigate. Anything else, was confidential, known only to the higher-ups within the Scout regiment. The group would pause at a door that was labeled with the sign reading: Erwin Smith. To this, Armin and the box were thrown in. Everyone else, cleared out. Within the office was the commander of the scout regiment himself, along with his second in command. The pair of them shot grim glances at Armin who could only respond nervously with a bob of the throat. Levi's blades never looked so threatening as of now... "Hello Armin." Erwin said calmly and coolly as he stood up. "Originally... I had intended all the officers of the scout regiment to be present when we discussed this. But in light of recent events, I have changed my mind. Squad leader Hange was supposed to have been present for this, but due to reasons involving two titan specimens, she will not be here today. You will explain EVERYTHING regarding this... incident to Levi and myself. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes sir." Armin said weakly, trying not to make eye contact with Levi who maintained his usual look. The death-stare he gave to just about everyone. Even without that look, it wasn't hard to know why Armin was nervous. He was in a room with not just one, but two apex swordsmen and hardened elites. Hopefully... their patience would match their talents. Actually... hopefully they would believe everything he would have to say because... frankly... he had shared with no one lest they thought he was crazy. And for good reason to. A land full of talking horses and meeting with those from the future wasn't exactly a very believable story to just about anyone, even himself. As of now, Armin was still having trouble to whether or not what he had experienced was either a very vivid dream... or perhaps what had happened really did happen. He began his explanation and prayed to the heavens that the two would believe his story.