Disappearing

With the help of a few powereds, the rubble on the ruins was cleaned up fast, revealing a stairway that led down below. Hanzel peered downward and saw nothing but darkness. He waited for Omni himself to come before following behind, but before he could even take one step Omni stopped in his tracks.

"Don't let any weaklings follow below. Only those with powers can follow behind." Omni said,

Hanzel nodded in affirmation. Quickly he filtered out those with powers leaving only five men within the premises, including him.

Jason, the telepath.

Jack, with the power of Clay Earth. Hanzel, with the power of Physical Amplification and two other powered officers.

All of them were merely status 1's. Omni eyed them before turning back and proceeding down the stairway. The others followed, and the path behind them were quickly guarded by the remaining officers.

The gloomy silence was merely disturbed by the sounds of their footsteps stepping down the stairs, occasionally dripping sounds could be heard that Hanzel knew could be nothing else but blood from above. The other officers seemed to be tense, and so was Hanzel.

Hanzel was cautious, however, if he saw any members of the cult he would not hesitate to chase them down. The rage in his heart would not be swayed by such things. He won't stop until he gets his revenge.

It didn't take long for them to reach the bottom of the stairway. They saw nothing but a dead end, at least that was all their limited eyes could see. Omni eyed a particular section of the wall and pointed,

"There's a hidden passage beyond this wall. Tear it down."

Hanzel nodded, "Officer Jack, you heard him."

The man called Jack obeyed and went forward to place his hands on the wall. A hole in the wall appeared that gradually grew into a narrow tunnel over time, revealing sharp rotten teeth at the top and the bottom of the entrance. A shriveled up tongue was on the floor alike a carpet that led into the darkness.

Omni narrowed his eyes, "I can't detect anyone inside at all, which is in itself a reason to be alert. Stick together."

Omni paced forward first. Hanzel cautiously followed behind, with Jason in front of him. Jason was walking a pace slower than the others, with him blocking the way those in front slowly left them behind.

"Pick up the pace, Vice Commander." Hanzel muttered,

But Jason seemed as if he didn't hear him. Slowly, he went to a stop.

"I'm sensing something Sir," he said,

He bent down on the floor and fuddled with the tongue carpet on the floor. Hanzel watched him take out what seemed to be an orb. A dark pulsing orb that emanated nothing but evil.

"I think you should hold onto this, Sir." Jason said, he offered the orb in his hands, "It might be worthwhile to investigate whatever this is."

Hanzel took it with his hands, and looked at it once before putting it in his pockets. His eyes turned to Jason and the evergrowing gap between them and others before speaking, "I will take note of it. Now, hurry forward Jason."

Jason obeyed and hurried ahead. Hanzel followed. Once they neared the group the founder eyed them disapprovingly to which Hanzel could only lower his head while Jason smiled sheepishly.

The group moved forward through empty prison cells and a chamber for what could only be a sinful ritual. Hanzel along with the others could only imagine what kind of atrocities happened here.

They continued on. Soon enough they began to maneuver each chamber they came across. Some chambers would contain nothing but abandoned supplies, some had more stains of blood than the others, and some were simply empty. The last chamber they encountered was one that seemed to be a training room, with weapons scattered all over on the floor.

Until the end they couldn't find anything worthwhile. At this moment Hanzel remembered the orb in his pocket. He put his hands in his pocket, but he couldn't find the orb at all.

He searched all his pockets, and still he came up empty. With the orb, a piece of evidence missing, Hanzel should have felt angry at himself for being stupid enough to lose such a thing. Instead he felt strangely happy.

The rest of the group was feeling rather tense still, and since even Omni couldn't find more leads he was in a bad mood. And here Hanzel was, with a slightly upturned lip that soon turned into a smile.

"What's so funny commander?" Omni asked,

Hanzel asked himself that as well, but he didn't feel like questioning it. It's as if all his negative emotions were being sucked away.

"I'm sorry, sir," Hanzel said forcing his smile down, "I just couldn't help but think of how foolish and incompetent I was to not have noticed this before."

Omni scoffed. He proceeded on in silence. For a while, that's what they did, and yet in the end there was nothing left under there.

"Let us return above." Omni was distraught. Once again he felt as if his powers were getting weaker by the day. All seeing eyes? What a load of bull. He couldn't find one trace of them. The only traces left of their presence was the destruction they left behind.

He eyed the group with him, seemingly relieved to be able to go to the surface again, some more than others. Hanzel had a grin on his face. He was known as a jolly man, but this wasn't the time when it would be proper to have such an expression.

Hanzel wasn't controlled by any external influences, atleast that's what he could see with his all seeing eyes.

Omni sighed and began to levitate back to the exit. When they reached the surface the crowd had dispersed except for a few persistent journalists. Omni had no time to waste with them. He said his farewells and flew away, back to the tower.

Hanzel watched the founder fly away with a happy expression. Beside him arrived Jason who patted him on the shoulder.

"You seem happy, despite our efforts having been for naught, Commander." Jason said, "You seem to have lost the thirst for blood you had when the armory was attacked."

Hanzel smiled, he eyed Jason with unblinking eyes as he spoke, "My thirst for revenge hasn't left me, Jason. But why should I let what happened to change me for the worse? Let me remain who I have always have been, and I will still kill all those that wronged me."

Jason merely returned the smile, his eyes flashing with fascination and anticipation.

******

Princess and Venus were both panting as they laid on the floor. Initially Sicarius had a problem getting the two of them to cooperate, and yet when he presented himself as a bigger threat they teamed up to beat him.

He had to say, with his two opponents both being powered, he felt quite challenged.

"Shall we go for another round?" He said.