Hell, it's been a long time

[jla_villains]

"Mmmwahahahahaaa!!" Neron doesn't mind the occasional maniacal cackle. Especially when he has the soul of a certain Earth-based superhero dancing to his tune. He watches the torture of Drake as he rests his chin on his hands, his elbows leaning into the arms of the throne of skulls on which he currently sits

Comments

[shiva_wusan]

The trip here has been a long and odd one and Shiva's mind is not as clear as she would like it to be because of that. She could have sworn that this had already happened - at least parts of it. Then again, in this realm seemingly anything is possible.

She gives a brief look to Robin before she looks back to Neron. Her features harden but she doesn't respond to him just yet.

[jla_villains]

"Despite your stony façade, I can tell you have been enjoying some of the confusing and chaotic tricks of my realm. Rest assured, I am the real Neron and this is the real Timothy Drake."

Neron steps from his dais and rests one foot on the prone body of Robin. "He may still be saved, if you can amuse me more than his constant dancing does. Tell me, warrior; will you dance for me?"

[uncommon_sensei]

Dragon stands next to Shiva, arms folded across his chest.

"No more misdirection, no more allusions or half-truths. What is it you want, Neron?"

[jla_villains]

"Simple, mortal." Neron walks over Tim Drake, and stops ten feet from the two martial artists.

"If you want him, I'll take the souls of you two in his place. You can keep your bodies. I have no need of them." Neron smirks. "The alternative is to trick me into giving his soul up. I tell you this because nobody has managed it yet. And I do so enjoy letting pitiful mortals try."

[shiva_wusan]

"I will not bargain with you. I do not bargain."

Shiva does want to punch something right now but that also will not help.

[uncommon_sensei]

Dragon smiles.

"I've heard your track record isn't as good as you make it out to be. As a matter of fact, our little arrangement didn't work out in your favor either, but I suppose you could say that wasn't really a 'trick'."

[jla_villains]

"In that case, a compromise. You will face my champion. Another being I have had imprisoned here for many of your surface years. Should you defeat him, and nobody has, you can take the boy." A forked tongue snakes from his lips, and hangs out briefly before being drawn back.

"Seeing beings like you fight, with mortality being such a transient thing... It warms my blood. Truly, it does." Neron disappears, and blinks back into existence on his throne, legs apart and resembling all too much a giant snake.

A rumbling from below the chamber can be heard. "Ah. My champion is on his way."

[jla_hell]

The floor explodes in a shower of rubble, as pulling himself from the hole is a giant of a man. Faces appear around the room from the shadows. Twisted, leering faces belonging to devils, demons, ghouls and ghosts. As one they chant their champion's name.

"IBAC! IBAC! IBAC!!"

Ibac hoists himself to the lip of the hole, and it seals behind him. Beating his chest, he snarls at the two martial artists. "I will crush you!!" Crush you to atoms!!!

[uncommon_sensei]

Dragon glances to Shiva, smirking slightly.

"You know what? I think he's supposed to be an opponent for both of us at once."

[shiva_wusan]

"Hmm."

Shiva looks at him, head canted to the side just slightly.

"He has no form to speak of."

[uncommon_sensei]

"No, but he looks strong and tough. It might take a while to whittle him down. And any mistake we make could be deadly."

He's still smiling as he says all this.

[shiva_wusan]

"And as such is no different than anything else we do."

[jla_hell]

What Ibac lacks in skill, he more than makes up for in terror, fierceness, cunning and cruelty. And he has been trapped in hell for what feels like aeons. "This is my chance to be free!! My soul for yours!! MY SOUL FOR YOURS!!! HAHAHAAA!!"

He also appears to have become incredibly deranged.

Stomping his foot on the ground, the walls of the room begin to slowly close in, with hooks, barbs and spikes beginning to protrude from them. Neron fades, appearing translucent, as does the spectral audience. Ibac and the unconscious Tim Drake however, look very solid. The corridor that Dragon and Shiva came through disappears.

Ibac runs towards Lady Shiva, and looks as if he's about to attempt to grab her with both arms. Before he reaches Shiva, he abruptly curls into a tight ball and rolls at her legs, hoping to take her footing out from beneath her.

Ibac's not as slow and dumb as he appears.

[shiva_wusan]

The dodge of that is closer than Shiva would have liked and, in fact, she is still well in range for another attempt to strike her. Her expression is narrow and focused.

[uncommon_sensei]

Dragon leaps to the attack, launching a powerful spin kick at the rolling Ibac, to send him rolling farther than he had intended.

[jla_hell]

Ibac is all prepared to lash out at Shiva from his curled position on the floor, but the kick from Dragon staggers him towards one of the slowly approaching walls. He grunts as barbed hooks pierce his skin, and then pulls away, ripping his back and leaving bits hanging there. He regenerates almost instantly.

With a smile and very little effort, he pulls one of the hooks out of the wall and tosses it as if it were a boomerang towards Dragon, as the same time aiming a swinging punch at Shiva.