Murder Mansion: SP OC Arena of Righteousness

Chapter 15 Return Fight

She parked her bike outside Skulduggerys house. Once she removed her helmet she could truly appreciate how much of a beautiful day it was. Quite the rare occurrence in Ireland. Almost as rare in England. Recently London had been pelted with relentless rain, but she had gotten to the bottom of that. Turns out it was a mutant race that needed rain to survive and wanted to make London into their home. They were viscous. Cute, but viscous. 

She saw the van and another car she didn't recognise, the van was done up like it was heading to a convention whilst the car was a dingy grey, nothing amazing about it. It just sat there, no personality to it at all. She hated vehicles like that, she wanted flavour with them. They needed to stand out. That's why she loved her bike, a sleek black with a titanium exhaust. The engine purred like a satisfied kitty. Taking corners like nothing else could. She could only think of one vehicle that rivalled her, and that sat in the driveway. The ever so elegant Bentley. Skulduggerys prized possession, no-one was allowed to wreck the Bentley. So she ensured she parked a good distance away from it, the last thing she needed was her sword to accidentally scratch it. 

After she texted Skulduggery, she waited until he dropped the defences. The sheen around the place shimmered and then faltered. She waltzed in and knocked on the door, Valkyrie let her in with a hesitant smile. She knew that Valkyrie had been corrupted by someone called Smoke. She wasn't sure what that entailed but she guessed it was rough by the look in her eyes. It had been a week since it happened, the takeover of Roarhaven. And it was already having its effects. Skulduggery was using a safe house he had bought a few years ago. She had heard about the people they had lost, the massacre at Ravels mansion. Even the loss of Dexter and Lucian recently. She mourned them both, Dexter she had known for years but only met him a handful of times. Whilst Lucian she had worked with on multiple occasions. They had even had a fling way back when, they had ended on good terms so there was no resentment. Being great friends until the end. 

She hugged Valkyrie hello, exchanging pleasantries before allowing herself to be led into the living room. A large spruce table sat in the middle of the room, blueprints and paper neatly scattered across it. She couldn't help but grin when she was the monster hunters, Donegan Bane and Gracious O'Callahan. The usual bickering between them was absent however, causing Tanith to drop her grin. Next to them stood the teleporter Fletcher Renn. His hair was the highest she had ever seen it. He spotted her come in and warmly smiled at her, a courtesy she returned. The smile dropped however when she saw Solomon Wreath sat in the chair in the corner. He nodded to her before returning his attention to Skulduggery. Saracen Rue and Faith Matthews were the last two people in the room, they had the sofa and she could see the looks of grief on their faces. Both of them losing the person closest to them, especially the way they did had to have been hard for them. Valkyrie walked the length of the room before leaning against the wall behind Skulduggery, he saw her avoid Saracen and Faiths eye. She wondered what that was about as she lent against the door-jam. 

"I see we now have everyone here. We have a crisis on our hands, the sanctuary has been overtaken and we need to mount an offence to take it back."
They all nodded, turning around when Wreath raised his hand.
"I wasn't taking questions" Skulduggery said coldly
"Regardless, what is it exactly that we are facing here?" Wreath asked, either not noticing the chill in Skulduggerys tone or just ignoring it all together.
"If you had allowed me to finish, you would know. The main man is Dr Sidom, on the outside he seems to be an aspiring but insane doctor. Not much else is known about him at this moment. His known associates are Azzedine Smoke, Delilah Empress and Tobias. Smoke can corrupt people, Delilah is psychopath and we know even less on Tobias."
Valkyrie shuddered when he said corrupted but she didn't say anything. Tanith found herself wishing she wouldn't be corrupted, she had spent long enough fighting her friends when she was a remnant. Plus she would never be able to forgive herself if she killed one of her friends. 
"Not to mention all the cleavers at his disposal, and all the mages Smoke has likely corrupted." added Saracen, as he angrily strode up to Skulduggery.
"We need a lot more people that we have here"
"Nonsense. I have complete faith in all of you."
Tanith butted in. "That's all well and good, but can't we get another sanctuaries aid on this?"
He shook his head. "We would then run the risk of them just staying once the battle is over and taking over. Whilst the war of sanctuaries is over, Ireland is still a cradle of magic so they won't willingly leave once they are inside."
He had a point, she knew the American sanctuary still wanted to seize the power a cradle of magic supplied.