The peach tint in Shinsou's balled fists drained to white as his fingers clenched inwards; the fingernails carving purple, bruised crescents into the skin, such was the force of his rage. It was completely uncharacteristic of the Telgradian to lose his cool, but now he had simply had enough. Arius had out-thought and out-run them at almost every opportunity, despite the Brotherhood's best efforts, and now the wily little shit had done it again. Canen Darkflight was nothing more than a crumpled, smouldering heap of flesh in the centre of a Brotherhood detention block, and for all of their collective power and abilities no-one, including Shinsou, could have done anything to prevent it.

Storm's question was pertinent but almost now irrelevant. Even so, the Telgradian felt he had to state the obvious.

"I have no idea, Storm. No idea at all. And I don't know where he is now, because I can't sense him anymore." The tone of the reply contained notes of anger and resignation. Mephisto was in their complex, in their home, and no-one amongst them could do a fucking thing about it. Even the so-called Thayne of Time seemed utterly unhelpful, whether by design or simply because even his powers were in some way limited. How many more would be torn apart by this unseen force, like Canen? Would he just hop from man-to-man like a virus in the township until there was no-one left?

The concern suddenly sparked to life the beginnings of an idea. Canen had mentioned that Arius's own body had crumbled, and that he was likely looking for a suitable replacement. Whilst Canen's own body clearly did little to sate his appetite, there were only three other suitable candidates amongst the Brotherhood who could serve as a vessel for Arius. Finding a new host had to be the reason Mephisto had come here, for what other reason could the dark wizard have for loitering amongst his enemies?

Shinsou looked down at his feet, hands on his hips, whilst Felicity and Storm raged in debate behind him.

"Storm, Felicity, we have to contain this. I think he's searching for a new body; something powerful. Canen mentioned this to us in my study, so why else would Arius be here?" The Telgradian's eyes flitted between Felicity and Storm. Whilst the redhead was still getting to know him and was none the wiser to where he was going with this, the ageing wizard could already tell what Shinsou was thinking. Osiris held an apologetic hand up to his friend, already aware of the reaction he would get.

"It's either me, you or the kid. The shit that Arius has brought down on Corone, on us, is on me. I recruited him. Makes sense that I be the one to put that right."

"What?" Felicity suddenly cottoned on, raising her head towards Shinsou sharply. "Shinsou, you-"

"Look," The Telgradian interrupted, "In the absence of a better idea, I'm going to offer him a deal, out in the open. The contract is that he gets my body, you two live and he walks out of here. But here's the thing; once he's in one place, in one vessel, you get him and put an end to all this."

Flickering whites in the electromancer's eyes told of his utter disapproval of the plan, but deep beneath Shinsou felt that even his best friend knew this was the best way.

"...You know it, and I know it. We have to finish it."

The Telgradian walked to his friend, clasping a hand on his shoulder to reassure him, despite not even being sure himself whether the plan would work or not, or whether they would even accept his proposal. Their eyes met one more time.

"No-one wanted this, but me and you both know that this only ever ends one other way. We can't give away the whole store to save one guy, and I'm done with us all doing our best work after the fact. This is the best way; get him in one place, then drop the weight of the Brotherhood on this motherfucker once and for all."