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He was almost there; Ronove could feel it. A few more tests, and he knew he'd have the solution. Then once again the rules of the game would change, and they would be that much closer to freedom.

Ronove heard a noise. He recognized it as the fake clearing the throat sound humans would sometimes make as a signal to give them attention. It had a higher pitch to it, so it likely came from a female. Ronove turned around and confirmed there was a female human standing behind him on the entrance to the lab. She wore the staff uniform of his people, but the face of this one was unfamiliar. "I don't know you."

She made the loud, repetitive noise Ronove knew to be laughter. "That's because your looking with those crappy eyes you made."

Ronove was busy and did not want to waste time on whatever this was. Two of his people were assisting him in the lab -- men much larger than the woman -- so he turned to them and said, "Deal with her so I may work."

As they approached the woman, she lifted a hand towards them and said, "Abrakadabra-alakazam!" The two men fell to the floor. She looked to Ronove. "Come on, Ronove. Venture out of that bag of meat you made for a moment and gain some perspective."

There was no need. He now knew who this was. "They call you Elza now, I believe."

"The humans need to call me something." She walked around the lab, fiddling with random objects. "So why waste all that time making such a horrible excuse for a body when you could just possess a perfectly nice body like me? It's much easier now that we don't have that nasty Jesus to kick us out."

Ronove really didn't have time for this. "So you're embracing the human's fairytales?"

"It makes us more interesting." The edges of her mouth curled up, making the human facial expression of happiness or bemusement. "Evil demons fighting against the power that created the universe -- that's much more entertaining a notion than whatever narrative you made up for yourself... that you're some interdimensional alien or something."

"I'm not interested in stories. So how did you get your human body in here?"

She made the laughter sound again. "Oh, I am part of a little invasion force that's infiltrated your lab. You should hear gunfire and explosions soon."

This was why the others never dealt with Elza anymore. "I am doing important work here--"

"Oh, get over yourself. You get too concerned about what's happening in this world... like anything here matters. You really need to venture out of that little body of yours and get a look at the big picture once again. Everything in this universe is just so small and insignificant." She walked over to the cube in its current glass case. "Like the infinite barrier that used to imprison us. Here's it's just a little, metal--" Here eyes widened, an expression of surprise. "Hey, someone put cute little bunnies on it. That's neat."

"It didn't imprison us."

"Whatever you like to tell yourself, Ronove. I know Asmod is hoping he can use it in his silly little war. Speaking of which, I have something that you, me, and Mr. I'm Too Good for a Three-Dimensional Existence can all work on together."

"Loch?"

"Yes." Elza reached into the case and pulled out the cube. "He's watching intently right now, wondering if he has anything to fear from the cube and its bunniness."

"I believe he's at war with me."

"No, Serpine is at war with Asmod -- none of us really care about that. Let them have their pointless little battle."

Circumstances seemed to have left Ronove no choice but to work with Elza. He just wished Asmod had a better handle on things to keep him from these distractions, but apparently his pure science going uninterrupted was too much to ask. "What's your game, Elza?"

"I'm here to help you, Ronove. I was thinking that the power of three gods combined should be enough to finally defeat one malnourished, imprisoned idiot."

Ronove really wished he had a better option than going along with this idiocy. "Don't belittle the work I'm doing. This could be a breakthrough equivalent to the War. How do you propose to help?"

"I've been watching your work, and I happen to have the missing element you need along with me." Elza turned here eyes to something unseen. "So, Loch, rumor has it you are so restrained by the other you actually have a human doing your bidding. How would you like to actually get your hands dirty, causing suffering to a human like you have never had the freedom to do before?"

The room darkened. Even limited to human senses, Ronove could feel the cold pleasure Loch was emanating. Figuring most of his experiments here were ruined, Ronove let himself move beyond his body and see the current situation as it truly was. He knew Elza had her motives, but she told the truth. The stage was now set. Ronove may not have had the controlled scientific study he wanted, but at least now he would his result: The complete destruction of human being.

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Hellbender Take Two
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