Upon surfacing above the sand and winding up back in the market, Ares caught sight of about ten scavengers holding a group of children hostage while being given a wide berth by the surrounding fellahin. In the background, near the 'path of shame', the guards that had been stationed there were dead and lying face down in the sand so that explained how the scavengers got in if nothing else. Brute force. From there they must have grabbed any children nearby and then demanded everyone else step back leading to the current situation. The elders were all standing a few feet away from the scavengers but some were inching closer slowly but surely and this approach was hardly subtle. It seemed some of these elders didn't much care about the youths being held hostage and Ares could take a guess as to why. If they were hanging out near the path of shame when they were captured then it was probably because they were either A, going to deface it or B; they were low purity fellahin who couldn't transform properly. If they weren't low purity then they could just as easily play anywhere else and go in the sand which must have been where most of the kids were. They wouldn't be allowed to run around senselessly in this market and block people's paths so it was either in the sand or near the tunnel and low purity kids would have to pick the tunnel. Putting that all together meant these hostages actually meant little to nothing to the majority of these elders and the solution Ares had to deal with this situation was irrelevant. The captured scavengers wouldn't know anything Ares hadn't already discovered and so they could simply be handed back over to defuse this tense mess but the elders were going to be stubborn and Ares knew it. Not only would accepting the scavengers demands be shameful but the elders might not even trust Ares anyway, not believing his claim of having sufficient information to make letting them go worth it. Plus, if Ares had to announce such a thing publicly, it would alert the scavengers that he was on their tail too and, quite frankly, it just didn't seem like that approach was ever going to work. In this case, Ares' own allies were too troublesome! They didn't trust him enough to go along with his ideas blindly, regrettably.
Ares had to do something here, though, as the elders were inevitably going to make the wrong move and choose to stupidly sacrifice some kids in a minute or two if things didn't improve. Thankfully Ares had reacted quickly to the situation and was blending in with the other fellahin as best he could given how radically different his clothes were. Everyone else was bundled in beige and he was standing out thanks to his black Zephyr. Still, he was able to hide partially behind a tent and some other fellahin so he wasn't easy to spot. He had time to go over the positioning of all relevant individuals and come up with a plan of sorts. Even if he had to brute force things here and hope for the best he would at least be able to get the drop on the scavengers and save as many kids as possible... But Ares was concerned. The scavengers looked rather unintimidating, and there weren't many of them, but that all led to Ares not quite understanding what the goal here was. A force like this, on its own, should be doomed to fail whatever they were trying to accomplish here and the only reason they hadn't been beaten up was because they were holding hostages. That was literally it. Hell it was honestly a miracle they even somehow killed the guards quick enough to not be noticed by everyone else before they then went on and kidnapped the children.
There was something very off about this situation and Ares was looking at one destitute and worn down man standing at the forefront of the scavengers. HIs cultivation was pitiful, lower than even Ares', and only somewhere in the mental accumulation realm. He was arguably the lowest cultivation base opponent Ares had ever stood against, relative to his own cultivation at the time of fighting said opponent, and yet he felt that this man was dangerous in a way none of his other foes had ever been. There was an air about him that gave Ares pause, like that of a weary, defeated traveller who was fed up with the world but ready to take down anyone who bothered him no after the cost. Though dirty, and wearing tattered clothes, his tired face could muster a semi-permanent drowsy scowl and Ares was seriously at a loss as to what he was up to. Ares could only reasonably make one guess about who this was, as the descriptions he'd heard about 'tool' somewhat aligned with this man's overall characteristics... But Ares couldn't be certain. Still, a weak scavenger leading the pack when Diggers wasn't around? It was looking likely this was the guy.
Ares shook his head. He couldn't be worrying about that guy for now as he needed to do something about the children first and foremost. It was a shame Aejaz wasn't here as he would be incredibly useful with his Relocate. That or even just having the Nyxian Prowler / Concealed Serpent combination would do wonders. Alas, Ares had neither and he wasn't really proficient enough with the Deep Blue to rely on arts from an unfamiliar pillar in this situation. Whatever he did, he was going to have to do using the destruction pillar... He had an idea and, though he wasn't sure it would 100% work, it was better to do it now than to not do literally anything at all so he activated Voidwalk while the elders stated speaking to the scavengers, to mask his chant, and then went to move into the void. Ares could have sworn that as he did, though, the man he assumed to be 'tool' looked him pretty much dead in the eye. Unfortunately Ares was already part way transitioning out of this dimension so he didn't have time to stop and check as things were already in motion. If he stopped or slowed down now he would only be increasing the risk factor of his plan being too late to matter so he kept doing his own thing while everyone else was distracted.
A female elder, with a lack of hair on the front half of her head, that had smiled at Sandy earlier after she arrived, was the first to speak up and face the scavengers head on. "What do you think you're doing here? Regardless of what happens from here on out you can't expect to leave here alive, surely? What are you after and what makes you think you can possibly achieve it? Wielding children as a shield is despicable behaviour and it won't even get you far at all."
The man thought to be tool gave an elongated sigh and rolled his neck before speaking with a steady and deep voice but he sounded fed up with life as a whole and so he wasn't speaking particularly fast. The best way to describe his tone of voice was like a wage slave explaining a basic shop rule to their thousandth customer for the ten thousandth time. There wasn't a hint of any agitation in the man's voice, though, he was just sick of speaking even though he'd yet to even really start. "Despicable behaviour? I guess that suits me... We want our guys back so if you could just hand them over we'd be ok with leaving without a fight. Please don't make this more complicated than it already is, I'm feeling tired and want to go take a nap. This base of yours isn't exactly near ours and walking over here was a pain in the rear... Also, I'm really not one for violence against children so if those elders over there could stop trying to move closer that would be great, cheers."
One of the elders moving towards the man refused to halt and responded, "Why should we stop? You overestimate how much we care about the lives of those failures. Of all the targets you could have picked, those children were your worst possible options!"
"Huh... Well that kinda sucks..." The man looked down at the children and shrugged. "Sorry kiddos. If things go south here, tell the angels I tried my best ok? I want to go to heaven when I die you know? Hell sounds like a real boring place..."
"Take this seriously damn it! Who are you anyway?!" The elder being partially ignored raged at the slovenly man who furrowed his brow, pursed his lips, kissed his teeth and rolled his eyes.
"Just call me 'tool'. It's what everybody else does and it's not wrong, I guess? By the way, where'd that little friend of yours go? Looked to be about eighteen years old. Had a black cloak or cape looking thing. He seemed to be pretty strong and I'm a bit spooked he disappeared so quickly. I'm not the youngest or most spry guy ever so if he takes me by surprise I might pull a muscle in my back trying to react to him..."
"I have no idea who the hell you're referring to!" The elder really didn't. He'd only 'met' Ares a minute ago and for less than ten seconds at that.
"That's kind of a problem for me... Anyway, look here. You can't kill me, I can't kill you. Even if the children die I'm not leaving without the the other scavenges 'cos that's what Diggers wants. Unless we all commit suicide, as that's the only other way I see out of this, it would be for the best for you to just let me take what I want and we can all forget this ever even happened. Like one big bad dream."
"I can't kill you? We'll damn well see about that you arrogant bastard!"
"Arrogant? Me? I see myself as nothing more than dirt... You must have the wrong guy. Look pal. I'm not immortal or anything. You can kill me. Quite easily even. I'm really not that strong and I won't even stop you from doing it. It's just that you'll have to pay a serious price for putting me in the grave and neither of us want that... Although, honestly, I might take it back. I don't think you, specifically, can kill me. That other kid though? The caped guy who did a disappearing act? He's young enough, and got just the right amount of energy, to end me if he really wants. I won't even fight back, he can have my life if he's truly after it and committed to the cause, but until somebody stops me I'm going to just start digging through the sand here to go look for the captured lot, ok?" Without waiting for a response, tool got down on both hands and knees and started scratching away the sand bit by bit. This lunatic was actually going to dig his way all the way down! It would take him at least a day or two straight of digging in such a fashion at this rate! The weirdest part was that he seemed to be aware of this and yet didn't care in the slightest... "Stayin' here and doin' this is more peaceful than anything else Diggers might want of me so taking a little longer will give me some peace and quiet..." tool mumbled to himself and, though that answered the question of why he was going about things this way, it jsut raised even more questions! Both Sandy and the elders were admittedly a tad creeped out by this guy who seemed unbothered and uncaring in just about every way possible. The sky could start collapsing and his response would probably be something along the lines of 'well... that's awkward...' before he then went to go take a nap or something! Lethargy incarnate! With a sprinkle of 'God of depression' thrown into the mix for good measure!
Some of the elders were preparing to attack, even at the cost of the children's lives, while some of the other elders were thinking about how to stop this madness. Sandy, however, was calmer than the rest because she'd spotted Ares' fingertip a few times. That was the only part of his body that had been visible this entire time and she didn't know where he was or how he was able to manoeuvre around like this. It wasn't invisibility so she had no clue what it actually was he was doing. Plus, his fingertip kept tapping the captured children's necks one by one and that should not have been impossible if he was invisible due to his body needing to be close enough. He wouldn't be able to tap the children without bumping into the scavenges and alerting them so he was doing something else, something strange right now. Regardless, whatever he was doing, however he was doing it, or whatever his goal was, Sandy was prepared to lend him assistance as soon as things kicked off! She trusted his plan more than anyone else's down here in the base and so she would go along with the flow as soon as moves were made on Ares' side of things.
As for Ares, he was carefully hanging around in the void and watching things transpire back in reality. He would reach his finger through dimensions to tap the children whenever the scavenger guards holding them weren't paying enough attention. In some ways, the aggressive elders were actually helping unintentionally here by occupying the guard's attention. Ares was definitely not grateful to them but he acknowledged their usefulness as he marked the last kid. His plan here was to put nothingness marks on them and simultaneously Shift them all away from their captives and into the void. This would take a split second at most, otherwise he might fail, so Ares had to ready himself to go all out... But actually, there was maybe one more thing he could do here. Other than just pulling all the children into the void, he could enable Sandy to clean up the scavengers quite quickly if his idea worked.
"Flashbang." Ares generated a small ball of light like before and a small grin formed. He could chant in the void without anyone hearing him and this art didn't go off automatically if he willed it not to. This meant he could tear open the void, chuck this thing as he stole away the kids, and then retreat to safety with them while the scavengers alone were blinded. HIs friendly fire mutation meant the fellahin could descend upon the blinded scavengers freely and wipe them out in one fell swoop. The only real risk was Ares not being quick enough on the draw. If, by the time he was done throwing the Flash, the kids were already dead then he would be entirely to blame. Ares had never felt this pressured to succeed before because lives were on the line and they weren't his own immortal one. Ares took a few deep breaths and slapped himself across the cheek to clear his head. He activated every single enhancement he had to get the blood pumping and make his brain as active as it could be before reaching forward with his one empty hand and gripping the void between his fingers. The void curled between his hand like fabric and all Ares had to do was tug away the curtain to commence his magic act. He was running out of time to be leisurely like this, though, as the elitist elders were about to make their move but Ares was ready and so, without further ado, he yanked the void out of his path and chucked the Flash. It curved around the head of a fellahin from behind the crowd and came to a stop directly in front of every single scavenger, confusing everybody in the room as this development was completely unexpected.
FLASH
Ares put a bit of extra oomph into this one so the Flash crackled for a split second before a sound similar to a photograph being taken rung out through the entire base. The Flash itself detonated and a bright white assault on the senses simultaneously blinded all the invaders and kidnappers in a single swoop while everyone else remained unaffected. To Sandy and co this just looked like a party popper filled with sizzling white smoke that fizzled out shortly but it was clear to them it had done something at least as all the scangers had started fumbling around. Some of them instinctively tried moving the knives in their hand to cut the throat of the children they thought they were still holding but their knives slashed their own chests instead, causing them to feel an indescribable kind of fear. Losing vision was one thing but the situation had completely changed since they lost their senses and no longer having leverage, in the form of hostages, meant they were blind, weak, and vulnerable. On top of that they'd literally just sliced their own bodies open and they could feel the pain come closing in alongside a bunch of angry fellahin. It wasn't just the elders or Sandy that wanted revenge for their actions, every single fellahin in the entire market did! There were a lot of them and they were all decently strong so it was like a a group of injured rabbits being encircled by thousands of vicious wolves all at once and the outcome should have been clear.
Sandy didn't know where the kids went but Ares had snatched them away right in the nick of time and she was forever grateful he'd accomplished a grab and run without casualties. The rest could be left up to her although, really, she wasn't exactly needed either as entire base of fellahins were descending upon the scavengers and she was just overkill at this point... Meanwhile, in the void, Ares took deep breaths once more and calmed himself down; the adrenaline was causing his hands to shake as one dead kid this week was plenty and he didn't want to see more. He turned around and did a head count, wiped the sweat off his brow when he realised everyone was safe, and then opened up the void to bring the kids back to their parents. As soon as they were back in the base, the kids scarpered with tears in their eyes back to their loved ones and that drew everyone's attention momentarily before the encirclement of tool and his men continued. Sure people discriminated quite heavily against children like that but they were still part of the same race and what happened here today was unforgivable! The scavengers were gonna get what was coming to them for sure!... And yet, tool kept digging away like nothing had gone wrong with the plan...
"Boss..." One of the scavengers called out to tool whose shoulders drooped immediately. His head lolled as a result of this before he raised it to face the sky alongside his palms as though he were complaining silently to the Gods for his incompetent subordinates.
"Why can nothing ever be easy or go right for once?" tool stood up and looked at the danger nearing ever closer and shook his head. "Now listen up folks. I get that you're angry but you're making a real big mistake here... I already told you, you can't kill me... And I can't kill you... You can kill my men though... But that's not supposed to happen under my watch so I guess you're about to force my hand? Do we really have to do this? It hurts me just as much as it's going to hurt you and, at the end of the day, I'm still going to get what I came here for... Or not?" tool sounded confident until he spotted Ares properly this time. tool didn' have the best view of him earlier but now his mug was clear as day and that led to tool wincing hard. "Fuck. You're here? Guess I'll run away then... Or walk away, I guess... Who can be bothered to run in this hot ass desert anyway? I really don't wanna work anymore..." tool turned to face the angry fellahins behind him and, as though there wasn't anyone there to feel threatened by, started walking towards the crowd. His men scrambled after him but this entire sight just confused everyone. Ares had a bad feeling in his gut people were going to die if he himself didn' get directly involved so he Shifted ahead of tool and made no other moves for now.
"Say pal, where do you think you're going?" Ares cautiously eyed up tool.
"To the exit? It's this way isn't it? If I'm mistaken, can you show me the correct way? I'll pay you to be my guide if need be..."
"... That's not exactly what I meant...."
"Yeah but it's what I meant. Diggers really isn't gonna be happy about this failure but I need to go report it to him anyway... It's technically his fault though. He gave my faulty intel to work with so I'm leaving now that things are getting rowdier than I expected and wanted. You really shouldn't be here you know?"
"Why? Because I'm also back at tthe sect right now, probably even waving right at Diggers?"
"He said somethin' along those lines, yeah. I'm a bit interested as to how you fooled him but does it really matter? Things aren't gonna go well over there even if you delay him so long as you aren't actually there..."
Ares smirked. "You think? I know leaving my mimic behind to fool him, and make him give out incorrect information to the two separate raid groups, wouldn't last forever, but did you think that was all I had planned? While Diggers was deliberating over whether to raid the palace for Brainiac, his men waiting outside the sect have been getting assassinated you know? My brother might be an idiot but I think even he can manage such a task. Basically, you've walked into two separate traps both here and at the sect. Why do you think I didn't go after Diggers? Mercy? The guy's an idiot and an idiot leading your forces is always going to backfire. I just had to condition him to think my mimic was me, and that I never left the palace, and now look a the situation you scavengers are in. You sent your most powerful force here to avoid me and yet here I am. Meanwhile, while Diggers is reluctant to kick things off while I'm back there, he's losing men at an astonishing rate without even knowing it. By the time he gives his guys there the order to move in on the palace they'll already be dead. Long story short, you lose. I may be a strong cultivator who solves things with power more often than not but I've got a few tricks and schemes up my sleeves too you know? At the very least, a moron like Diggers is easy enough to deceive without breaking much of a sweat."
"Yeah, it's not surprising really... He's still gonna blame me for this failure though..."
"A poor workman blames his tools."
"Heh. Funny kid. but just because I've failed to get the scavengers back, I fail to see what that has to do with me leaving this place? As far as I'm aware, there's nothing stopping me from leaving if I really want to..." tool walked straight at Ares and showed no signs of slowing down. He wasn't readying himself for confrontation or anything, he was quite literally just strolling at Ares as though he was thin air.
"Oh come on, you can't be this oblivious to what comes next right? You don't get to walk away from here without a fight. I'm not the only one itching for one too 'cos Juggernaut's also ready to pounce. In fact, she already has..." Ares looked behind tool at the beaten up scavengers who were on the verge of death. Sandy had wasted no time in pummeling them after Ares Flashed them earlier and they tried fleeing to tool's side.
tool scratched his head and let out a small yawn. "I mean, I don't really see the problem? I think I can take everyone here and live? Maybe? You're the only real issue but I have a feeling you won't hit me too much. Ah and, by the way, can I have those guys back? You've taught 'em a lesson now, I reckon, so they won't be bothering you again any time soon I don't think."
"You are in no position to bargain!" One of the elders yelled while pointing his finger at tool.
"Oh really? I think I am... But maybe that's because you don't understand the danger you're in? Man, this is gonna suck... But whatever. Bossman's orders are bossman's orders..." tool turned away from Ares, exposing his back to him without a care in the world, and started ambling over towards the elder that jsut spoke. Ares wasn't having any of this, however, and he didn't plan on letting this guy get anywhere near the elders even if they deserved a smack or two upside the head. Ares still had a bad feeling in his gut about this tool guy so he didn't want to give him the initiative.
"Voidwalk." Ares activated his art once more and leapt off the ground with stunning speed. He imbued his fist with annihilation pressure and threw his entire body into a diving punch targeted at tool's head. tool had barely any time to turn and see what all the fuss behind him was about but his face did manage to inch its way around until it was at a ninety degree angle to Ares and he could just about spot the incoming danger. tool also manged to let out a small sigh a split second before Ares fist connected with his cheek bone.
BANG
tool went flying through the base until he smacked the northern wall and crumbled down onto the floor, lying flat on his back with his arms stretched out to either side. His face was caved in slightly but he didn't seem to care much as he dusted off his clothes and stood back up while cricking his neck back where it belonged. His face begun fixing itself at a rapid rate while he pushed his shoulders back until they clicked. "Ow." A small mutter but one that indicated he felt some pain at least. If it weren't for that it would seriously be impossible to tell f he was even hurt at all.
The fellahin were surprised he was 'unharmed' and looked back to Ares to see what he was going to do next with this seemingly immortal and stubborn weirdo but, when they glanced over, Ares had disappeared from his original spot!
....
It took a moment or two of searching but eventually someone spotted Ares jammed into the southern wall with a dent on his own face. Things had evidently not gone well with that last strike...