Freed of his cell, the Haunt scanned his surroundings.  His eyes were accustomed to the darkness and he could see without difficulty.  Apparently, his was one of a number of cells at one end of a long corridor.  Further down the hallway past the cells were several other sets of doors.  To his right was the entrance to an elevator as well as two doors that looked like they might lead to stairwells.

The Ronin continued to speak to the Haunt with his mind.

"I came in this form," indicating the restrained form in his great blocky hands.

"Let's chain this guy up in this cell and gag him."

After doing so, the Ronin continued.

"I heard of the Nth Mystery and Brother Ivory. I came here to discover the truth about these. What do you know?"

Before the Haunt had a chance to respond, the pair heard a sound from the stairway doors nearby.  The latch on the door was being jiggled, as if someone on the other side was trying to determine whether it was locked.

"Back into the cell Haunt, keep to the shadows and leave the door unlocked in case you need to get out."

Ronin moved over to the door and stood in front of it, quietly waiting for the door to open. While he did so he scanned Bloc's mind for any information about the area; who was supposed to have access and who the current prisoners were.

"Need to get out?  But I AM OUT!"

The Haunt grinned hungrily.  He leapt over Bloc's large form and raced to the door.

In the short period of time after hearing the sound, the Ronin could only make a cursory scan of Bloc's mind.  The images were fleeting, but he was able to glean several pieces of information...

All of Ivory's minions were present in the building, and no one was out on an errand.

The level they were on was filled with laboratories in which terrible acts were perpetrated on unwitting members of the Ninth Mystery.  Bloc seemed to relish in the cruelty of memories.

There were occupants in some of the other cells, but none of them were Gifted.

He saw visages of Ivory's other minions, but did not recognize them other than Severus.  During his brief scan, he could only get hints of their capabilities... Severus moving very rapidly... a woman of smoke... a man who seemed to be composed of strands of rope... a being who glowed with some kind of energy...

Before the Ronin could dig deeper into his new host's mind, he and the Haunt were drawn to sounds at the door.  Although muffled, the sound of voices could definitely be heard on the other side of the door.  Then came three fierce bangs that made the door shudder with their force.

Someone was knocking.

Ronin in the body of bloc walked over to the door and calmly opened it, all the while shaking his head and thinking to himself that The Haunt should rethink his strategy; after all, he was the one in the cage.

Before the Haunt could have a chance to respond, the Ronin pulled open the door to a most unexpected sight.

Standing in the stairway leading down was a trio of bizarre beings.  The one closest to the doorway had human proportions, but his skin was greatly decayed, and a death's head had been etched into his face.  Behind him was a rather normal looking man, if rather unkempt, wearing a black suit and tie.  Bringing up the rear, and filling the small space of the stairwell was an enormous creature that looked like a human torso that had been grafted to a spider's body.

The Haunt pointed a bent finger and said, "You are not the dear Brother.  But in lieu of him, his lackeys will have to do... for now."  The Haunt approacheed slowly with obvious hostile intent, his eyes glinting a red rage burning from inside.

Ronin stood squarely infront of the door frame using Bloc massive body to block the way, going in and out.

The unearthly sound of the Haunt's voice chilled the strangers' souls.  The one in front, with the death's head, was so overwhelmed by fear that he screamed, turned, and rushed back down the stairs.  He ran into the man in the suit, carrying them both into the massive body of the spider-thing.

The man in the suit yelled in pain as the skull-faced strange fell into him and they both fell against the spider-creature and collapsed onto the stairs.

As they did so, another being appeared from the shadow of the spider-thing.  It appeared to be a shadow itself, moving along the wall next to the pile of his fellows.  The shadow seemed to concentrate, and the Haunt saw that his own shadow was rising up in front of him.  The animated shadow swung its fist and caught the Haunt squarely... stunning him momentarily.

All words, pictures, characters, tiles and just about everything else was created by and is copyright Stephen Rice and Electric Comics, 1996

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