It starts...

[Piper Wren]

Suddenly Piper felt an arm slink around her waist...and the cold chill that was creeping up her spine was all too familiar. When Iugo's hand stroked her cheek it immediately made her want to struggle and get away, just the barest touch was bringing her up in cold goosebumps. She found her body briefly frozen even though her mind was screaming at her to move...

Thousands have tried, and thousands have failed... "But this life style will kill you, Tristan,"

When Iugo spoke, the colour dropped from Piper's face and she looked as if she were about to either be sick or faint. Just having Iugo's barest touch on her brought her straight back to the Widow's Trap or her room at Wonderland where he would come in at night and terrify her. Her breathing sped up and Piper felt herself trembling slightly. She looked up at Tristan, her expression screaming 'Help me'.

"Why, hello, my worthless little waste of flesh! How are you? It's been some time... I've missed our nightly rituals of me scaring the hell out of you, you running away in fear... Oh, the times do pass so quickly! We must hold on to what we have at the moment..."

When Iugo touched his icy, dry cheek to Piper's in what could be mistaken from afar as a lover's physical affection she tried to struggle out of Iugo's embrace, craning her neck to try and get away from the feel of his skin against hers.

"Get off me! I'm not your victim!"

[Doctor Nationis]

"Aw... Still upset with me, Trissy?" Iugo cooed, tilting his head, putting his head on the other side of Piper's face, press his cheek into the one she tried to move away. "I told you, my friend! Those twins ran into the knives on their own... And it just so happened, through a series of many random events, that their arms came off. The legs? Well, yeah. I did eat those. Very delicious, might I add! But other than that, I had nothing to do with that beautiful death." His eyes glinted, glasses in place. The eye with the cut in it looked Tristan lazy over, before frowning, his arms tightening again to let Piper know he didn't like her struggles.

"Tristan, why are you here? Trying to find a new doll to play with? Oh joy! We can share! You can have her the first week... And I can eat her afterwords! I do so enjoy this sharing concept these humans taught me. I get so much more bang for others bucks. Wouldn't you agree, my pet?" Iugo asked, eyes glued to Tristan as a purple tongue slipped out of his mouth, long and pointed. It gently licked up Piper's cheek, before traveling down again and sliding back in between his lips. "Why, sweetie... I don't remember you tasting of anything but dirt. Did you quit being a dirty whore after all? That's rather hard to believe..."

[Ryan Cardwell]

"Aw... Still upset with me, Trissy? I told you, my friend! Those twins ran into the knives on their own... And it just so happened, through a series of many random events, that their arms came off. The legs? Well, yeah. I did eat those. Very delicious, might I add! But other than that, I had nothing to do with that beautiful death."

His every feature quite clearly displayed the hatred and rage that he felt towards the man. Of all the mistaken boogie births that Tristan wished to remedy, Iugo was a top competitor for the number one spot. There was only one that he hated with the same intensity as Iugo, and that was that bastard Darion. He hated both of them more than anything he'd ever known. They'd both traumatized those he cared about, and even tortured them both mentally and physically. To this day he wasn't quite sure which one he hated more.

He clenched his fist even tighter at the man's words, nails starting to dig into the flesh of his palm. "Your a damn liar and you know it. You set that damn trap and you led them into it. All just to try and piss me off, because your too petty and immature to let go of a grudge." Piper wouldn't know what they were talking about, because it happened after she and the others had left. Though Tristan hadn't stopped taking humans by any measure, in fact his business had never been busier, but he hadn't kept any for himself since his last bunch had made it home. He simply didn't have the heart for it anymore, everytime he considered doing so it brought up memories of the ones who'd escaped. Nevertheless he still kept a few under his watch, and the twins had been two of them. Just to get under his skin Iugo had killed them, brutally murdering the innocent little children.

"Tristan, why are you here?"

He quietly snarled at him, making him look all the more like his familiar as he bared his canines at the boogie. Why was he here? Did he really need to explain it? "I'm here to make sure that bastards like you can't harm them. And when I get back to Wonderland, there's going to be a few changes made." Most notably a sharp drop in it's population.

"Why, sweetie... I don't remember you tasting of anything but dirt. Did you quit being a dirty whore after all? That's rather hard to believe..."

That was the boiling point for Tristan, his arm immediately snaked out faster than the eye could follow, powerful fist wrapping around the one holding Piper's throat. He began to squeeze the smaller boogies arm, bones groaning and tendons straining under the force. His eye was cold as steel, and icy venom dripped from his voice as he spoke. "Don't you ever talk to her like that." Tristan was much faster and stronger than Iugo, which meant that in a fair fight he would easily do away with the boogie. However, Iugo never fought fair. He fully expected for the coward to use that little phasing trick of his, and that didn't bother him a bit. Because for him to escape Tristan he would have to release Piper, and when he did he wouldn't get another chance to have her.

[Doctor Nationis]

Oh joy! Tristan was being irked once more by his words! Along with previous actions that could be described in no other way than evil, he had achieved in pissing the one-eyed person people hoarder off! Good... This only made the sadistic being's wicked grin spread further along his pale cheeks. Yes, Iugo had no heart or soul to speak of, as there was no time to support their vital needs, like compassion, love, caring, kindness and the other useless emotions and what not. Those had gotten in the way of his experiments, therefore they were to be disposed of. One couldn't flourish if they were weighed down with things like guilt, could they? No, they couldn't. Thus explained Iugo's existence... not! Iugo is just a twisted man, with not purpose but to cause chaos and suffering. And he likes it.

But all of these thoughts were pushed out of his head when Tristan was rude enough to lash out and grip his arm as such?! The jerk! Frowning, Iugo's thin arms bulged with the hidden muscles, fighting back any immediate threat of being crushed. Weaker in strength he may be, but Iugo wasn't a total whimp. But before his arm had been captured, Iugo had also been sent into motion. The arm around Piper's waist released her as the flexing one tightened, almost choking off any air she would try to inhale to relief her suffocation. The now free hand grabbed a new toy from his pocket, and pointed it directly at Tristan's face.

The Iugo turned the flashlight on, the beam piercing through the darkness and hitting the nobler of the two square in the face.

"Let go of me, you bastard," Was all the Iugo had said, keeping an eerily calm mask over his face. Did his arm hurt? Sure. But not nearly enough to give this boogie the pleasure of seeing he had actually injured the poltergeist boogie.

[Piper Wren]

When Iugo's tongue touched her skin she shuddered in revulsion at the damp sensation and whipped her head as far away from Iugo as she could manage. Piper struggled against Iugo's grip but she was just human and even though physically he was not the strongest of the boogies he overpowered her with ease.

"Why, sweetie... I don't remember you tasting of anything but dirt. Did you quit being a dirty whore after all? That's rather hard to believe..."

At his words there was something in Piper's gaze that changed, she seemed to briefly faze out as she remembered Iugo calling her that before...but she wasn't the same girl anymore but despite that those simple words touched somewhere that was still healing inside Piper. She clenched both fists at her side and tried to tell herself what Iugo was saying wasn't true, she was no one's whore and she never had been.

"Don't you ever talk to her like that."

Tristan was right, no one had the right to speak to her that way...but when grabbed Iugo by the arm, Piper felt Iugo's grip tighten around her throat and she choked, raising both hands in an attempt to prise him off her neck...she needed air, couldn't breathe! Then she saw the flashlight out of the corner of her vision and remembered the Boogie's vulnerability to light, Iugo was going to use that on Tristan. In a panic, Piper moved her head abruptly back, aiming for Iugo's face.

[Ryan Cardwell]

Unlike most boogies, anger wasn't something that Tristan was often bothered with. But ever since this one showed up he found himself enraged on an almost daily basis. The bastard boogie seemed to have made it his life's mission to do everything in his power to piss him off, and unfortunately he was rather good at his job. And the fact that he was currently trying to choke Piper only served to stoke the flames of Tristan's anger. He gripped the arm harder still, prising it away from her throat.

And then that bright beam of light him right in the face. "GAH!!" He clenched his eye shut, doing his best to ignore the thousands of spots playing across it. To make matters worse, the thing was burning his skin like fire. For some reason or another, boogies were extremely vulnerable to all sources of light from the human world. They couldn't cross into it, and if they did then the pain was immense. Tristan was no stranger to pain, but this was quickly pushing past the point that even he could bear. None the less he merely squeezed the boogies arm even tighter gritting his teeth against the pain that was racking his body. "Nnh.. Go to ngh Hell you bastard!" Hopefully the fucker would take the advice, because he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.

[Doctor Nationis]

Ha! Look at him squirm! And Piper! This was truly glorious! The elation that he felt right now was beyond any other he had kno-- And then Piper's skull graciously dome rocked Iugo. Blinded by pain and rage, Iugo phased away, taking the flash light with him, but it now pointing away from Tristan, thus relieving his pain for the time being. Holding his face, he felt the blood drip from his nose, the ethereal blood falling through the floor, only to pop up elsewhere and cause a scare to those unfortunate enough to stumble upon this odd sight of blood that you could not touch but would chill you to the bone.

What really pissed Iugo of was that his glasses were now broken, the lenses cracked and the frame bent horribly, and lay in the material plane behind Piper. Eyes crazed and full of hatred, he reeled for a few more moments, trying to steady himself. Piper actually doing something? Quite unexpected... And the blow was stronger than he would have anticipated! Fear may cause great chaos in the life of a mere human, but could also bring about stronger courage and strength. Apparently enough to daze a psychotic boogie, at the least.

'Nnh.. Go to ngh Hell you bastard!'

Ah, hearing these words only made Iugo smile again, the blood dripping off the hand hold his nose. "I'll only go if you escort me to the gates of Hades, Tristan," the ghostly boogie muttered, his vision beginning to clear up.

[Piper Wren]

Piper gasped as the pressure on her throat was released, the sudden relief made her cough hard as she subconsciously rubbed her neck and the back of her head was hurting like hell from it’s sudden collision with Iugo’s nose…but it had hurt him, the glasses on the floor and tiny drops of blood were the proof. She grabbed Tristan’s arm and looked up into his face, trying to spot any damage but as the psychotic boogie behind her spoke, Piper turned on the spot and remained in front of Tristan, the marks on her neck from having it constricted where evident and red against her pale skin but none the less she stood firm…although this boogie still gave her nightmares and scared her the most out of all them, she was not his victim anymore and this was her world.

"I'll only go if you escort me to the gates of Hades, Tristan,"

Although she was afraid and knew that she was no tough ass heroine that you see in a lot of movies, she couldn’t bring a man to his knees with physical force, perform acrobatic feats or use a gun in twenty different ways. Piper tried to ground herself and clenched both fists by her sides.

“You won’t touch him…or me, I am not your victim anymore and I’m no one’s whore.”

[Ryan Cardwell]

The pain just continued, and Tristan was fast approaching his limit. It would have been distant if it was just a single blow, but the pain came in a constant stream as the light never ceased for an instant. And then it vanished. Ever so slowly he opened his eye, the burnt flesh making it a trying ordeal. Nevertheless he opened it fully, looking to see where his adversary had gone. To his surprise he'd vanished, but as he saw the broken glasses lying on the floor he could guess what had happened. It seemed that this time Piper had rescued him.

"I'll only go if you escort me to the gates of Hades, Tristan,"

He snarled at the boogie, sounding every bit like an enraged animal. Escort him to the gates of hell? Gladly. "I'll see you quite a bit further than that!" Despite his words, there was little he could do. Not because he was unable to, injuries like these were nothing to him. He could easily keep going without being slowed a bit. No, there was little he could do because of where he was. Humans tended to panic whenever there was a fight, especially the rich ones, and the last thing he needed was to go and cause a riot.

“You won’t touch him…or me, I am not your victim anymore and I’m no one’s whore.”

The boogie's eye widened in surprise, amazed by this simple act of heroism. She may not have thought she was tough, but there were many definitions of strength. For a human like her to stand up to the psychopathic bastard, and for someone else, that took true courage. Unfortunately, courage wasn't going to be enough in this situation. What they needed was some kind of--- Ah. He placed his hand on Piper's shoulder, leaning down next to her ear as he murmured. 'Those spotlight's would come in real handy..." Hopefully she'd catch his hint.

[Piper Wren]

“Those spotlight's would come in real handy..."

There was a sudden glint in Piper’s eye as she clicked immediately with what Tristan was saying…the light board was just across the room next to the sound board that controlled her microphone when she had been playing earlier. Augusta’s theory about light hurting Boogies was completely correct, the damage to Tristan’s face from a mere flashlight beam looked so painful. She grasped Tristan’s hand that still rested on her shoulder and looked up at him.

“Stay on this side of the room.”

That was all she offered before shooting Iugo a look of wretchedness before getting back onto the stage, despite the slight heel on her shoes she ran across the small stage area and made it to the light board, she needed to activate the R8 spotlight and turn it so it only lit half the room…Piper just had to pray that Tristan wasn’t going to get in the way of it and harm himself further. Quickly as she could she pushed up the level for the spotlight she needed and turned the knob which rotated it in different directions, Iugo was going to make a sharp exit after a blast from this, she knew the Doctor wasn’t stupid enough to stick around.

‘Don’t move Tristan…’

The light turned on it’s axis and illuminated the area where Iugo was standing and Piper looked up to see what had happened…

[Doctor Nationis]

"You, so you'll be coming in with me, my dear Tristan?" Iugo snarled, holding his head where Piper had bashed him, a frown creasing his pale face. "I'm so glad that you and I are so close that'd you be willing to let both of us die!" He spat, not really giving a rat's ass if a riot started, someone heard, or someone came backstage to see the two creatures made from a material more evil than the Energizer Bunny. "Any last words, Tris--" Iugo was going to finish the boogie off, letting him burn here in this dirty world and never see his precious stock of girls again, though most of them were sold off, Iugo would proudly inherit them... and then eat t heir eyeballs straight from their severed heads as he boiled their bodies. The thought of it made Iugo shiver.

But he wouldn't shiver, as suddenly the light was turned onto him. His pupils shrunk, retreating to the size of the eye of a needle, giving him an even eerier look about him. The flashlight dropped from his hand as his flesh began to sizzle and pop as the brilliant lighting began burning the boogie. And then he opened his mouth, the jaw extending what was past the human standard as he let out a high pitched wail of pain and suffering. His fingers went rigid, arms flailing about himself, unable to decided what to grab to try and protect himself with his own shadows, but to not avail. With a final, deeper and primal roar, a cloud of shadows surrounded Iugo, whipping around him. The shouting ceased suddenly as the abysmal whirlwind dispersed, leaving no trace of the Doctor behind. But the broken glasses lay in the lay, cracked and alone on the stage.