Hunting Slenderman

[dont_turn_around]

In the mist and fog and silence, there is a cave. There is darkness within darkness there and nothing more and the faint whiff of something ... not right.

But there's a drawing stuck to the rocks that frame the opening, a childish grouping of trees and a tall, thin man, with the words TAMAN SHUD.

Here is the end.

"I think we should go here," says Jack.

Comments

[ambriel]

"Keep going. If it is trying to drive us away, there is something here it does not want us to find."

Ambriel doubts it is afraid of them.

Not yet, anyway.

[mix_it_up]

The song, and the play on words, mean nothing to her. And now, that knowledge weighs heavier than any fear it might be trying to force into her mind.

So she doesn't hesitate in stepping ahead, still shining the flashlight straight into the darkness.

Whether it's afraid of them or not: "I want to know what that is."

[dont_turn_around]

There is a thought, like a wedge, in each of their minds.

Steve -- scrawny and weak, mocked and belitteled, unable to draw a deep breath, unable to fight for his country or his Bucky friends.

Ambriel -- Helpess, hapless, as the innocent are slaughtered all around him.

Asami -- Surrounded by dirisive laughter, coming from those she respects.

Jack -- Every forest burned.

Every.

Forest.

Burned.

I am fear itself.

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack staggers, his own worst nightmare thrust into his head. He can taste the desolation, after seeing Ellen's world. He can smell it on his hands.

Ashes and smoke.

Nothing but ashes and smoke.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve would cry out, but he can't breathe.

[ambriel]

"STOP!" Ambriel slams the butt of the spear into the ground, producing a deep ringing tone. The light flares up around them all, now bright enough to cast their own shadows on the ground.

"FEAR NOT. This creature shows us nothing but lies! Do not listen."

The angel points the spear forward, deeper into the cave. "You cannot harm us by hiding in the dark! Come out! Face us!"

[mix_it_up]

It may be her fear, but she's not afraid. Her sureness made it distant in her mind, even before Ambriel's voice rang out.

Asami lowers her own light, but steps forward, right up to the edge that continues into the darkness.

Her voice is quieter but no less certain. "That won't make us leave this time."

[dont_turn_around]

There is a sound, like great rock breaking in two.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The angel, the fight outside--he has never encountered such resistance.

It's so much better when they scream.

The tunnel they are in comes to an abrupt end, opening to a vast cavern.

[nerves_of_ice]

It's impossible, really, to discern the furthest reaches of the cave. Darkness oozes from every crevice, while odd air currents whisper of fear and the horror of being lost deep beneath the earth, unable to find any escape to such things as the fast-dimming memory of sunlight and air.

Strange, blood-dark symbols mark the walls, revealed in fits and starts by Ambriel's gleaming radiance and the glow of Asami's flashlight. Some of them are familiar, circles crossed with Xs repeating over and over again.

Some are older, much older, written in languages long forgotten by any earthly civilization left living.

no eyes to see
no ears to hear
in darkness feeds
on flesh and fear

At the heart of the chamber, stretched out on a bed of raised earth like an altar, rests a human-sized bar of chocolate, with the familiar features of Bucky Barnes just barely perceptible through the thinner coating of cocoa that yet allows him to breathe. One hand is frozen in a clawlike shape, silently and futilely protesting his imprisonment.

An orange figure the size of a child lies crumpled and bleeding at the base of the altar, a gun at its side and one arm in a sling.

Behind the altar, facelessly watching, stands the Slender Man himself.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve doesn't even have to think--his shield is in his hand, and then sailing in an arc at the Slenderman's head.

It deflects away from him as if it bounced off a wall.

[changeinasnap]

It also comes really close to taking off the head of a guy leaning against the cave wall, one eyebrow curved in a perfect arch as he stares up at Slenderman.




Wait, hold up, when did that guy get here?

[ambriel]

Ambriel pulls up short.

When did that guy get here?

Because he wasn't there to begin with.

And he certainly didn't come in behind them.

Unless...

[dont_turn_around]

Even he seems to be taken aback.

[changeinasnap]

[dont_turn_around]

[changeinasnap]

[dont_turn_around]

[changeinasnap]

From out of nowhere, he produces an American twenty-dollar bill, pinches it between two fingers, and holds it out to Slenderman.

"Go buy yourself a sandwich, kid," he says. "You look terrible."

[dont_turn_around]

Head tilt.




Alas, he does not take the money.



(They don't make sandwiches in 'baby', do they?)

[jack_inthegreen]

"Nice try," Jack says to the newcomer.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Would anybody care to tell me," Steve says in that controlled way that says he's about two seconds from kicking someone's ass, "why my best friend is encased in chocolate?"

[mix_it_up]

A little dry, "It's... getting a lot easier to not believe in this thing."

Namely because this all somehow became a lot more unbelievable.

[changeinasnap]

"Because he has a delicious nougat-y center?" he says to Steve, brightly.

Then, with a very put-upon sigh, he turns back to Slenderman. "Fine," he grouses, wiggling the twenty back and forth, "your loss."

With a quick flick of his wrist, he tosses the money at Slenderman's feet, then turns around to give the party a quick once-over. Seemingly satisfied at what he finds, he grins, directs a wink to Asami in particular, and lifts a hand.

Snap.

Yeah, that's about as helpful as he's gonna get. He's gone.

[dont_turn_around]

He is confused.

And not feeling like himself.

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack can sense it.

Like he felt the Slenderman's presence in the bar, he can feel it now--a weakening of strength, maybe even of will.

"Steve," he says softly, "go get your friend."

And as Steve makes his way to the slab of chocolate, Jack calls out, "Unnamed god, it's time we made a few things clear to you. This is Milliways, and we protect our own. Your days are gone and over. The people you've overtaken, they don't deserve this cruelty. We will help them--we will bring them back to themselves.

"But mostly, Tall and Tentacled," he smiles, "you really do look terrible."