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-[i][b]Remember thyself...[/b][/i] boomed a voice from within the Silver Tongue, audible to only he himself and Cheryl. He understood. This was where the Darkness
+Isaac had to admit, Alessa Gillespie was right about how it was rude to make fun of this man's obvious instability. It didn't mean he didn't find it funny, though. He grinned, looking down at the lock like Cheryl had. He felt the metal door. Shouldn't be too hard to get past that.
 
-"Oh ha, ha! Just get me outta here!" Johnny kept trying to struggle against his ropes, but Isaac just walked up behind him, summoning his Abyss and slicing through the ropes with little effort. Apparently those worlds with no powers had helped to increase his physical strength.
+"Oh ha, ha! Just get me outta here!" Johnny kept trying to struggle against his ropes, but Isaac just walked up behind him, summoning his Abyss and slicing through the ropes with little effort. Apparently those worlds with no powers had helped to increase his physical strength.
 
 Powell practically jumped up, rubbing his wrists from the rope burn. "Holy sh**, holy sh**! Thank you, thank you, [i]thank you[/i]! You saved my [i]life![/i]" He paused, looking at his hands for a moment. "Hey... wait a second." He looked back to Isaac again. "You [i]stink[/i] like [i]Dark Essence[/i]!"
 
 [i]Dark Essence?[/i] Isaac did a brief skim of this man's heart again... he remembered why he didn't like going here. [i]The Darkness. Oh crap...[/i]
 
 [i][b]Remember thyself...[/b][/i] boomed a voice from within the Silver Tongue, audible to only he himself and Cheryl. He understood Dormin. This was where it lived. This was its universe, where it held sway in one way or another.
 
 He had to put it off like he didn't care, though. "I don't stink [i]that[/i] bad." Still, Cheryl might have noticed his apprehension, though he hid it. She knew him well enough.
 
 Johnny was not done, looking down. "And that means..." Looking back to them again, terrified. "Aw, [i]sh**[/i]! You guys were sent by Jackie [i]f***in'[/i] Estacado! That's not good! Pretty sure he wants me dead." He seemed more angry with himself than with them. "F*** me twice!" Finally, he calmed down, or at least resigned himself. "Well go on, take me to him. Out of the frying pan, into the fire."
 
 Isaac did have to clarify something. "I was a Darkness host. Not anymore." He looked into a corner of the room, where a kind of golden cylinder container on a stand was kept, and picked it up as he dismissed Abyss. "What's this?"
 
 "Hang on, hang the [i]f***[/i] on!" Unlike Helen's case, Isaac could tolerate this level of swearing. The Darkness was scary stuff, and his case was less than typical. "You [i]were[/i] a host? How do you get rid of that sh**?!"
 
 "Scammed a Lord of the Dead. He took it along with most of my powers, but I still have some of the Essence on me, I imagine." He waved the container. "So you were explaining this?"
 
 Powell looked down again, shaking again. "Interferences, changing the laws... no, no that won't work..." He shook his head. "Think about it later, can't deal with it now, gotta get over there before he punches my f***ing skull in!"
 
 "Powell. Focus. We'll leave soon. Just see if you can focus on something else for a few seconds." Isaac's patience was wearing thin already. He was only being relatively nice because he was also scanning Powell's heart. Twisted, crazed inside, driven mad by the occult objects he had to study, the growing addiction to The Darkness itself. And... there. There was a map of New York City, the location of the Estacado manor. In lieu of using a portal, he'd walk them there. Much easier, and he would risk less dark-based infection.
 
 "Right, right... the Fool's Phylactery." He took it from Isaac's hands, speaking. "To you, the Darkness might have been a curse, but not everyone sees it that way. It's like that old saying, y'know? One man's curse is... is another man's.... 'gimme, gimme!'." To Isaac's incredulous, blank stare, he spoke again. "I mean that's a stupid way to think, obviously. The Darkness is the [i]possessor[/i], not the [i]possession[/i]. But stupid people do [i]stupid things![/i] Which is why many of them have tried to [i]steal[/i] The Darkness over the years." He looked back to Isaac again. "Lucky for you, I guess, these attempts usually don't go very far." Isaac wouldn't count that as lucky, but let him move on. "Take this relic, for instance. Over time it has earned the name 'the Fool's Phylactery'. If you every played D&D as a kid... and by the looks of those muscles I will assume you have [i]not[/i]... You'd know that a phylactery is like a Tupperware for souls! It keeps them safe, fresh, unspoiled!" Well, that was a nice thought. He probably could use one of-- "It also [i]doesn't f***ing exist![/i] Nowhere, in the black arts is [i]such a thing as a 'phylactery'.[/i]
 
 "See, the Fool's Phylactery is a [i]hoax[/i], perpetrated by a monk back in the 1600's. He... he'd had his fill of [i]religion[/i] and was looking to [i]cash out[/i]. So he crafted this fancy [i]container[/i], forged some ancient [i]scrolls[/i], then sold it to the first rube he could find. That idiot tried to catch The Darkness. [i]And got eaten[/i] instead."
 
 Okay, so far that seemed pretty standard. People were sometimes selfish, other times idiotic. At least that was the end of the story?
 
 Unfortunately not. "You'd think that would be the end of it, but no. Four hundred years and countless dead later, this sh** is [i]still[/i] going on!" Isaac couldn't help himself. He palmed his face, sighing in exasperation. "People are [i]f***ing idiots![/i]" Finally he calmed down. "This is why I live in a box. Under a bridge."
 
 Isaac lowered his hand. This guy was crazy, useful, or both. He was banking on the latter option. "Thrilling. We'll just get you over to Estacado, since, with your knowledge, he probably can use your help with whatever he's currently up to."
 
 "Ugh, fine." He pointed to the door. "Unless you guys are teleporting all over the place, there's some guys who wanted to do who knows what to me right outside. I'll stay here, you guys keep them from [i]blowing our heads off![/i]" He took a breath again. "Then maybe [i]you[/i] can tell [i]me[/i] where you got the holy aura, since it's [i]sure as hell[/i] not from The Angelus!"
 
 Isaac had waved his hand. He had a kind of black and white "film" projection over his hands, ready to use the Scout plasmid... when he heard that. "The Angelus?"
 
 "You get us out of here, I'll explain all of it to both of you! I'd [i]assume[/i] that, knowing that you took in [i]The Darkness[/i], you had [i]no idea[/i] what you were doing, so maybe you need to get your head examined!"
 
 "...this is coming from the man who lives in a box under a bridge," the demon deadpanned.
 
 A twitch. "Gah, just get the hell out there and get us free. Dunno how you managed to get [i]in[/i] here without an [i]escape[/i] route, but there ya go."
 
 Isaac shrugged, and looked to Cheryl. "I'll be right back. Just watch him and be ready for a fight." He stepped away from the door, to a place where he wouldn't be hit immediately if the door opened... and his spirit, invisible, walked free from his body. The misplaced eye, the weaponless nature, the shadows playing over his hands... he walked throughout he metal door, and looked at the scene outside. Okay, a bunch of men with submachine guns and pistols, not to mention a shotgun or two, but nobody they couldn't handle. Definitely not a big deal at their power level. He turned around, looking at the lock holding the door down, and raised a hand, calm as the dark power gathered in his palm. "Dark Sphere," he whispered, and the shadowy force blasted forward in the form of a ball...
 
 [i]Boom![/i] The explosion destroys the lock, the door swinging open and up immediately as Powell dove into cover, swearing as he hid behind a wall, and Isaac's soul returned to his body, a few blinks letting him get his bearing as shouts came from right outside, the gunmen coming their way, firing.
 
 He took his Collector Assault Rifle off of his back, aiming down the sights as he flatted his back against a wall. "This what you wanted by a world where you could have your weapons?" he asked the Holy Mother, turning and firing a short burst that hit a man in the throat, then another that took a man in the chest, both dying due to a complete lack of body armor, especially any that would measure up to this level of technology.
 
 [Adri, you can fill the post in under Isaac's, or in the middle of it. Your call. Either works.]
 
 (They'll be going to the Estacado place and getting some more exposition on the universe in the next round. This is basically a curb stomp given the fact that this is a "first level" group of enemies going against high "level" Interferences who [i]don't[/i] had the weakness to light.)